Israel

Israel is a small country in Asia.
It is right on the border of the continent of Africa, and it is the only country in Asia that touches Africa where it borders against the country of Egypt.
So if you wanted to drive from Asia to Africa, you'd have to drive through Israel!

(from: wikipedia - israel)

For lunch in Israel, you might have a felafel pita, kind of like a sandwich.

(from: wikipedia - israeli cuisine)

A very famous city in Israel is Jerusalem, which is very old and has a lot of history in the Bible.

(from: wikipedia - tourism in israel)

Natalie Portman is a famous actress from Israel.
She played Queen Amidala in the Star Wars movies.

(from: wikipedia - queen amidala)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Africa Continent

Jesus' Apostles - Matthew

We've learned about 6 apostles so far:
Fishermen Andrew and Simon Peter
Fishermen James and John who were brothers and sons of Zebedee.
Philip and Bartholomew who were from the same town as the others.

In another town, Jesus called a man named Matthew who was a tax collector.
In Jesus days tax collectors were usually not very good people, they cheated and stole from people when they collected taxes.
So when Jesus called on Matthew a lot of people were upset because they thought he was bad.
Jesus told them that he didn't come to help the people who were perfect, he came to help out the sinners.

(from: wikipedia - calling of matthew)



Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Tenth Commandment

Moon Rille

We've learned so far about the lunar highlands and maria.

There are long deep marks like grooves on the moon that are called rilles.

(from: wikipedia - rille)



Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Sputnik

Spanish - Do you speak Spanish?

To ask if someone speaks Spanish, you say hablas español /?/

It sounds like ah-blah-s ess-pan-yoh-l.

To say yes, you would say si, sounds like see.
Or no, which sounds just like the way you say it in English.


(from: wikipedia - Association of Spanish Language Academies)

Do you remember how to say it in French?
parlez-vous français

Pillow Lava

We just learned about Igneous Rocks that are made from lava.

Sometimes volcanoes can be underwater!

When they erupt, they make what is called pillow lava, because the lava rocks end up looking like pillows.

(from: wikipedia - pillow lava)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Sound Waves

Octopus

The octopus is a strange looking animal, mostly because it has no bones!
The only hard part is their beak which they use to eat with.

The octopus has three hearts, two for their gills and one for the rest of their bodies.


(from: wikipedia - octopus)

Octopuses are very good at hiding and getting away from danger.
They can squeeze into small spaces since they don't have bones, spit out ink to confuse their enemies, change colors, and if an enemy grabs one of their legs they can even let it get ripped off!

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Wild Turkey Snood

Plantar foot muscles

We just learned about the dorsal foot muscles, that are mostly responsible for lifting your toes up.

The foot muscles you use for scrunching your toes down are called the plantar foot muscles.
There are ten of them, with really big long names!

The big one that moves your big toe is called the abductor hallucis.


(from: wikipedia - abductor hallucis)



Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Wrist bones - carpals