Altocumulus Clouds

We've now learned that cirrus clouds are thin wispy stringy clouds way up high in the sky,
cumulus clouds are big and puffy, almost like cotton balls,
cumulonimbus clouds are tall mushroom shaped clouds that are seen during storms,
stratus clouds are flat hazy foggy clouds that sometimes have light rain,
nimbostratus clouds are big, hazy and dark and are a sign of rain,
cirrostratus clouds are very high up in the sky and flat and hazy,
altostratus clouds are flat and hazy and in the middle of the sky,
and cirrocumulus clouds are up like small spread out cotton balls.

Another type of cloud is called an altocumulus cloud, which looks puffy just like the other cumulus clouds, but it is larger and darker than the cirrocumulus clouds.

Just like the altostratus cloud, the altocumulus is in the middle of the sky, not very high and not very low.

(from: wikipedia - altocumulus cloud)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Marble

Basset Hound

We just learned about the Australian Cattle Dog.

Another type of dog is the Basset Hound, sometimes also called a Hush Puppy.

Long ago people used Basset Hounds as rabbit hunters.
They have a great sense of smell and are one of the best smellers of any dog!

Bassets are long heavy dogs with very short legs.
They have long ears that hang down from their heads.
Their ears are so long that basset hound puppies sometimes trip over their ears, and when the dogs are eating sometimes their ears get into their food.
Because their ears hang down, they can help bring smells right to their nose so they can find things better.

Most bassets have a white tip on their tail, which hunters would use to help find their dogs while the dogs were out looking for rabbits.


(from: wikipedia - basset hound)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Springbok

Brachial Artery

We know that the subclavian artery brings oxygenated blood from the heart toward the arm, and then continues on to turn into the axillary artery.

After that it goes down the arm between your biceps and triceps and is called the brachial artery.



(from: wikipedia - brachial artery)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Bronchi

Massachusetts

We just learned about the US state of Maryland.

Massachusetts is a state on the east coast of the US, right on the Atlantic Ocean.

It's nicknames are: The Bay State, The Old Colony State and The Codfish State.

It's mottos are: Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem which means by the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty.


(from: wikipedia - massachusetts)

The flag of Massachusetts is mostly white, with the blue state seal in the middle.
The state seal has a Native American on it, holding a spear pointed downward meaning peace.
There is an arm holding a sword above the seal, to remind people that we had to fight for our country's freedom.


(from: wikipedia - flag of massachusetts)

Two of the best universities in the world are in Boston, Harvard and MIT.


(from: wikipedia - harvard university)

Massachusetts was one of the first places the travelers to America landed to build their homes, after sailing on ships like the Mayflower.

(from: wikipedia - mayflower)

A famous writer named Henry David Thoreau went to live in a cabin on a pond called Walden Pond, where he wrote a famous book called Walden about simple living in simple surroundings.

(from: wikipedia - walden pond)

There have been 4 presidents who were born in Massachusetts.
John Adams, the 2nd president from 1789 to 1797

(from: wikipedia - john adams)

John Quincy Adams, the 6th president from 1825 to 1829

(from: wikipedia - john quincy adams)

John F. Kennedy, the 35th president from 1953 to 1960

(from: wikipedia - john f. kennedy)

George H. W. Bush, the 41st president from 1989 to 1993

(from: wikipedia - george h. w. bush)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jordan

Jesus Crucifixion - Nailed to the cross

We learned that the hill where Jesus was crucified was called Calvary.

When they put him on the cross, they put nails through his hands and feet to hold him to the cross.


(from: wikipedia - crucifixion of jesus)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jesus' Miracles - Healing the centurion's servant

Relativity - M.C. Escher

We just learned about the painting The Night Watch by Rembrandt.

Another famous painting was called Relativity by Dutch painter Maurits Cornelis Escher, also known as M. C. Escher, painted in 1953.
Escher was known for making his paintings very detailed and sometimes using math ideas to make his pictures interesting.

In his Relativity painting, there are many stairways that connect in strange ways, and people that look like they must be standing on the ceiling or on the walls.


(from: wikipedia - m. c. escher)

The way he made his painting was using something called a lithograph on limestone.

For a lithograph, first the artists take a large slab of limestone, and scrape it clean so there a nice flat surface to draw on.
Then they use something like a greasy oily crayon to draw the painting.
When the painting is done, they pour a type of acid and gooey sticky thing called gum arabic on the painting and spread it around and let it dry.
The acid and gum arabic sticks only to the parts that don't have oily crayon, and works like a clear cover for those areas.
After it is dry, they use something called a solvent, which washes away the oils from the crayon.
Then they pour liquid ink onto the limestone and rub it in, and that ink sticks only to where the oily crayon was.
They wash the limestone with water, and that washes off the liquid ink from the areas that didn't have crayon, because they are protected by that clear cover from the acid and gum arabic.
After all of that, the stone has oily ink only on the parts where the drawing is. They lay a sheet of paper on top of it, and press it down onto the stone, and when they remove the paper it has a copy of the painting the artist did.
They can make many copies from the same lithograph limestone, kind of like a copy machine before the copy machines were invented.



(from: wikipedia - lithography)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lunar Eclipse

German - They are excited

We just learned that I am happy in German is Ich bin glücklich, you are sad is Sie traurig sind,
and he is angry is er ist wütend.

Let's learn how to say they are excited.
Sie sind aufgeregt

We can break it up into three words:
They - Sie - sounds like Zee /?/
are - sind - sounds like zint /?/
excited - aufgeregt - Sounds like ow-f-guh-ray-kt /?/


So all together Sie sind aufgeregt sounds like Zee zint ow-f-guh-raykt.


(from: wikipedia - Goethe Institute)

Do you remember how to say it in Spanish?
Ellos estan emocionados

Do you remember how to say it in French?
Ils sont excité