Exploring South America!

Each grade level this year will be representing a different continent of the world. For third grade, we will explore South America.

Here are some interesting facts about our continent:

* South America is home to the world's highest waterfall, Angel Falls in Venezuela.
* The largest river (by volume), the Amazon River is located here.
* The longest mountain range, the Andes run through South America.
* The driest place on Earth,the Atacama Desert and the largest rainforest,the Amazon Rainforest are also found in South America.
* South America's major mineral resources are gold, silver, copper, iron ore, tin and petroleum. These resources bring in high income to its countries.
* It is home to many unique and interesting species of animals including the llama, anaconda, piranha fish, jaguar and the tapir (a pig-like animal).
* The Amazon rainforests contain a major proportion of Earth's species.
* Brazil is the largest country of South America based on area and population.
* Countries in South America include Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, Uruguay and Venezuela.
* South Americans are culturally influenced by the historical connection with Europe, esepcially Spain and Portugal.
* South American nations have a rich variety of music. Some of the most famous genres include cumbia from Colombia, samba and bossa nova from Brazil and tango from Argentina and Uruguay.
* Spanish and Portuguese are the most spoken languages in South America. Spanish is the official lnaguage of most counties.

All information came from Wikipedia.org