Ernest Shackleton

We just learned about the explorer Robert Falcon Scott.

Another famous Antarctic explorer is Ernest Shackleton.

Shackleton had been on an expedition before with Robert Falcon Scott, but got sick and was sent home.

In 1908 he took a ship called the Nimrod to Antarctica, and were the first team to climb to the top of Mount Erebus, the tallest mountain in Antarctica.

In 1914 Roald Amundsen had already made it to the South Pole, so Shackleton went back to Antarctica to try and be the first person to cross all the way from one side of Antarctica to the other.

Shackleton took 2 ships, the Endurance and the Aurora.
The Endurance would land at the north side by the Weddell sea where they would start their journey, and the Aurora would land at the other side by the Ross sea as the ending point of their journey.

In 1915 the Endurance landed, but got stuck in the ice and sank into the sea.
The crew was stranded there with no way to get home and not enough supplies to get across Antarctica.
Shackleton led some of his men north across some of the ice, and on lifeboats to get hundreds of miles away to an island where they could be rescued.

In 1921 Shackleton was going to lead another expedition to try and sail all the way around Antarctica, but got sick and died before he could go on the journey.




(from: wikipedia - ernest shackleton)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Motte

Christianization of Poland

We just learned about the Neume.

Another part of early Christianity is the Christianization of Poland.

In 966 AD the ruler of Poland named Mieszko I was baptized.

When he got married to Dobrawa of Bohemia, she helped him become a Christian, and then after he was baptized many people across all of Poland learned about Jesus and decided to become Christians.


(from: wikipedia - christianization of poland)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Ignatius of Antioch

Abraham Lincoln - Daniel Chester French

We just learned about the statue of Nathan Hale by Frederick William MacMonnies.

Another famous American sculpture is the statue of Abraham Lincoln made by Daniel Chester French in 1920.

French was born in New Hampshire, but later moved to Massachussets where he met some famous artists and was training how to sculpt.
He later went to Florence Italy to help learn from other famous sculptors.

Through his life he made a few other sculptures of Abraham Lincoln that people really liked, so he was chosen to make the most famous statue of Lincoln in Washington D.C.

He started the sculpture in 1914, and it took him 6 years to finish.
The statue is 30 feet tall, is made of 28 blocks of marble, and weighs 170 tons.

Lincoln is sitting in a chair, staring straight ahead looking serious.
There is an American flag over the sides and back of the chair.


(from: wikipedia - abraham lincoln (lincoln memorial))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Khajuraho Group of Monuments

Russian - The chair is small

We just learned that in Russian this house is big is Этот дом большой (Etot dom bol'shoy).

Let's learn about more things we see every day.

To say The chair is small, we say Стул маленький (Stul malen'kiy).

The chair - Стул (stul) - sounds like stoh-l
文A

small - маленький (malen'kiy) - Sounds like mah-len-kee
文A

So all together Стул маленький (Stul malen'kiy) sounds like stoh-l mah-len-kee.


(from: wikipedia - russian academy of sciences)

Norwegian: Stolen er liten

Greek: Η καρέκλα είναι μικρή

ASL: This chair is small

Italian: La sedia è piccolo

German: Der Stuhl ist klein

Spanish: La silla es pequeña

French: La chaise est petit

Hydraulic Brake

We just learned about the Hydraulic Cylinder.

Another type of a machine is a Hydraulic Brake.

In a machine like a car, the brakes that stop the car work by closing tightly and squeezing the wheel to try and slow it down.
The pieces that close are called pistons, and in a hydraulic brake system they are pushed closed by liquids.

There is a tube that is hooked up to the brake, and when a liquid called brake fluid is pushed in, it pushes on the pistons which push on the wheel and close it.
The brake fluid is pushed into the tube from another place, where a metal pole is pushed into the the liquid to push it down into the tube.

So in a hydraulic brake system in a car, when you push your foot down on the brake, it pushes the liquid into the tube which pushes the brakes closed and stops the car.


(from: wikipedia - hydraulic brake)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Falcon

Cheetah

We just learned about the Clouded Leopard.

We learned a long time ago about how the Cheetah can run 75 miles per hour and has marks on its face to help block the sun.

The Cheetah is also called the acinonyx jubatus, and there are four different types of cheetahs in the world.

- The Southeast African cheetah lives in the countries in the southeast part of Africa like South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya, and is the one most people think of when talking about cheetahs. There are only about 5,000 of these cheetahs left in the world.
Some of these Cheetahs have long black stripes going down their back, and these are called "King Cheetahs". They are still Southeast African cheetahs, but they are different colored, kind of like the black panther.

- The Asiatic cheetah lives in the country of Iran, and there are only about 50 of them left in the world. Its fur is shorter than the African cheetahs.

- The Northeast African cheetah lives in countries in the Northeast part of Africa like Ethiopia, and there are about 950 left of them in the world. It looks a lot like the southeast African cheetah, but has darker fur and no spots on its back feet.

- The Northwest African cheetah lives in the Sahara desert, and looks very different from the other cheetahs. It has lighter fur almost white, and very few spots on its back and legs. There are only about 250 of them left in the world.

The cheetahs are amazing fast animals, but there are so few left of them in the world because of people hunting them.
Cheetahs only have a few babies per year, and sometimes they don't have babies at all so bringing back this wild cat takes a long time.
Lots of zoos and parks are trying to bring back cheetahs but it is a lot of work and takes years to try and save this cat from going extinct!

Southeast African Cheetah:




Southeast African King Cheetah:

Asiatic Cheetah:

Northeast African Cheetah:

Northwest African Cheetah:

(from: wikipedia - cheetah)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Blue Blubber Jellyfish

Lacrimal Gland

We just learned about the Depth Perception.

Another part of the eye is the Lacrimal Gland, also called the caruncula lacrimalis.

The word lacrimal comes from the latin word for tears like when you cry.
This gland is up above your eye, right behind the bone where your eyebrow is.

When you cry, this gland makes the tears that flow into your eyeball and make it all wet.


(from: wikipedia - lacrimal gland)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Median Sulcus