Friday, October 31, 2014

German - Good Morning


We just learned that in German hello and goodbye is hallo and auf wiedersehen.

Many times in German instead of hello people say good morning, good day, good evening or good night.


Good Morning - Guten Morgen - sounds like gootn more gen /?/

Good Day - Guten Tag - sounds like gootn tahg /?/

Good Evening - Guten Abend - sounds like gootn ah bnt /?/

Good Night - Gute Nacht - sounds like goot eh nah xht /?/

The word Nacht in German has a sound that we don't have in English.
It's almost like making a K sound, but you don't touch the back of your tongue all the way to the roof of your mouth.
Sometimes it's the sound we make to try to sound like a cat hissing.
While we're learning if you see "sounds like xh" that means the cat hissing sound that's almost like a K.

Goethe Institute
(from: wikipedia - Goethe Institute)

Do you remember how to say Hello and Goodbye in Spanish?
Hola! Adiós!

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Evaporation


We've learned that clouds are tiny bits of liquid water or ice floating in the part of our sky called the troposphere.
And we know that when there is water in the air that is not like tiny ice or water drops, that is called water vapor.

One way that water vapor is made is by something called evaporation.

Remember that water and air are all just tiny bunches of little things called molecules.

If you have a glass of water, there are water molecules in the glass, glass molecules around the water, and air molecules above the water.

You can think of water molecules sometimes as crazy little balls of energy that don't want to sit still.
The only way you can make them stay still is to trap them with other molecules like the ones that make a glass.

When you have dry air that is next to water, the water really wants to go jump to where the air is.
So the water molecules right at the top of the glass get really excited and then shoot off into the air.
When they shoot off into the air, they make the air a little more humid, and they create water vapor.
This happens over and over and over until the air is really humid and wet, then the water doesn't want to jump out anymore.

This isn't something you can see happening with your eyes, but we can tell it happens by watching the water disappear from a glass very slowly over time and then measuring the air for humidity.

The excited water shooting out of the glass into the air is called evaporation.

When the sun is heating up the oceans and lakes, lots and lots of water gets excited, and evaporates into the water vapor that creates clouds.

(from: wikipedia - evaporation)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lava Domes

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Spider Eyes


We've learned that a spider's body is split up into the cephalothorax and abdomen.
A spider's eyes are on the cephalothorax.

There are so many spiders out there it's hard to keep track of what they are.
Even looking close sometimes it's very hard to tell the difference between two types of spiders.

One of the best ways to figure out what type of spider you're looking at is to look at the size, shape and place where it's eyes are.
Most spiders have eight eyes, but there are a few types of spiders that have six, four or two eyes.

The Caponiidae spider is one of the few spiders that has only two eyes.

(from: wikipedia - caponiidae)

Some spiders have big front eyes, and smaller eyes next to them

(from: wikipedia - jumping spider)

Some have small eyes up on their back.

(from: wikipedia - jumping spider)

And some spiders have two rows of eyes, one row right above the other.

(from: wikipedia - dolomedes)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Albatross

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

Rectum



We've now learn how food goes up the ascending colon on the right side of your body, across your transverse colon and down your descending colon and over to the middle at your sigmoid colon.

We've learned that feces is a fancy word for poop, or sometimes we say bodily waste.

When the bodily waste gets to your sigmoid colon, it goes down to the very last part of your colon called your rectum.
The rectum has nerve senses in it that send a message to your brain telling you that it's time to go to the bathroom.

When you go to the bathroom, your rectum pushes out the bodily waste, and you are finally done digesting the food that started all the way up in your esophagus!

(from: wikipedia - rectum)



Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lumbrical Hand Muscles

Monday, October 27, 2014

Arizona


We just learned about the US State of Alaska

Let's learn about the US State of Arizona!

Arizona is a US state in the far southwestern part of the US.
It borders Mexico on the south side of the state.

It's sometimes called The Grand Canyon State and The Copper State
It's state motto is Ditat Deus, which means God Enriches.

(from: wikipedia - arizona)

Arizona's flag has 13 red and yellow stripes like sun's rays, for the 13 original states.
The red and yellow are for Arizona's sunsets.
There is a copper star for the mining, and the blue color is for the Colorado River.


