Sunday, November 30, 2014

Plans to kill Jesus


We just learned about Jesus' Transfiguration.

After Jesus had done many miracles and taught people using parables, some of the people in those days didn't like what Jesus was doing.

Some of the leaders were upset because people were following Jesus instead of them.

So they started making plans to have Jesus killed, because they could not stop him from doing miracles and teaching people.

(from: wikipedia - pharisees)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jesus' Apostles - Thomas

Saturday, November 29, 2014

The Persistence of Memory - Salvador Dali


We just learned about the famous painting The Scream of Nature by Edvard Munch.

Another very famous painting is called The Persistence of Memory by the artist Salvador Dali.

His painting was very strange looking, almost like something weird out of a dream where things are melting.
This painting was using something called surrealism which kind of means taking things from our dreams or imagination and making real looking pictures out of them.

The painting has pocket watches that look like they are melting.
Some people think this painting says something about the way we think about time.
Is it really as simple as we think, where clocks just ticks on every second?
Or can we bend time, mush it around, speed it up or slow it down?
Salvador Dali said he thought of the idea to paint them that way by watching some cheese melt in the sun.


(from: wikipedia - the persistence of memory)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Moon Rille

Friday, November 28, 2014

German - Do you speak German?


To ask if someone speaks German, you say Sprechen Sie Deutsch?.

It sounds like sh-puh-ehk-en zee doh-ee-ch /?/

To say yes you would say jah which sounds like yah  /?/
or to say no you would say nein which sounds like nine  /?/


Goethe Institute
(from: wikipedia - Goethe Institute)

Do you remember how to say it in Spanish?
Hablas español?

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Weather Fronts


We just learned about Deposition where water vapor turns right into a solid.

We've also learned that the water vapor that makes up clouds can come from evaporation or sublimation.
That all happens near the ground, but somehow that water vapor has to get way up in the sky to make a cloud.

There are a few different ways that water vapor gets lifted up to become a cloud, and one of them is using something called weather fronts.

A weather front is how the weather on our planet changes all the time.
Cold winds blow in during the winter, hot air moves in during the summer.

The way that these fronts move around with hot and cold temperatures, and different amounts of water vapor can cause different kinds of clouds, rain and storms.

If you look at weather maps, you can usually see colored shapes on the map that show what kind of temperature and pressure is in the air, and what kind of front is coming.


(from: wikipedia - weather front)

We'll learn more about each of these types of fronts next time.

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Pillow Lava

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Spider Lungs


We just learned about the Spider Esophagus.

Spider lungs are located in the abdomen part of their body.

They don't have regular lungs like we do, they have something called book lungs.

The name comes from the way the lungs look on the inside.
There are stacks of air separated by body tissue.
The stacked up lines of body tissue kind of look like a book, which is why they are called book lungs.

Spiders don't breathe like we do, their book lungs are just sitting open and air flows into them.
They have a special liquid called hemolymph that helps soak up the oxygen into their bodies.

(from: wikipedia - book lung)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Electric Eel

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Pulmonary Vein


We've learned that our blood gets filled up with good oxygen in the capillaries down by the lungs.

After the tiny capillaries are filled up with good oxygen, they connect to larger tubes called veins, and the blood flows toward the heart.

The veins that connect the capillaries to the heart are called the pulmonary veins.


(from: wikipedia - pulmonary vein)

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Plantar Foot Muscles

Monday, November 24, 2014

Connecticut


We just learned about the US State of Colorado.

Connecticut is a small state on the east coast of the US.
It is the third smallest state.
The state name comes from a Native American word meaning The Long Tidal River.

It has a few nicknames: The Constitution State, The Nutmeg State, The Provisions State, The Land of Steady Habits.

It's state motto is: Qui transtulit sustinet.
which means He who transplanted sustains.

(from: wikipedia - connecticut)

The flag of Connecticut has the state motto, and three grape vines, for the people who came over from Europe to live here in America.

(from: wikipedia - flag of connecticut)

The seal of Connecticut has the state motto, and grape vines just like the flag, and also the words: sigillum reipublicæ connecticutensis which means Seal of the State of Connecticut.

(from: wikipedia - seal of connecticut)

Connecticut has 21 lighthouses in the state, 14 are still active.
The oldest and tallest lighthouse is New London Harbor Light, built in 1760.

(from: wikipedia - new london harbor light)

The 43rd president of the US George Bush was born in Connecticut.

(from: wikipedia - george w. bush)

The Connecticut River is the longest river in the northeast part of the US that is sometimes called New England.

