Wallace's Flying Frog

We just learned about the Mission Golden-eyed Tree Frog or Amazon Milk Frog.

Another type of frog is Wallace's Flying Frog.

It is only about 100 milimeters long, and has long toes with webbing in between.
With these big feet that are almost like wings, this frog can float like a parachute down from trees, or even jump and glide from tree to tree.

These are very bright and colorful frogs, with a shiny green back, a yellow or white belly, and yellow coloring on it's toes.


(from: wikipedia - wallace's flying frog)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Mandarin Ratsnake

Intervertebral Disc

We just learned about the connective tissue the Supraspinous Ligament that goes over the back of your spine.

Another piece of connective tissue is the Intervertebral Disc, or the Intervertebral Fibrocartilage.

This is the piece of cartilage that is in between each of your vertebrae in your spine.

These discs protect each of your vertebrae from bumping against each other, and also helps hold them together.
They also work like shock absorbers so when you are jumping up and down, all the vertebrae in your spine have soft cushions between them.


(from: wikipedia - intervertebral disc)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cervical Plexus

Nuevo León

We just learned about the Mexico State of Chiapas.

Another Mexico state is Nuevo León, which means New Lion, and is named after the state in Spain called León.

This state is north part of Mexico, and has one small 9 mile stretch where it connects to the US at the state of Texas.


(from: wikipedia - nuevo león)

The coat of arms for Nuevo León shows the Cerro de la Silla mountains, next a lion for the state's name.
Below that is the temple of San Francisco which was part of Nuevo León but is now in Texas.
Next to the temple are chimneys showing the workers of Mexico.
In the borders are old weapons from the warriors from long ago, and chains for the group of all the people working together.
On the bottom is a ribbon that says "Semper Ascendens" which means "Always Ascending".

(from: wikipedia - nuevo león)

La Huasteca is a place where a lot of people like to go rock climbing.


(from: wikipedia - la huasteca (climbing area))

Cerro de la Silla which means hill of the chair is a mountain area where a lot of people like to go hiking.


(from: wikipedia - cerro de la silla)

The state has a large farm of wind turbines that can bring electricity to over 630,000 homes.


(from: wikipedia - nuevo león)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Saint Elias Mountains

Ladder of Divine Ascent

We just learned about the Lavra caves for monks.

Another part of the life of monks was a writing called the Ladder of Divine Ascent.

This was a book that gave people some rules and ideas about things they should do to be better servants of God.

There were 30 steps to the ladder, and they covered things like obeying God, asking for forgiveness, not doing bad things, not thinking you are better than other people, and inner peace.

Many monks read these words and tried to follow them to be better servants.


(from: wikipedia - ladder of divine ascent)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Abel

Arc de Triomphe - Cortot

We just learned about the Rococo or Rocaille sculpture Sèvres pot-pourri vase in the shape of a ship by Duplessis in Paris 1757.

In art history, after Rococo came a type of art called NeoClassicism, which tried to make simple and pleasing all around.

One of the most famous Neoclassical sculptures is the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France in 1806 by sculptor Jean-Pierre Cortot.

This arch was built to honor the people who fought and died for France.
The names of hundreds of soldiers are engraved all around the arch.

There are many sculptures all around the arch, like the four very detailed groups of sculptures on the pillars.
The sides have six relief sculptures, the arches have detailed sculptures, and even the ceiling of the arch has 21 sculpted roses.

The arch is in the middle of a part of the city with many roads leading to it.





(from: wikipedia - arc de triomphe)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Archangel Ivory

Greek - Hello and Goodbye

We've now learned a whole year of ASL!
Wow!

Let's try another language now, how about Greek?

Greek is very different from the other written languages we know, because it's letters are very different.
Some of them are like English, like A and B, but others are very different, like Θ or Ξ!

Let's try to learn some words, and along the way we'll try to learn how to pronounce the letters too.

First let's learn how to say hello and goodbye.
There are a few ways to say Hello.

Hi - Γειά σου (Geiá sou) - Sounds like Yah-soo
This is like saying Hi to your friends.
It means "To your health", so you can say this for goodbye also.

Hello - Χαίρετε (Chairete) - Sounds like Hee-ay-day-tay
This is like saying hello to a grownup.
It means "Be happy", so you can say this for goodbye also.

Bye - Αντίο (Antío) - Sounds like Ah-dee-oh

The letters for these words are:

Γ (Gamma) ε (Epsilon) ι (Iota) ά (Alpha) σ (Sigma) ο (Omicron) υ (Upsilon)

Χ (Chi) α (Alpha) ί (Iota) ρ (Rho) ε (Epsilon) τ (Tau) ε (Epsilon)

Α (Alpha) ν (Nu) τ (Tau) ί (Iota) ο (Omicron)


(from: wikipedia - center for the greek language)

ASL: Hello and Goodbye

Italian: Ciao, arrivederci

German: Hallo, Auf Wiedersehen

Spanish: Hola! Adiós!

French: Bonjour! Au Revoir!

Aftershock

We just learned about the Foreshock and Mainshock of an earthquake.

After the Mainshock comes the Aftershock.

When the earthquake passes it's strongest part of the mainshock, any of the other quakes or ground shaking is part of the aftershock.

Separating the earthquake into the three parts (Foreshock, Mainshock and Aftershock) helps earthquake scientists study each part of the quake, and learn about why the earth acts the way it does.


(from: wikipedia - earthquake)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Punching