Thursday, January 31, 2013

Binary


We just learned about And Or Logic Gates.

When we talk about letters and words, we know that A is a letter,
and Apple is a word with the letters A, p, p, l, e.

For numbers, instead of saying letters we call them digits So the number 174 has the digits 1, 7, 4.

The numbers we use every day go from 0 to 9.
The digits are: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
(The number 10 uses the digits 1 and 0.)

Since there are ten digits, we use the word decimal.

What if we only had two digits to use, 0 and 1?

Could we still make numbers?
Yes!

We can make the numbers: 0, 1, 10, 11, 100, 101, 110, 111 and so on!
Since we're only using 2 digits, we use the word binary (like bicycle which has two wheels)

When we want to match up our decimal numbers to our binary numbers,
we just put them in the same order.

binary 0, 1, 10, 11 is the same as decimal 0, 1, 2, 3
So b0 = d0, b1 = d1, b2 = d10, b3 = d11 and so on!

We already learned about how computers use 1 and 0 to turn lights on and off on your computer screen.

The whole computer uses just binary numbers to do all the math to turn those switches on and off.

Just think, giving a computer a number like: 1110 can be like telling it to turn 3 lights on, and the other one off!

(from: wikipedia - binary number)

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Coyote yips


We just learned about the Komodo Dragon.

Coyotes are animals like dogs that live in North and Central America.

coyote
(from: wikipedia - coyote)

They are mostly nocturnal which means they sleep during the day
and hunt for food at night.

Even though a coyote is like a dog, their howl doesn't sound like a dog or wolf howl.
It's a very high sound, and can almost sound like a bird, and some people say it sounds like yip yip or yi-yi

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Patella


The patella is the kneecap bone, right at the bottom of your femur.
patella
(from: wikipedia - patella)

It is the small bone right at the point of your knee.
patella

Monday, January 28, 2013

Prime Meridian


We just learned about the Arctic Ocean

We learned that the middle of the earth halfway between North and South
is called the equator.

If we want to draw a line like that from the top of the map to the bottom,
to split it into East and West we use the Prime Meridian.
prime meridian
(from: wikipedia - prime meridian)

The main location on the map where the prime meridian is marked is a place called
the Royal Observatory Greenwich, in London England.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Apostle's Creed - Part 8


Apostle's Creed - we're getting there!

We've learned through Part 7 now.

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.
And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.
He descended into hell. On the third day He rose again from the dead.
He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
From thence He will come to judge the living and the dead.

Here's part 8:

I believe in the Holy Spirit,


(from: wikipedia - apostle's creed)

The Holy Spirit lives inside of us, and helps us to make the right decisions in life and to understand God's word.

Saturday, January 26, 2013

Planet Mercury


We just learned about ISS - International Space Station.

We know that to remember the eight planets in our solar system we can remember the words:
My very educated mother just served us nachos.

The My in that sentence is for the planet Mercury.
mercury
(from: wikipedia - mercury (planet)

Mercury is the closest planet to the sun,
and it's also the smallest of all the eight planets.

Earth orbits around the sun every year, which is 365 days.
Mercury's orbit or year is only 88 days!

The planet has very strange days too.
It takes two whole Mercury years for it to finish one whole day and night.

That means it's daytime and sunny for a whole 88 days (3 months!)
and then totally dark for another 88 days.

Friday, January 25, 2013

French - Black, white, brown, gray


We learned that red orange and yellow, in French is rouge orange and jaune.
and green, blue, purple and pink is vert, bleu, violet and rose.

Let's learn even more!

Black - noir - sounds like no-ah /?/
White - blanc - sounds like blonk /?/
Brown - brun - sounds like buh-ahn/?/
Gray - gris - sounds like guh-ee /?/