(from: wikipedia - connecticut river)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Israel

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Jesus Transfiguration


We learned that Jesus told his apostles that he was the Messiah, and that he would be killed and then raised back to life three days later.

After that he went up on to a high mountain with Peter, James and John.
When they were up there, Jesus' face shined bright like the sun and his clothes became white as light.
Jesus' went through a big change to look beautiful and holy, and we call that transfiguration.

When Jesus was up on the mountain, he talked to Moses and Elijah, who were in heaven.

A bright cloud came over them and God's voice from the cloud said This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!

Jesus told them not to tell anyone else about what had happened until after he was raised from the dead.

(from: wikipedia - transfiguration of jesus)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jesus' Apostles - Philip and Bartholomew

Saturday, November 22, 2014

The Scream of Nature - Edvard Munch


We've now learned about some famous paintings: The Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo, The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci and The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh.

Another famous painting is called The Scream and was painted by Edvard Munch.

Munch was a type of painter called an expressionist, which meant that he usually made paintings that looked wild or weird or somehow stood out in a way that made you feel a certain way.

He told the story of how he came up with the idea for this picture.
He was walking along a bridge one day and saw the sky turn blood red, and the way the sun was shining on the city it almost look like all of nature was letting out a scream.

So he used bright bold colors with wavy lines to make the painting stand out and hopefully make you feel almost like you can hear a scream from the painting.

He wrote a poem about when he came up with the idea for his painting:

I was walking along the road with two friends
the sun was setting
suddenly the sky turned blood red
I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence
there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city
my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety
and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.


(from: wikipedia - the scream)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Moon - Maria

Friday, November 21, 2014

German - Please, You're Welcome


Remember that to say thank you in German, you say danke.

To say please in German is bitte.
It sounds like bit uh /?/.

And to say you're welcome, you say bitte schön and it sounds like bit uh shoon /?/.

Goethe Institute
(from: wikipedia - Goethe Institute)
Do you remember how to say it in Spanish?
Por favor, de nada

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Deposition


We've learned now that the water vapor that makes up clouds can come from evaporation or sublimation.

And we've learned that the opposite of evaporation is called condensation.

The opposite of sublimation is called deposition. That is when water vapor as a gas turns into a solid.

Usually water vapor would turn to liquid first, then freeze to be a solid.
But sometimes if it is really super cold out, the water vapor gas will turn right to a solid and freeze.

You can see this sometimes as frost, or even the snowflakes forming in clouds in the sky.


(from: wikipedia - deposition (phase transition))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Igneous Rocks

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Spider Esophagus


We've learned about the spider's cephalothorax, where they have fangs in their chelicerae, and the parts that are almost like small arms by their mouth called pedipalps

Spiders don't have teeth, so they can't chew food up like humans do.
They use their fangs to kill small insects with venom.

When humans eat food, it goes into our stomachs where some things called enzymes help turn our food soft and mushy.

Spiders actually spit out some of those enzymes right onto the insects that they've killed, and then when the enzymes turn their food to mush they suck it up into their mouth to go down their esophagus into their stomach.


(from: wikipedia - spider anatomy)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Hyena

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Capillaries


Let's keep learning about the Circulatory System.

We've learned before about how air comes in to the lungs and all the way down to the blood-air barrier where the oxygen goes into the blood.

On one side of the barrier are the alveoli holding the oxygen, and the other side has the capillaries which hold the blood that is ready to take in oxygen.

Capillaries are very tiny small tubes. They bring the blood right to the blood air barrier and then carry it off to the heart.

(from: wikipedia - capillary)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Dorsal Foot Muscles

Monday, November 17, 2014

Colorado


We just learned about the state of California.

Colorado is a state in the western part of the USA.
It's nickname is The Centennial State, and it's motto is nil sine numine which means nothing without providence.
The state's name comes from the Colorado River that runs through it.
The Spanish travelers that came through the state called the river the Rio Colorado which means the ruddy or reddish colored river.


(from: wikipedia - colorado)

Colorado's state flag has three stripes. A blue stripe, white stripe then blue stripe. The blue is for the skies and the white is for the snow capped mountains. There is a red C in the middle, with a gold circle inside it. The red C is for the ruddy ground in Colorado.
The gold circle is for the sunshine and the gold mined in Colorado.

