Last Supper - Communion

We've learned that Jesus was having his Last Supper with his apostles, he said that Judas would betray him.

While Jesus was at the dinner, he took some bread and gave it to his disciples, told them to eat it, and that it was his body.
Then he poured some wine in a cup and gave it to his disciples, told them to drink it, and that it was his blood.

He told them to eat and drink the bread and wine like that to remember him because he was going to die on the cross for them.

This is sometimes called Holy Communion, or the Eucharist, or the Lord's Supper.
The word Eucharist means thanksgiving.

(from: wikipedia - eucharist)


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

The Great Wave off Kanagawa - Katsushika Hokusai

We just learned about the famous painting American Gothic by Grant Wood.

Another famous piece of art is the painting The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Japanese painter Katsushika Hokusai in 1830.

This enormous wave in the painting is a wave of the open sea, called okinami.
If you look in the background of the painting you can see Mt. Fuji in Japan.

The style of painting for this artwork is called ukiyo-e, which means pictures of the floating world.
The paintings were woodblock printing, which was a special way for people to make paintings.

First a painter would paint a picture on a piece of very thin paper called washi.
Then someone would glue the paper on to a piece of wood, where a carver would carve traced lines through the paper into the wood to match the painting.
Then they would remove the paper, and paint the colors on to the wooden block.
Next another piece of fresh paper would be put on the block, and pressed hard against it using a tool called a baren. When the paper was pulled away, it would have a print copy of the original painting from the block.

Using this style, they could make many copies of the artwork and sell them to the rich people in the area.


(from: wikipedia - the great wave off kanagawa)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lunar Impact Craters

German Alphabet - ä, ö, ü, ß

The letters in the German alphabet look just like the ones in the English alphabet, but there are four extra letters:

ä, ö, ü, ß

ä sounds like the a in the word game.
The word gähnen means yawn, and it sounds like gain-en. - /?/

ö sounds like the u in the word put.
The word Löwe means lion, and it sounds like luavah - /?/

ü sounds like the oo in the word soon.
The word müde means tired, and it sounds like moo-dah - /?/

ß sounds like the letter s, just held out a little longer.
The word Straße means street, and it sounds like strah-ss-ss-uh. - /?/


(from: wikipedia - Goethe Institute)

Do you remember the Spanish alphabet?
A, B, C, D, E, F, G
H, I, J, K, L, LL, M, N, Ñ
O, P, Q, R, RR, S, T, U
V, W, X, Y, Z

Do you remember the French alphabet?
A, B, C, D, E, F, G
H, I, J, K, L, M, N
O, P, Q, R, S, T, U
V, W, X, Y, Z

Stationary Front

We've learned that a cold front is a bunch of cold air moving along, a warm front is a bunch of warm air moving along, and an occluded front is when one type of front catches up to another one and takes it over.

Sometimes cold and warm fronts crash into each other, but neither of them is strong enough to take over the other one.
So they just sort of mix together and sometimes make some interesting weather.

Since both fronts are fighting against each other but neither are moving much, this is called a stationary front.
The word stationary means not moving.

Many times because there is warm air up high being held up for a while, a stationary front can be the sign of rain or snow storms that last a long time.

On a weather map the stationary front is the red half circle picture for a warm front on one side of a line, and the blue triangle picture for a cold front on the other side of the line.

(from: wikipedia - stationary front)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lava Channel

Spider Gossamer Silk Ballooning

We just learned about the Spider Silk Glands.

Sometimes when little baby spiders are born, there are not enough small insects for all the spiders to share for food,
so they need to move to a new place where there are more things for them to eat.

It would take a very long time for them to walk far enough to find more food, so they have a special way to travel very far easily.
The baby spiders stand up on their tip toes, put their abdomen in the air, and using their spinnerets they shoot some very fine silk called gossamer out. The gossamer collects together and almost looks like a kite.
Then the spider waits for a gust of wind to come along, and because they are just tiny spiders they get picked up and blown through the air, flying until they land on something like a tree where they can set up a web and start looking for food.

This is called ballooning or kiting.

(from: wikipedia - spider silk)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Reindeer

Ascending Aorta

We've learned that the left ventricle chamber of the heart pushes the good oxygenated blood to all the parts of your body, and the big tube leaving the heart is called the aorta.

The aorta starts by going up toward your head, and then it turns and goes down towards your belly area.
The part where it is going up is called the ascending aorta.
The word ascending means going up.


(from: wikipedia - ascending aorta)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Depressor Lip Muscles

Hawaii

We just learned about the US State of Georgia.

The US state of Hawaii is way out in the Pacific ocean, and is made up of hundreds of islands.
There are eight large islands: Ni'ihau, Kaua'i, O'ahu, Moloka'i, Lāna'i, Kaho'olawe, Maui and the Island of Hawai'i.

The biggest island is called Hawai'i, just like the name of the state.
Sometimes so they don't get mixed up, people just call it The Big Island.

In the language of the native Hawaiians, they said the vowels a little differently than we normally do.
For the word Hawaii, it's pronounced Hah Wah Ee Ee.

Any time you see the apostrophe like this ' then you say the vowel separately.
Lana'i is Lah Nah Ee.

Hawaii was the 50th state added to the United States, in 1959.

The state nickname is The Aloha State, and it's motto is Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono which means The Life of the Land is Perpetuated in Righteousness

(from: wikipedia - hawaii)

The flag of the state of Hawaii has the flag of the United Kingdom on it, to remember that Hawaii used to be owned by the United Kingdom. There are also eight red white and blue stripes, for the eight major islands of the state.

(from: wikipedia - flag of hawaii)

The seal of Hawaii has a shield on it, with red white and blue stripes, and a pulo'ulo'u which is a stick with a ball on the end that was used for kings and queens.
On the left is King Kamehameha I who helped bring all the islands together, and the goddess of liberty on the right.

(from: wikipedia - seal of hawaii)

There are many waterfalls all over all of the islands, like the Akaka Falls waterfall on The Big Island.

(from: wikipedia - akaka falls state park)

There are beaches with black sand on them in Hawaii, like Punalu'u Beach.

(from: wikipedia - punalu'u beach)

The islands of Hawaii were made when volcanoes erupted and the lava cooled and turned into islands.

The Big Island has five volcanoes on it, and two of them are active.
The most active one is called Kīlauea and it has been erupting since 1983.

(from: wikipedia - kīlauea)

On the island of Maui, there is a shield volcano called Haleakala.

(from: wikipedia - haleakalā)

The 44th president of the United States Barack Obama was born in Hawaii.

(from: wikipedia - barack obama)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: South Korea