Journey North Mystery Class: A study of sunlight and the seasons

map of U.S.
Iowa is located in the central part of the United States.
This part of the country is also known as the Midwest.

We live in the state of Iowa, located in the heart of the Corn Belt. Our state is the leader in corn, soybean, and egg production. We produce 2.2 billion bushels of corn a year, almost 500 million bushels of soybeans a year, and almost 13 billion eggs a year. Iowa provides 7 percent of the nation’s food supply.

We have a population of about 3 million people. Our nickname is 'The Hawkeye State.' Our capital is Des Moines. We have 2 senators (like every other state) and 5 representatives in Congress.

Combine machine

This John Deere combine is harvesting soybeans in a field in Henry County. It discards the stalks and keeps the soybeans.

We make mazes out of maize in our state. Our state and 4 neighbors produce more than half of our country's maize. Our state also produces more soybeans than any other state.

Iowa is not just famous for its agriculture. It's also famous as the setting for the film 'Field of Dreams', which was filmed in 1988 near Dyersville, Iowa. The movie is about ghosts of famous players that come back to play baseball on a baseball field that used to be a corn field. Around 50,000 people go there to visit the site each year and play baseball themselves. Some of the film's main characters were Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, Gaby Hoffman, James Earl Jones, and Burt Lancaster.

Shawn Johnson is a famous acrobat from Iowa who was in the Bejing Olympics in 2008. She won a gold medal for the balance beam, and two silver medals, one for the individual floor, the other silver medal for the all around team (with her teammates Chellsie Memmel, Nastia Liukin, Alicia Sacramone, Bridget Sloan, and Samantha Peszek). She trained for the Olympics at the Iowa Gym-Nest in Iowa City.

Shawn Johnson making one of her famous leaps
on the balance beam.

Shawn was born in Des Moines, Iowa on January 19, 1992. She is 17. She goes to West Valley High School in Des Moines.

Since beginning to compete in the senior division, she has won 4 gold medals and the All Around at the 2007 Pan American Games, been National Champion in 2007 and 2008, and won the All Around at the World Championships in 2007. Shawn’s biggest competition though has been the Bejing Olympics!

Unfortunately Iowa also became famous for its floods. In June and July of 2008. Pouring rains caused flooding in much of Iowa. Oakville, near Burlington, was destroyed by the Mississippi and Iowa Rivers.

floods
Levees near the mouth of the Iowa River broke resulting
in the destruction of Oakville, Iowa.

Much of Cedar Rapids was destroyed by the Cedar River. There was over $1 billion of damage in Cedar Rapids alone. Even Mr. Ellsworth's daughter lost her house in Iowa City to the Iowa River. Many people lost their homes and jobs because of the flooding.