(from: wikipedia - flag of colorado)

The state seal of Colorado has an eye in a triangle which is known as the Eye of Providence or All Seeing Eye, a scroll with the words union and constitution, and something called a fasces, which is like an axe that is used by judges.
Below that is a shield with snowy mountains, and a pick and hammer which are tools for miners.
It also has the state's motto nil sine numine.


(from: wikipedia - seal of colorado)

The Rocky Mountains are a very long mountain range that go all the way from Canada through the US, and some of the highest peaks are in Colorado.

(from: wikipedia - pikes peak)

The Mesa Verde is a very old city from some farmers that lived in the area over 1400 years ago.
They built a small city in a cavern, and it is now a national park that people go to visit.

(from: wikipedia - mesa verde national park)

Deep beneath one of the mountains is a base that people created to be safe in case of a war.
They dug out a huge area underneath a rock and made a bunch of buildings, and those buildings are protected by things like giant metal doors with huge locking bars to keep important people safe if there was every a huge war.

(from: wikipedia - north american aerospace defense command)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: India

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Jesus tells his apostles that he will be killed


After Jesus told his apostles that he was the Messiah, he told them that he was going to have to go to the town of Jerusalem, where he would be killed and then would be raised back to life three days later.

His apostles were very upset about this, especially Peter who said he wouldn't let that happen.
Jesus explained to Peter that it was all part of God's plan, and that it had to happen.


(from: wikipedia - jesus predicts his death)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jesus' Apostles - James and John Zebedee

Saturday, November 15, 2014

The Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel - Michelangelo


We just learned about the famous painting the The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci.

Another very famous painting was the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo.

Over 500 years ago, Michelangelo took on the job to add paintings to the ceiling of a chapel in Italy.
It took him four years to finish it, and it has almost 50 different paintings on it, with over 300 different people in all the paintings.

Michelangelo made something called scaffolding, which were like build up giant platforms for him to stand on while he painted the ceiling way at the top of the building.
He painted on what is called fresco, which means they put on wet paste to build the wall and he painted on it. The wet paste soaked the colors into the wall so it would look really good.

His painting shows many stories from the Bible, and he split the ceiling up into different parts for each area.

In the main top part of the ceiling he made three paintings about Noah, 3 paintings about Adam and Eve, and 3 paintings about God creating the world.
Around each of those paintings, he painted what people think might have been angels, and small shields with other paintings in them.
On the outside of those other 9 paintings, he made paintings of 12 prophets like Isaiah, Daniel and Jeremiah.
Below that he made 14 more paintings showing other people from the Bible like Jacob and Joseph.
In the 4 corners of the ceiling he painted more famous people from the Bible: Moses, Esther, David and Judith.
And in smaller paintings in the triangles between he made 8 paintings of the ancestors of Jesus, like Joseph.

Each one of those paintings that he did would have been a masterpiece in a museum somewhere, and he painted 47 different ones on the ceiling of a building!

Michelangelo was considered a master of painting and sculpting the human form.
That means he was really good at drawing and sculpting muscles, bones and skin so that it looked very real.


(from: wikipedia - sistine chapel ceiling)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Moon - Highlands

Friday, November 14, 2014

German - Very good thanks, and you?


We just learned to say How are you? in German, Wie geht es Ihnen?

and Very good thanks is Sehr gut, danke.

To be polite you should also ask how the other person is doing.

And you? - Und Sie? - sounds like unt zee /?/

So with all that we've learned so far, we could understand a meeting between two people like this:

Arnold: Hallo!
Greta: Guten Tag, Wie geht es Ihnen?
Arnold: Sehr gut, danke. Und Sie?
Greta: Sehr gut, danke. Auf Wiedersehen!
Arnold: Auf Wiedersehen!

Goethe Institute
(from: wikipedia - Goethe Institute)

Do you remember how to say it in Spanish?
Muy bien gracias. ¿Y tú?

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Condensation


We've learned now that the water vapor that makes up clouds can come from evaporation or sublimation.

The opposite of evaporation is called condensation.

Condensation is when the water molecules inside water vapor turn from a gas to a liquid.
You can see this happen in real life if you have something like a cold glass of lemonade outside on a hot humid day.

On a hot humid day, there is a lot of water vapor in the air.
If you bring the cold lemonade glass outside, the water vapor in the humid air starts to turn to water on the outside of the glass of lemonade.

Condensation is also how clouds are made. The water vapor molecules all get bunched up together in the air until there are so many of them they start turning from gas back into tiny little drops of liquid.

(from: wikipedia - condensation)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Volcanic Ash

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Spider Pedipalps


We just learned about a spider's Chilcerae mouth parts.

