Oxygen

We just learned about Potassium.

Another chemical element is Oxygen, called "O" for short on the Periodic Table.

Oxygen might just be the most important element for humans on the whole planet.

The air we breathe has oxygen that goes into our lungs, which is carried off to parts of our body in our blood.

Water is made up of the chemicals hydrogen and oxygen.

When you burn wood in a fireplace, the fire needs oxygen to keep burning.

And remember that all elements can be gas, liquid or solid depending on how hot or cold they are?

Liquid oxygen is super cold, almost -300 degrees!
When we sent a space shuttle up into outer space, we used a huge tank full of liquid oxygen to burn because it is such great fuel.

(from: wikipedia - oxygen)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Electroluminescence

Kakapo

The kakapo is a type of parrot that lives in New Zealand.

It is not like a normal parrot, because it can not fly!
The kakapo lives on the ground and hunts for food at night.

Because it does not fly, the kakapo is a heavy slow bird and has been hunted by people and other animals a lot.
The kakapo has a very good sense of smell, and also has a special smell on it's body that other kakapos can smell from far away.


(from: wikipedia - kakapo)

Other animals sometimes can smell the kakapo smell and then they come and eat the kakapo. There are not that many kakapos left, so they are an endangered species and the people of New Zealand are trying to protect them.

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Hedgehog

Villi

We've learned now that the duodenum, ileum and jejunum are all part of the small intestine.

Inside your intestines are small things along the walls like little fingers.
These are called your intestinal villus, or just one of them is called a villi.

They are very small, and they help the intestines absorb all the good things from your food that your body needs.

(from: wikipedia - intestinal villus)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Calf Muscle

Malawi

We just learned about the country of Zimbabwe.

Malawi is a country in Africa, in the south east part of the continent.

(from: wikipedia - malawi)

The flag of Malawi is a black stripe with a red rising sun in the middle, a red stripe and a green stripe.
The black stripe is for the African people, the red rising sun is for hope and freedom, the red stripe is for the people fighting for their country, and the green is for nature.


(from: wikipedia - flag of malawi)

To eat in Malawi you might have kachumbari, which is a salad made with tomatoes, onions and chili peppers.

(from: wikipedia - kachumbari)

Lake Malawi is the ninth largest lake in the world.

(from: wikipedia - lake malawi)

Not every place in Malawi has electricity, so a man named William Kamkwamba found a way to make a windmill using old bicycle parts and some scraps from old things people had thrown away.
He used the windmill to give electricity to some things in his house, and people are trying to do the same thing in other parts of the country because they can't afford electricity where they live.

(from: wikipedia - william kamkwamba)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Austria

Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl

We just learned about Jesus' teaching stories called the Parable of the Sower and the Parable of the Weeds

Another two parables Jesus told were called the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl.

Jesus told his followers that the kingdom of heaven was like a treasure someone found in a field.
When they found it, they wanted the treasure so badly that they sold everything he had just so that they could have that treasure.

He said the kingdom of heaven is like someone who is looking for beautiful pearls. When they found one pearl it was so beautiful and valuable that they sold everything they had just to buy that pearl.

Jesus isn't telling us to go buy fields and pearls or to hunt for hidden treasure.
He is telling us that following his teachings and wanting to get to heaven should be so important to us that we want it more than anything else in the world.

(from: wikipedia - parable of the hidden treasure)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Matthew

Mars 2 - 6, Viking 1 & 2

We've learned about the space exploration of Mars and the spacecrafts that got near the planet.
There have also been space crafts that have landed on Mars and studied the planet.

The Russian space program had their Mars program:

Mars 2 was launched May 19, 1971, and crash landed on the planet.
Mars 3 was launched May 28, 1971, landed on the planet and sent back information for 14.5 seconds before it stopped working.
Mars 6 was launched August 5, 1973, and crash landed on the planet.

The US NASA space program had their Viking program:

The Viking 1 was launched August 20, 1975
The Viking 2 was launched September 9, 1975
Both of these spacecrafts had orbiters and landers. The orbiters circled the planet taking pictures, and then launched landers to the ground.
The landers then did scientific experiments on the ground to test the dirt and the air.


(from: wikipedia - viking program)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: White Dwarf

Spanish - Counting to fifty nine

We just learned how to count to 49 in Spanish, let's keep going!

50 cincuenta - sounds like see-n-koo-en-tah /?/
51 cincuenta y uno - sounds like see-n-koo-en-tah ee oo-n-oh /?/
52 cincuenta y dos - sounds like see-n-koo-en-tah ee doh-ss /?/
53 cincuenta y tres - sounds like see-n-koo-en-tah ee t-day-ss /?/
54 cincuenta y cuatro - sounds like see-n-koo-en-tah ee koo-ah-t-doh /?/
55 cincuenta y cinco - sounds like see-n-koo-en-tah ee see-n-koh /?/
56 cincuenta y seis - sounds like see-n-koo-en-tah ee say-ss /?/
57 cincuenta y siete - sounds like see-n-koo-en-tah ee see-ay-tay /?/
58 cincuenta y ocho - sounds like see-n-koo-en-tah ee oh-choh /?/
59 cincuenta y nueve - sounds like see-n-koo-en-tah ee noo-ay-vay /?/


(from: wikipedia - Association of Spanish Language Academies)

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