(from: wikipedia - flag of arizona)

The state seal has the year 1912 when Arizona became a state, and a mountain range with the sun rising behind it.
It has water and a dam, with fields and orchards.
There are cows, and a miner with pick and shovel.


(from: wikipedia - seal of arizona)

The Grand Canyon is a gigantic deep long canyon in Arizona that many people travel to see the natural beauty.

(from: wikipedia - grand canyon)

In the northwest part of Arizona, there is a place called the Four Corners.
It is the spot where the states of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico all meet.
If you stand right on top of the four corners spot, you can be standing in four different states all at the same time.

(from: wikipedia - quadripoint)

There is a place in Arizona called the Petrified Forest. Some wood from a very old forest is so old that it has become hard like a rock, and you can find old logs that are just rocks like fossils!

(from: wikipedia - petrified forest national park)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Switzerland

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Parable of the Rich Fool


We've learned about Jesus' teaching stories called the Parable of the Sower,
the Parable of the Weeds
the Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl,
the Parable of the Wandering Sheep,
the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant,
the Parable of the Wedding Banquet,
the Parable of the Bags of Gold,
the Parable of the Two Sons,
and the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Another parable Jesus told his followers was about a rich man whose farm grew so well that at harvest time he had so much grain from his crops that he didn't have enough room to store it all.

He decided to build himself bigger barns to store all of his extra grain so he could just relax and be rich for the rest of his life.
God was angry with the rich man and said he was being very foolish, because that night the man was going to die!
Since he kept all the grain and money to himself, all the things he had stored up for himself would not help him.

Jesus was telling his followers that we need to build up our treasures in heaven instead of on earth.
When we die we can't take all of our things with us, but if we have used the things he gave us to help other people then we are building up treasures in heaven for after we die.


(from: wikipedia - parable of the rich fool)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jesus as a young boy

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Mona Lisa - Da Vinci


One of the most famous paintings in the whole world is the Mona Lisa.
It was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, one of the most famous artists of all time.

It might seem like just a nice painting of a woman, but there were many reasons why people liked it so much.

You might notice in the painting that the woman is sitting in front of what looks like a sky and mountains. She wasn't really sitting in front of that place, Da Vinci drew the background from his imagination. In the time when Da Vinci was living, people usually only painted pictures of real places they had in front of them. To paint an imaginary place without something to look at was a very big deal!

Da Vinci painted the woman's face and hands to look very bright compared to her hair and outfit. When something bright is put up against something dark it is called contrast, and artists sometimes use it to help things stand out more.

The painting also has very dark lines around the woman's hair and body, and the background looks fuzzy and has lighter colors. This helps make the woman look more important in the picture, and makes the background look far away.

The Mona Lisa also has very good perspective. That means it looks ike the woman's arms are in front of her body and the painting is behind her. Even though it is a flat painting, it looks almost like a real person was sitting there. These days we have 3D movies to go see, but in those days making a painting that looked real was the closest thing they had to 3D.

Da Vinci made this painting about 500 years ago, and even to this day it is one of the most well liked paintings in the world.

(from: wikipedia - mona lisa)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Planetary Nebula

Friday, October 24, 2014

German - Hello and Goodbye


We've now learned a whole year of Spanish words.
Muy bien!

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

First let's learn how to say hello and goodbye.

Hello - Hallo - sounds like hah-low /?/

Goodbye - Auf Wiedersehen - sounds like ow-f vee-dah-zane /?/

Goethe Institute
(from: wikipedia - Goethe Institute)

Do you remember how to say it in Spanish?
Hola! Adiós!

Do you remember how to say it in French?
Bonjour! Au Revoir!

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Water Vapor


We just learned about the Troposphere
Let's keep learning about weather!

We've learned that clouds are tiny little bits of water floating in the air.
The water that turns into clouds usually starts off as water vapor.
That's kind of like the steam that comes up in the air from a pot of boiling hot water on the stove.

You really can't see water vapor that's in the air around us, but we have tools that can tell us how much is in the air.
When we're measuring water vapor, we call that humidity.

Even though the air around us is all invisible, we know that there is such a thing as dry air and wet air.
Usually we say it is very humid if the air is wet.

In the desert, there is not much water vapor around, so that air is very dry.
In the rainforest or in places with lots of water and very hot temperature, there is a lot of water vapor around, so it is very humid.

The water vapor can eventually rise and turn into clouds, so if the air is very humid there will be more clouds.
If it is very dry, there will be no clouds.

