Michigan+State+Facts

=Michigan State Facts= presented by [|Mrs. Harju's 2nd grade] at St. Stephen School in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

We just finished this video on our state of Michigan. We took the facts that we shared below you and turned them into a video. We hope you enjoy it. media type="custom" key="3850703" media type="custom" key="3804199"


 * Michigan** is called the Great Lakes State because we are bordered by 4 of the 5 great lakes (Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Superior, and Lake Erie.)

To remember the names of all 5 Great Lakes, we think of the word **HOMES**. H - Lake Huron O - Lake Ontario M - Lake Michigan E - Lake Erie S - Lake Superior

The **Macki****nac B****ridge** was built to connect the two peninsulas. It took over 3 years to build and was finished in 1957. The bridge is 5 miles long and is the third largest suspension bridge in the world and the largest in the United States.
 * Michigan** has two parts, an upper and lower Peninsula. A Peninsula is a landform that is covered on three sides by water. The two peninsulas are separated by a 5 mile channel of water called the Straits of Mackinac. The Straits connect lakes Huron and Michigan.

We live in **Grand Rapids**, which is in the lower peninsula. The lower peninsula of Michigan is shaped like a mitten. When someone asks where we live in Michigan, we hold up our hand and point to the lower left side. The Upper Peninsula is referred to as the U.P. and they sometimes call those of us in the lower Peninsula "Trolls" because we live below the Mackinac bridge. We sometimes call those in the U.P. Yoopers.

Michigan was home to many Native American tribes. Three of those are the Ottawa, Chippewa and Potawatomi. The 38th President of the United States, Gerald Ford was from Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is buried at the Gerald Ford Museum in downtown Grand Rapids.

The capital of our state is **Lansing**, but it used to be **Detroit**. **Detroit** is the biggest city in Michigan and they are famous for making cars there. Our Governor is Jennifer Granholm. She is our first female Governor.


 * Traverse City** hosts the National Cherry Festival every summer and is known as the Cherry capital of the world.


 * Holland** hosts the annual Tulip Festival every May. There are more tulips in Holland during the festival than there are people in Michigan! Holland also has working windmills from the country of Holland.

Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state.

Michigan is 11th in the US in total area with 97,990 square miles. The population of Michigan is 8th in the US with 10,003,422 people.

Michigan is home to two Big Ten College Teams, **The Michigan Wolverines** and **Michigan State Spartans**.

== The state bird is the Robin. The state tree is the white pine. The state fish is the brook trout. The state stone is the Petoskey Stone. The state mammal is the whitetailed deer. The state reptile is the painted turtle. The state flower is the apple blossom.