Another part of the spider's cephalothorax is called the pedipalps
or sometimes just palps or palpi.

These are almost like another very short set of legs for a spider, and they even have bones like femur and patella and others, just like the legs do.

Some spiders have very long pedipalps like the Northern yellow sac spider

(from: wikipedia - pedipalp)

And some have shorter pedipalps like the clynotis severus jumping spider.

(from: wikipedia - spider)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Aardvark

Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Circulatory System


We just learned about the Large Intestine that helps digest food.

We've learned a lot about the human body already!

We've learned about all of the bones called the skeletal system, all of the muscles called the muscular system, the way we breathe air, called the respiratory system, and the way our bodies use up our food, called the digestive system.

Another system in our body is the one that pumps all the blood through our bodies.
That is called the circulatory system or cardiovascular system.

The word circulate means to move things around, like the blood going to all the places in your body.
The word cardio means the heart, and the word vascular means the veins and arteries that pump the blood.

Next time we'll start learning about the heart, the veins and how all the parts of the cardiovascular system work.

(from: wikipedia - circulatory system)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Palmar Interossei Hand Muscles

Monday, November 10, 2014

California


We just learned about the US state of Arkansas.

California is a state on the west coast of the US, right on the Pacific Ocean.
The state nickname is The Golden State and the motto is Eureka.
38 million people live in California, which is more than any other state.


(from: wikipedia - california)

The flag of California has a grizzly bear and a red star.
Long ago California was a part of Mexico, and in the years they were fighting to be free they made flags with a red star, and flags with a bear.
The bear on the flag is to show that they were strong and would fight for their freedom.


(from: wikipedia - flag of california)

The seal of California has a goddess of wisdom and war, a grizzly bear, grapes because California makes a lot of wine.
It shows some grain for the farmers and a miner for the people that came to California looking for gold, and the miners.
It has sailing ships and the word Eureka on it, which is a greek word meaning I have found it!

(from: wikipedia - seal of california)

Since California is very long and goes almost all the way from the bottom of the US to the top, it has many different things like snowy mountains, deserts and forests depending on where you are in the state.

The lowest spot in North America in a place called Badwater Basin in Death Valley National Park.
It is 282 feet below sea level.


(from: wikipedia - badwater basin)

The highest spot in North American is a mountain peak called Mount Whitney at around 14,500 feet.
Mount Whitney and Badwater Basin are only about 85 miles away from each other!

(from: wikipedia - mount whitney)

There is a forest in California called the Redwood Forest.
The coast redwood tree is the tallest tree on the whole earth.

(from: wikipedia - redwood national and state parks)

Disneyland is an amusement park in California created by Walt Disney.

(from: wikipedia - disneyland)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: China

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Jesus tells the Apostles that he is the Messiah


We've learned that Jesus taught people by speaking to large crowds like the Sermon on the Mount, taught people using parables, performed many miracles and had chosen his 12 Apostles to follow him wherever he went.

When Jesus was going around doing miracles and speaking to people, they did not know he was the son of God.
Most people thought he was a prophet, or just someone that taught God's word and did miracles for God.
Even his own Apostles didn't really know for a while that he was God's son!

One day Jesus was talking to his apostles and he asked them who the people in all the towns thought was the Son of Man.
By Son of Man he meant God's son who was born as a person.

They answered that some people thought it was John the Baptist, the person who had come before Jesus to tell people that Jesus was coming soon.
Some other people from the towns thought it was Elijah, Jeremiah or one of the prophets that lived long ago and were written about in the books of the Old Testament.

Jesus then asked his apostles who they thought Jesus was.
His apostle Peter said that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of the living God.

Jesus said that because Peter was the one who came forward to say that Jesus was the Messiah, he would be the one that Jesus would use to help build his church.
He called Peter a rock meaning he was a very strong foundation for the church, and said that he would give him the keys to the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus then told all of his apostles not to tell anyone else that he was the Messiah.

(from: wikipedia - confession of peter)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jesus' Apostles - Andrew and Simon Peter

Saturday, November 8, 2014

The Last Supper - Da Vinci


We just learned about Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh.

Another very famous painting by Leonardo Da Vinci was The Last Supper.

It was a painting of the last supper that Jesus had with his disciples before he died on the cross, right when Jesus said that one of them would betray him.

Each disciple's body and face shows a different reaction to the news like anger or surprise.
Jesus is set at the middle of the painting to show that he is the most important.