(from: wikipedia - water vapor)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Pāhoehoe lava

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Spider Cephalothorax & Abdomen


The main part of a spider's body is split up into two pieces:
cephalothorax and abdomen

The cephalothorax is where the head is and where the legs are attached.
The abdomen is the lower body part that has other organs like the spider's heart, lungs and the spider's silk.


(from: wikipedia - spider anatomy)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lobsters

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Appendix


We've now learned about the cecum, ascending colon, transverse colon, descending colon and sigmoid colon.

One interesting part of the large intestine is called the vermiform appendix, or sometimes just the appendix.

It's a small tube connected right below the cecum.
The used up food goes to your ascending colon, and your appendix is hanging below that.

Scientists aren't really sure what the appendix is for. Some think it is part of our body that we used to need long ago when we mostly just ate plants and not meat.
Others think it has to do with helping some of the things called bacteria that live in our colons and help us digest food.

Sometimes the appendix can get sick and cause problems in our bodies.
Since we don't really need the appendix, doctors can do a surgery called an appendectomy to cut it off.


(from: wikipedia - vermiform appendix)

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Hypothenar

Monday, October 20, 2014

Alaska


We just learned about the US state of Alabama.

Alaska is the biggest state in the whole US.
It is way up North, you have to drive up through Canada to get to it.
It's nicknames are: The Last Frontier and the Land of the Midnight Sun.
The name land of the midnight sun comes from the summer nights in Alaska. During the summer solstice the sun is out for a whole day and night!
Alaska is so far North that in the middle of the summer the days are very very long, and in the middle of the winter the nights are very very long.

It's state motto is North to the Future.

Since Canada is between Alaska and the rest of the US, it is not part of what we call the contiguous 48 states or sometimes the lower 48 states.
Contiguous means next to each other or touching.


(from: wikipedia - alaska)

The flag of Alaska is a blue background with the Big Dipper star constellation, and the North Star.
The blue is for the Alaska sky and the forget-me-not, an Alaskan flower.
The North Star is because Alaska is the state furthest in the North.
The Big Dipper is for the Great Bear which stands for strength.

(from: wikipedia - flag of alaska)

The state seal of Alaska shows mountains and the northern lights. There is a building that stands for mining, a train for the railroads, and ships for all of the traffic in the sea. The trees are for the many forests in Alaska, and the farmer with his horse are all for the farming in the state. A fish and a seal on are for the fishing and seal hunting.
Alaska is the only state that has a seal on its seal.

(from: wikipedia - seal of alaska)

Sometimes when people think of Alaska they think of the Inuit or Native people (sometimes called Eskimos) igloos and polar bears.
The Alaska Natives are the people who were living in Alaska for a very long time in the snow and ice.

(from: wikipedia - alaska natives)

Mount McKinley in Alaska is the highest peak in all of North America at over 20,000 feet.

(from: wikipedia - mount mckinley)

For many years Alaska was a part of the country of Russia.
In 1867 the US bought Alaska from Russia, which many people thought was a silly move.
They even called it "Seward's Folly" named after the person who bought it.
Then one day they found a lot of oil under the ground in Alaska, which was worth a lot of money!
They built an 800 mile long giant metal pipe to carry all the oil to the rest of the country, and it is called the Alaskan Pipeline.

(from: wikipedia - trans-alaska pipeline system)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Vatican City

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Parable of the Good Samaritan


We've learned about Jesus' teaching stories called the Parable of the Sower,
the Parable of the Weeds
the Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl,
the Parable of the Wandering Sheep,
the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant,
the Parable of the Wedding Banquet,
the Parable of the Bags of Gold,
and the Parable of the Two Sons.

Another Parable Jesus told is called the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Jesus' told his followers that it is very important to love your neighbor.
Some of his followers asked what he meant by neighbor, so Jesus told a story about a man going on a trip.

In the story he told them that a man was traveling along a dangerous road, and robbers came and attacked him and beat him up.
He was laying in the road hurt very badly.

As he was laying there, a priest of the church came by and saw the Samaritan hurt in the road.
He did not help the hurt man, he kept walking.

Next came another person from the church, called a Levite.
He saw the hurt man and walked by too without helping.

