Word of the Day: contiguous. As in, "How many contiguous states are there?"
I think my explanation of "contiguous" was pretty good. Contiguous states are the states that are touching at least one other state. They understood that.
Nope, the problem seemed to lie in the fact that they weren't entirely sure what qualified as a state.
"Oh!! So Cuba is not a contiguous state!" No, sweetie, Cuba is a different country.
"Well, how about Mackinac Island? That's a state, right?" Ah, no. It's part of our state.
"What about Greenland? Antarctica? Those aren't touching anything else." Honey, those aren't actually part of the U.S.
"This part right here..." (pointing to Vancouver Island) "it's not contiguous...which state is that?" Well, my dear, it's not a state, it's part of Canada.
They didn't stop at adding land to the United States, either. As I circled the room, B. piped up. "Hey, is Canada split in half?"
"Um, no," I reply confusedly.
"Well then, what's that?" she says, pointing to Mexico.
"Mexico," I sigh, praying the middle school Social Studies teacher will refrain from murdering me in my sleep.
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