The number 3 is important for Christians because of what is called the Holy Trinity.
The Father (God), Son (Jesus) and Holy Spirit are three separate but also one complete person.

So in this painting you can see that the disciples are all in groups of three, there are three windows in the back, and even the shape of Jesus is like a triangle, which has three sides.

This painting wasn't done on a canvas like you would hang on a wall, it was done right on a wall in a room.
Because it wasn't done on a painting canvas, the paint on the wall started to look worse year after year.
It was painted over 500 years ago, and many artists have worked very hard to fix up the paint and keep it looking good, which is called restoration.


(from: wikipedia - the last supper (leonardo da vinci))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cat's Eye Nebula

Friday, November 7, 2014

German - How are you?


We just learned some greetings in German, like hallo, auf wiedersehen and Guten tag.

If you want to say How are you? in German, you would say:

Wie geht es Ihnen? - sounds like vee gate us ee-nen /?/

To respond and say Very good thanks, you would say

Sehr gut, danke. - sounds like zair goot dahn kuh /?/

Goethe Institute
(from: wikipedia - Goethe Institute)

In Spanish:
¿Cómo estás?

In French:
Comment allez-vous?

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Sublimation


We've learned now that the water vapor that makes up clouds can come from evaporation which means liquid water molecules floating away into the air.

Sometimes it's really cold out, and the liquid water turns solid and becomes snow and ice.

Remember that things like water can be three different types: Solid - ice, Liquid - water, Gas - steam/vapor

When the water is solid ice or snow, the excited water molecules are still going to shoot off into the air and become water vapor.
But because the water vapor came from a solid like ice instead of a liquid like water, it is called submlimation.

To put it a little simpler:

When water vapor is made from liquid water it is called evaporation.
When water vapor is made from solid water it is called sublimation.


(from: wikipedia - snow)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Tephra

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Spider Chelicerae


We just learned a little about Spider Eyes.

Another part of the spider's cephalothorax is called the chelicerae.
(sounds like kell iss er ee)

Some spiders chelicerae are very easy to see, like the bright green color of the jumping spider Phidippus audax.


(from: wikipedia - chelicerae)

The cheliserae is the part where spiders have their fangs.
The fangs are connected to venom glands. Venom is the poison in a spider's bite.

If you look up close, a spider's fangs look like a needle. They have a very sharp end that has a tiny hole in it.
They poke their prey like a fly or mosquito with their fangs, then inject them with venom just like a needle giving a shot.

Spiders can bite with their fangs and choose how much venom to use. They can just do a dry bite with no venom, or a little venom, or a whole shot of venom.

(from: wikipedia - chelicerae)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Flamingo

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Large Intestine


We've now learned about all of the parts of the large intestine.

Food enters the large intestine at the cecum, goes past the appendix, up the left side of the body at the ascending colon, across the transverse colon, down the descending colon, over the sigmoid colon and out the rectum.

All of these parts after the small intestine are together called the large intestine.



(from: wikipedia - large intestine)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Dorsal interossei hand muscles

Monday, November 3, 2014

Arkansas


We just learned about the US State of Arizona

Another state in the US is Arkansas.

This state is toward the south but not all the way to the ocean.
It's nickname is The Natural State, and it's motto is The People Rule.
The state name comes from an old Native American word meaning People of the South Wind.
The state Kansas comes from the same old Native American word too!


(from: wikipedia - arkansas)

The state flag of Arkansas is red, with a big diamond inside of it.
The diamond has a blue border, and is white on the inside, and there are 25 small white stars inside the blue border.
Inside the white diamond are 4 more blue stars, and the name ARKANSAS.

The 25 white stars are for Arkansas being the 25th state added to the USA.
The blue star above the word ARKANSAS is because Arkansas was part of the Confederacy in the civil war.
The 3 blue stars below are for a few reasons, but one very interesting one is that Arkansas has been part of Spain, part of France, and then part of the US.

(from: wikipedia - arkansas)

The state seal has the words Great Seal of the State of Arkansas.
The inside has a picture of the Angel of Mercy, the Sword of Justice and Goddess of Liberty, with a bald eagle.
There is also a steamboat, plow, beehive and wheat.


(from: wikipedia - arkansas)

There is a large cave in Arkansas called Blanchard Springs Cavern.

(from: wikipedia - blanchard springs cavern)

Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the US was from Arkansas.

(from: wikipedia - bill clinton)

One of the most famous musicians named Johnny Cash was from Arkansas.

(from: wikipedia - johnny cash)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Europe - Many Nations