Next came a man who was from the town of Samaria, called a Samaritan.
In Jesus' time his followers did not like the Samaritans, and the Samaritans did not like the people that were Jesus' followers.
They fought, argued and did everything they could to stay away from each other.

The Samaritan saw the man lying hurt in the road, a man that he normally would not like and may even have a fight with.
He went over to the hurt man and put bandages and medicine on him to help him heal.
Then he put the man on his donkey for the long journey to the next town and brought him to an inn.
At the inn he gave some of his own money to the person who owned the inn and asked him to please watch over the hurt man until he got better.
He even said that if the innkeeper had to spend money to help the hurt man, he would pay the innkeeper back.

Jesus said that even though the Samaritan was normally an enemy to the hurt man, he was his neighbor.

His people were very surprised that Jesus was telling them they had to be nice to people they didn't like!

His message for people was that we have to treat everyone in the world like our neighbor and love them and take care of them, even if we don't like the person or if they are our enemies.


(from: wikipedia - parable of the good samaritan)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: After Jesus' Birth

Saturday, October 18, 2014

Neptune - Voyager 2


We've learned about space exploration of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus.

Next up is Neptune.

Neptune is the last planet in our Solar System.
We used to consider Pluto a planet, but it is so far away we've never reached it with a spacecraft.

Voyager 2 is the only space craft to visit Neptune.
It took 9 years to get to Uranus, and 12 years to get to Neptune in 1989!

When Voyager 2 made it to Neptune, it studied the atmosphere, rings and moons.
It discovered something called the Great Dark Spot, and many geysers on one of the moons called Triton.

It found four rings and six moons.


(from: wikipedia - neptune)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Black Hole

Friday, October 17, 2014

Spanish - Counting to 900


We just learned how to count to 100 in Spanish! Wow!

What about 200 to 900?

In Spanish for the hundreds, they mostly use the first number and then cientos for hundred.
So 200 in Spanish is doscientos.

200 doscientos - sounds like dose-see-en-tohs /?/
300 trescientos - sounds like t-dayse-see-en-tohs /?/
400 cuatrocientos - sounds like koo-ah-t-doh-see-en-tohs /?/
500 quinientos - sounds like keen-ee-en-tohs /?/
600 seiscientos - sounds like say-see-en-tohs /?/
700 sietecientos - sounds like see-et-ay-see-en-tohs /?/
800 ochocientos - sounds like oh-cho-see-en-tohs /?/
900 novecientos - sounds like no-vay-see-en-tohs /?/

association of spanish language academies
(from: wikipedia - Association of Spanish Language Academies)

Do you remember how to say it in French?
French - deux cent, trois cent, quatre cent, cinq cent, six cent, sept cent, huit cent, neuf cent

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Troposphere


The clouds in the sky are floating around in what is called Earth's troposphere.

All of the sky around the earth until you get to outer space is called the atmosphere, but the troposphere is the part closest to earth where all the clouds and air we breathe are.

(from: wikipedia - troposphere)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: ʻAʻā Lava

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Spider Legs


Let's keep learning about spider bodies.

Spider legs can be long and fuzzy or short and shiny, but they have leg bones just like we do.

Our human legs mostly consist of 6 parts:
The femur or thigh bone, the patella or knee cap, the tibia and fibula for our lower leg bones, and the foot bones tarsus and metatarsus.

Just like us spiders have a femur, patella, tibia, metatarsus and tarsus.
They don't have a tibula, but they do have two other bones.
The coxa and trochanter are right before the femur, and the coxa is attached to the spider's body.

Spiders don't have any muscles in their legs, the muscles are all in their body.
So if a spider dies, the legs will curl up because the muscles aren't holding the legs out anymore.

When spiders are walking or running, they keep at least four of their eight legs on the ground.


(from: wikipedia - spider)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Echidna

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Sigmoid Colon


We've now learn how food goes up the ascending colon on the right side of your body, across your transverse colon and down your descending colon.

After that the intestine curves back toward the middle of your body.
When it does this it makes a little curve upward.

This curve upward allows the body to get rid of gases without having to push out feces.

Feces is a fancy science word for poop, and we know passing gas means a toot!
These are all funny things we laugh about sometimes, but they are part of our bodies, and doctors have to know how they work so they can take care of us if we get sick.

So the curve up of the sigmoid colon lets us push gases out of our body without feces coming out too.


