Sunday, December 25, 2016

Leah


We just learned about the person from the Bible named Rachel.

Another person from the Bible is Leah.

Leah was Rachel's older sister, and when Jacob asked to marry Rachel, her father said he had to marry Leah first.
She was sad that Jacob loved Rachel, but she had six sons (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun) and one daughter (Dinah).

Her son Judah would be the ancestor of David, who was the ancestor of Jesus.
Rachel died in childbirth of her son Benjamin, so when Jacob was laid to rest in his tomb he was put next to Leah.


(from: wikipedia - leah)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Third John

Saturday, December 24, 2016

Gloucester Candlestick


We just learned about the Stavelot Triptych.

Another famous sculpture is the Gloucester Candlestick.

This candlestick is made of bronze, which is a mixture of a bunch of metals like copper, tin and silver.
People believe this candlestick was made up of a bunch of old melted coins.

It has many sculpted little statues on it from the bottom to the top. There are dragons at the bottom, and at the top are the four people who wrote the Bible gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The candlestick has words written on it in Latin. Translated to English they are:
"This flood of light, this work of virtue, bright with holy doctrine instructs us, so that Man shall not be benighted in vice."

This means that sculpture can remind people to follow the teachings of the Bible and live a good life full of light, and not do bad things and live in the darkness.

There are some sculpted figures on the candlestick that are trying to climb up toward the light, and others that are trying to crawl away from it toward the bottom.






(from: wikipedia - gloucester candlestick)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Revolving Torsion Gabo

Friday, December 23, 2016

ASL Alphabet

We just learned how to Count to ten in ASL.

Signing the ASL alphabet is called "fingerspelling".

Here is a helpful video showing these signs:

ASL ABC Lesson and Song - Learn Sign Language Alphabet - My Smart Hands



ASL
(from: wikipedia - american sign language)

The Italian alphabet looks the same as the English alphabet.

The German alphabet has the letters ä, ö, ü, ß

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

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

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Smelting


We just learned about Pig Iron.

Removing metals like iron from iron ore is called smelting.

The rocks that have metal in them get heated up, and the metal ends up separate from the leftover waste.


(from: wikipedia - smelting)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Fire whirl

Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Snake - Skeleton


We just learned about the Snake - Molting.

Another part of snake biology is the skeleton.

Snakes only have a skull, backbone and ribs, and a few small bones left over from when snakes used to be lizards and had legs.
They can have 200 to 400 vertebrae in their backbone, depending on the type of snake.


(from: wikipedia - snake skeleton)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Samoyed

Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Sympathetic Nervous System


We just learned about the Autonomic Nervous System, which is part of the Peripheral Nervous System.

One part of the Autonomic Nervous System is the Sympathetic Nervous System.

This part of our nervous system gives us what we call the fight-or-flight feelings.
That means when something happens that scares you or hurts you, this helps make your decision for whether you run away or whether you fight back.


(from: wikipedia - sympathetic nervous system)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Pulmonary Artery

Monday, December 19, 2016

Insular Mountains


We just learned about the Coast Mountains in the Pacific Coast Belt, in the North American Cordillera.

Another mountain range in that belt is the Insular Mountains in British Columbia, Canada.

These mountains were made from lava, and created the Vancouver Islands and the Haida Gwaii Islands.
The bottom of these mountains goes below the sea level, which is called not fully exposed.

There are still many earthquakes in this area.


(from: wikipedia - insular mountains)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lake Baikal