La Grande Vitesse - Alexander Calders

We just learned about the Birth of the Muses by Jacob Lipchitz.

Another famous American sculpture is La Grande Vitesse by Alexander Calders Calders made in 1969 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Calder was born in 1898 in Pennsylvania. He was the third famous artist named Alexander Calder, after his father and grandfather who were both famous artists named Alexander.

Calder was famous for making mobiles, sculptures hanging from strings that would spin slowly with the air, and also "stabiles" that looked like they were moving but were big solid sculptures.

His sculpture La Grande Vitesse which means The Great Swiftness, or The Grand Rapids.
The sculpture is famous in the town of Grand Rapids, is nicknamed The Calder, and they even use it in the logo for the city.


(from: wikipedia - la grande vitesse)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Michigan Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument

Swahili - Cow, chicken, pig

We just learned that black white brown and gray in Swahili is nyeusi, white, brown, gray.

We already know that in Swahili, dog is mbwa and cat is paka.

Now let's learn about some farm animals!

cow - ng'ombe - sounds like ng-oh-m-bay - 文A

chicken - kuku - sounds like koo-koo - 文A

pig - nguruwe - sounds like ng-oo-roo-way - 文A





(from: wikipedia - swahili language)

Russian: корова (korova)курица (kuritsa), свинья (svin'ya)

Norwegian: ku, kylling, gris

Greek: αγελάδα, κοτόπουλο, χοίρο

ASL: cow, chicken, pig

Italian: mucca, pollo, maiale

German: Kuh, Huhn, Schwein

Spanish: vaca, pollo, cerdo

French: vache, poulet, porc

Engine Block

We just learned about the Coupling on a locomotive.

Let's learn a little more about how most cars work.

The biggest most important part of the car is the Engine Block, sometimes called the cylinder block under the hood.

This is a big solid piece of metal in the car.
The engine block does not move, but it has parts hooked into it that move to help make the car go.

Because the moving engine is so powerful, this block has to be made in a cast or mold.
That means they take hot liquid metal, pour it into something to hold it's shape and then let it cool.
After it is cooled the block is very strong and can hold onto other pieces that are moving very fast and pushing very hard.


(from: wikipedia - engine block)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Ball Valve

Chimpanzee

Let's keep learning about Primates.

One type of primate is the Chimpanzee, also called the common chimpanzee or robust chimpanzee.

This type of primate is the most like a human of any other primate.
Their skeletons, brains, and bodies are the most alike humans, and the way they act toward each other is a lot like humans can.

Chimpanzees are usually about 150 pounds and about 4 feet tall.
There is another type of chimpanzee called the "bonobo" that is a lot like the common chimpanzee, but a little smaller.

Chimpanzees have dark hair all over their bodies, except for their face, the inside of their hands and the bottoms of their feet.
With hands like humans, chimps can climb trees, and even use sticks and rocks like tools.
Their feet are more like a human hand, which helps them climbing trees.

These primates hang around in all different types of groups.
Sometimes there are groups of males that go hunting together, sometimes groups of females working together to help raise babies, and sometimes groups of males, females, babies and old chimps all staying together.

They live in forests, climb trees, are covered in fur and make loud screeching sounds, but these primates are the closest things to a cousin that humans have in the animal kingdom.


(from: wikipedia - chimpanzee)



Baby Chimpanzees Playing With Bubbles - BBC Earth


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cats

Paratope

We just learned about the Antibody that helps find and get rid of pathogen diseases.

Another part of the immune system is the Paratope.

We learned about how the antibody is like a detective with a lock looking for the antigen with the right key.

The paratope is the part of the antibody that is like the lock.
They are made up of chemicals in the body that the antibody uses to find diseases.


(from: wikipedia - paratope)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Central Retinal Artery

Georgia

We just learned about the country of Estonia

Let's learn a little about the country of Georgia!

Don't confuse this with the US state of Georgia, it's on the other side of the world!

This is a small country that borders Russia to the north, Azerbaijan to the east, and Armenia and Turkey to the south. It also borders the Black Sea.

About 3 million people live there, and it is about 27,000 square miles.


(from: wikipedia - georgia (country))

Georgia's flag is from the old medieval Kingdom of Georgia that ruled the land in the middle ages.
It is a red cross on a white background, with smaller red crosses in the other four corners.


(from: wikipedia - flag of georgia)

To eat in Georgia you might have nigvziani badrijani. This is fried eggplant with walnuts and garlic.


(from: wikipedia - badrijani)

Visiting Georgia you might go see

(from: wikipedia - rabati castle)

Georgia is home to an ancient monastery in the town of Vardzia
It is built in a cave with over 400 rooms, with paintings and churches and bell towers.

(from: wikipedia - vardzia)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Ross Ice Shelf

Protestant Reformation

We just learned about Sola Fide.

Another part of early Christianity is the Protestant Reformation.

Around the same time that Martin Luther was disagreeing with how the Catholic church told people to worship God, there were other people that also disagreed in other ways.

With so many people disagreeing with the Catholic church, there were people that started to get together in groups and worship the way they thought was right.

So before where people would have to go to the Catholic church, now they could go meet together and worship the way Luther thought was right, calling themselves Lutherans.
Others thought John Calvin was right, so they met together and called themselves Calvinists.
Some believed people should only be baptised as adults, so they called themselves Anabaptists.
There were even rulers like the King of England who thought he should be the head of the church so he started the Anglican church.

All of these groups together were called "protestants", meaning that they protested or disagreed with the rules of the Catholic church.

The protestant reformation was when a lot of Christians protested the rules of the Catholic church, and "reformed" or decided to worship in a different way.

A lot of times the leaders of the Catholic church did not like this, and tried to have people put in jail or even killed for trying to go against what they said.
Eventually many people left the Catholic church and started their own groups or religions.


(from: wikipedia - reformation)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Muslim Conflict