(from: wikipedia - sigmoid colon)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Hand Muscles - Thenar

Monday, October 13, 2014

Alabama


We've learned a lot about other countries like Liberia, let's learn a little about the different states in the United States of America.

Alabama is the first state alphabetically, so let's start with them.

0 Alabama is on the South part of the US, with one little part of the state sticking out and touching the Gulf of Mexico.
It's nicknames are the Yellowhammer State for the bird called the Yellowhammer, the Heart of Dixie because the name Dixie was a name for the southern states, and Cotton State because they grow lots of cotton.

Their state motto is Audemus jura nostra defendere which means We dare defend our rights.

(from: wikipedia - alabama)

The Alabama flag has a red X on a white background. The shape of the X on the flag is called a St. Andrew's Cross.
Since Alabama was one of the confederate states in the Civil War, the X was put on the flag to remember the old confederate flag which was a blue X on a red background.

(from: wikipedia - alabama)

Alabama's state seal shows the many important rivers that flow through the state, like the Tennessee River and Alabama River.
(from: wikipedia - alabama)
Since part of Alabama is on the ocean, seafood is very popular there, like shrimp.

(from: wikipedia - shrimp)

The Marshall Space Flight Center near the city of Huntsville Alabama is a place where NASA launches rockets, and even tested the Space Shuttle.

(from: wikipedia - marshall space flight center)

Long ago a woman named Helen Keller lived in Alabama. She was both blind and deaf.
People thought that she would never be able to do anything, but a teacher came along and showed her how to make words with her hands.
After that she went to college, and worked to help other people in the world.


(from: wikipedia - helen keller)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: European Union

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Parable of the Two Sons


We've learned about Jesus' teaching stories called the Parable of the Sower,
the Parable of the Weeds
the Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl,
the Parable of the Wandering Sheep,
the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant,
the Parable of the Wedding Banquet, and the Parable of the Bags of Gold.

Another Parable Jesus told is called the Parable of the Two Sons.

A father had two sons.
He asked them both to go work in the vineyard.

One son said no he would not go, but then later changed his mind and did go to work.
The other son said yes he would go, but never did go to work.

What Jesus meant by this is that it is very important to do God's work.
It is more important whether or not you do the work, than whether or not you say you will do it.

(from: wikipedia - parable of the two sons)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jesus' Birth

Saturday, October 11, 2014

Uranus - Voyager 2


We've learned about space exploration of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

Next up is Uranus.

It is so far away that only one spacecraft has ever come close to it: Voyager 2.
On September 5, 1977 the Voyager spacecraft was launched into space.
Voyager 2 took 2 years to get to Jupiter, 4 years to get to Saturn, and then 9 years to get to Uranus!

When Voyager 2 made it to Uranus, it found 10 moons that we didn't know existed, studied the air and space around it, found two new rings around the planet, and took pictures of the moons and Uranus.


(from: wikipedia - voyager 2)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Star System

Friday, October 10, 2014

Spanish - One hundred


We just learned how to count to 99 in Spanish, let's keep going!

100 ciento - sounds like see-en-toh /?/
101 ciento uno - sounds like no-ven-tah oo-n-oh /?/
102 ciento dos - sounds like see-en-toh doh-ss /?/
103 ciento tres - sounds like see-en-toh t-day-ss /?/
104 ciento cuatro - sounds like see-en-toh koo-ah-t-doh /?/
105 ciento cinco - sounds like see-en-toh see-n-koh /?/
106 ciento seis - sounds like see-en-toh say-ss /?/
107 ciento siete - sounds like see-en-toh see-ay-tay /?/
108 ciento ocho - sounds like see-en-toh oh-choh /?/
109 ciento nueve - sounds like see-en-toh noo-ay-vay /?/

association of spanish language academies
(from: wikipedia - Association of Spanish Language Academies)

Do you remember how to say it in French?
French - cent, cent un, cent deux, cent trois, cent quatre, cent cinq, cent six, cent sept, cent huit, cent neuf

Thursday, October 9, 2014

Clouds


We just learned about a lot of fun elements like Hydrogen

Let's learn a little about Clouds!

Clouds are big puffy beautiful things floating up in the sky, making funny shapes that we can imagine are animals or faces.

If you fly up into the sky you can see up close that clouds are not something you can stand on, they are more like a misty fog that you can fly right through!

