Saturday, July 11, 2015

Charing Cross Bridge - Derain


We just learned about the famous work of art Landscape in Graubünden with Sun Rays by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.

Another famous work of art is the painting Charing Cross Bridge by French artist André Derain in 1906.

Derain was part of a group of artists painting in a style called Fauvism which came from the French words les Fauves, meaning the wild beasts.
This kind of art used lots of strong colors and wild shapes.

Derain's painting is of the Charing Cross Bridge in London, which goes over the River Thames and is in front of the Palace of Westminster which is the castle where the royal family and leaders of England are.

All of the colors are very bright, and the shapes are thick.
The sky is pink which was a color used a lot in Fauvism paintings for the brightly colored sky during a sunset.
The castle is green, and the hills are blue.
The businesses on the left are all different colors, and the river is reflecting the buildings, bridge and sky in bright colors.

The colors and shapes are wild and different, and that is to try and show the beauty of a painting that might look boring if it was just painted to look exactly like the real world.

(from: wikipedia - andré derain)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Solar - Magnetic Field

Friday, July 10, 2015

German - Counting to Fifteen


We counted to 10 in German, now let's learn some bigger numbers!

11 elf - sounds like eh-lf /?/
12 zwölf - sounds like t-swelf /?/
13 dreizehn - sounds like duh-ah-ee-t-sen /?/
14 vierzehn - sounds like fit-sin /?/
15 fünfzehn - sounds like foon-f-t-sin /?/

Goethe Institute
(from: wikipedia - Goethe Institute)

Do you remember how to say it in Spanish?
once, doce, trese, catorce, quince

Do you remember how to say it in French?
onze, douze, treize, quatorze, quinze

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Lightning - Re-strike


We just learned that when the lightning electricity zaps down or discharges it's called the Return Stroke.

Most of the time when lightning zaps down in a lightning strike it is not just one zap, it is anywhere from 3 to 30!
The flashes are so fast sometimes it looks like a flashing strobe light.

After the first return stroke, the other zaps are called re-strikes.

(from: wikipedia - lightning)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Mercury

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Poodle


We just learned about the type of dog the golden retriever.

Another type of dog is the poodle.

There are three sizes of poodles, the standard, miniature and toy.
The standard large poodles were first used as hunting dogs for birds, and are very smart.
The smaller miniature and toy poodles were used to hunt truffles which are a type of mushroom.

Later on the smaller poodles were owned by rich people and royalty, and because they wanted them to look fancy they gave them different types of haircuts to show them off.

Their long curly hair can be twisted into braids like hair in dreadlocks, this is called a corded coat.
There are many types of other haircuts where the face, belly legs or tail are clipped to look fancy.

(from: wikipedia - poodle)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Mosquito Larvae

Tuesday, July 7, 2015

Venules


After the microcirculation happens at the capillaries, the deoxygenated blood that is all used up goes into small tubes called venules.

The many tiny tubes from the capillaries get combined into fewer bigger tubes called venules where the used up deoxygenated blood goes.

(from: wikipedia - venule)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Stomach - Bolus and Chyme

Monday, July 6, 2015

Rhode Island


We just learned about the US State of Pennsylvania.

Rhode Island is a state on the northeast part of the US, right on the Atlantic Ocean.

It's nickname is The Ocean State and Little Rhody, and it's motto is Hope.
The full name of the state is State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

It is the smallest state in the US, but it has the longest name of any state.
There are over 30 islands in Rhode Island.


(from: wikipedia - rhode island)

The flag of Rhode Island is an anchor with the state motto of Hope above it.
It was based on the sentence from the Bible, "Hope we have as an anchor of the soul.".


(from: wikipedia - flag of rhode island)

The oldest working chain suspended carousel is the Watch Hill carousel.

(from: wikipedia - watch hill carousel)

One of the bridges to an island is called Claiborne Pell Newport Bridge

(from: wikipedia - claiborne pell newport bridge)

A long time ago in Rhode Island they thought there were vampires because they didn't understand the disease known as tuberculosis.


(from: wikipedia - new england vampire panic)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Madagascar

Sunday, July 5, 2015

Peter and John put in Jail


After Peter had healed a man, he and the apostle John were both put in jail.
They were arrested by some of the leaders who did not believe Jesus was the messiah.

They brought them in front of a bunch of powerful rulers and asked them how they healed the man.
Peter said that he was healed by the power of Jesus who was crucified.

They still did not believe Peter, but they were afraid of what would happen if they kept them in jail or tried to hurt them.
Many people had seen Peter heal the man, and they knew that if they did something to Peter it would look very bad.
So they yelled at Peter and told him not to talk about Jesus anymore.

Peter said he was not going to listen to them and would still teach people about Jesus.
They let Peter and John go, and they went on teaching people about Jesus.


(from: wikipedia - saint peter)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Eye for Eye