Clouds are very tiny little bits of water, either frozen like little ice chips or liquid like tiny rain drops.

Clouds are something special called an aerosol which means they are tiny little bits of liquid or solid floating around in a gas like oxygen.

(from: wikipedia - cloud)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Magma

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Spider bodies


We just learned about the Hornet Moth.

Let's learn a little more about spiders.
We've already learned about the funny dancing peacock spider, and the big eyed Mommy wolf spider.

Let's learn a little bit about the parts of a spider's body.

All spiders have main bodies with two parts, they have eight legs, no wings and no antennae.
They also have chilicerae and pedipalps which are parts of their mouth.
Spiders have simple eyes and an exoskeleton.

We'll learn more about what some of those big words are next time!

(from: wikipedia - spider anatomy)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Duck

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Descending Colon


We've learned how food goes up the ascending colon on the right side of your body and across your transverse colon.

After that it goes to your descending colon.
The word descending means going down, and the food which is now all used up goes down your descending colon and waits to be removed from your body.


(from: wikipedia - descending colon)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Forearm Supinators

Monday, October 6, 2014

Liberia


The country of Liberia is in Africa on the west side of the continent.
Liberia has a very interesting history, because it was founded in 1820 by some Americans who wanted to end slavery. They sent freed slaves from America to Liberia to help have freedom in Africa.

The Liberian government was made to be just like America with a President, Congress and Judges.


(from: wikipedia - liberia)

Liberia's flag looks a lot like America's flag, because of their history of colonizing by America.


(from: wikipedia - flag of liberia)

To eat in Liberia you might have rice, fish or hot peppers.
Some of the food and recipes in Liberia come from the South in the USA.


(from: wikipedia - liberian cuisine)

Liberia has rainforests with wild animals, and also a long coastline with beaches on the ocean.

(from: wikipedia - liberia)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Turkey

Sunday, October 5, 2014

Parable of the Bags of Gold


We just learned about Jesus' teaching stories called the Parable of the Sower,
the Parable of the Weeds
the Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl,
the Parable of the Wandering Sheep,
the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant,
and the Parable of the Wedding Banquet.

Another Parable Jesus told is called the Parable of the Bags of Gold.

Jesus told his followers a story of a man who was going away from his land for a long time.
While he was gone, he asked three of his servants to come and see him.

He gave the first servant five bags of gold, the second servant two bags of gold, and the third servant one bag of gold.

The first servant with the five bags went out and used that money to try to earn more money, and he earned five more bags.
The second servant with the two bags went out and used that money to try to earn more money, and he earned two more bags.
The third servant with the one bag went out and dug a hole in the ground, and buried his bag of gold to hide it.

When the master came back he asked to see the servants to see how they did with his money.

The first servant showed him that he earned five more bags of gold.
His master was very happy and said that because he did good work he would be rewarded.

The second servant showed him that he earned two more bags of gold.
His master was very happy with him also and said that because he did good work he would be rewarded.

The third servant told him that he was afraid of someone stealing the gold bag, so he hid it in the ground to keep it safe.
His master not happy!
He was very angry with the servant for being lazy and not using the bag of gold that he was given to try and make more.
The second servant showed him that he earned two more bags of gold.
His master was very happy with him also and said that because he did good work he would be rewarded.
So he took the bag of gold away and gave it to the first servant.

Jesus wasn't talking about real servants and having bags of gold.
He was telling us about the gifts God gives us, and the gift of his love.
We need to use the gifts he gave us to help other people and to share God's love with others, not hide it away because we are afraid.


(from: wikipedia - parable of the talents or minas)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: John the Baptist

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Saturn - Cassini-Huygens


We've learned about the first space exploration missions to Saturn, Pioneer 11 and Voyager 1 & 2.

On October 15 1997, we launched the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft.
After seven years it reached Saturn, and orbited the planet to take pictures of Saturn and it's moons like Titan.

We have learned a lot about Saturn from these pictures, including an interesting picture that showed a hexagon shape at the top of the planet.


(from: wikipedia - saturn's hexagon)

In 2004, the Cassini part of the spacecraft launched the Huygens probe to land on the moon Titan.
It landed on Titan and sent back some information about the surface along with some great pictures of things we've never been able to see before.


(from: wikipedia - huygens (spacecraft))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Galaxy