The Little Drummer Boy

We just learned about the Christmas song White Christmas.

Another Christmas song is The Little Drummer Boy.

This song was written in 1941 by Katherine Kennicott Davis in America.

It used to be called "Carol of the Drum" and the writer said she had the idea to write it after hearing a French song called "Patapan".
In the French song the drums go patapan, and in her song they go "pah-rum-pum-pum-pum".

The first people to sing it on a record were the Trapp Family.
The Trapp Family is also sometimes called the Von Trapps, and their family story was the real life inspiration for the movie Sound of Music.

In the Little Drummer Boy song, a little boy comes to see baby Jesus in the manger, and the Magi are giving him really expensive gifts.
The only thing he has is a drum, so he plays a song for baby Jesus and then Mary and Jesus smile at him.


(from: wikipedia - The Little Drummer Boy)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: French Wars of Religion

Jonah - Sistine Chapel - Michelangelo

We just learned about Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel painting of the prophets Isaiah and Daniel.

Another prophet that Michelangelo painted on the ceiling was Jonah.

Jonah is shown with a giant fish in his painting, because in the Bible he was swallowed by a fish.
The painting of Jonah is on the far right end of the ceiling, and Jonah is looking up toward the painting of the Separation of Light from Darkness.


(from: wikipedia - sistine chapel ceiling)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: La Grande Vitesse - Alexander Calders

Hindi - Cow, chicken, pig

We just learned that black white brown and gray in Hindi is काला (kaala), सफेद (saphed), भूरा (bhoora), ग्रे (gre).

We already know that in Hindi, dog is कुत्ता (kutta) and cat is बिल्ली (billee).

Now let's learn about some farm animals!

cow - गाय (gaay) - sounds like gah-ee - 文A

chicken - मुर्गी (murgee) - sounds like moo-edr-ghee - 文A

pig - सुअर (suar) - sounds like soo-eh-r - 文A





(from: wikipedia - devanagari)

Swahili: ng'ombe, kuku, nguruwe

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

Network Card

We just learned about the Sound Card.

Another part of a computer is the Network Card, also called a network interface controller (NIC), network adapter or LAN adapter, where LAN means local area network.

When you are on your computer and you want to connect to the internet to send a message, chat or play games, you use the computer's network card.
These days the network card is just part of the computer's motherboard, but a long time ago you had to buy a special card for your computer.

With wifi and cell phones it is very easy now to get on a network and share messages, but it used to be a lot of work!


(from: wikipedia - network interface controller)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Engine Block

Verreaux's sifaka

We just learned about the Diademed Sifaka.

Another type of lemur is the Verreaux's sifaka.

This is another sifaka type of lemur that lives only in Madagascar.
They grow to be about 45 centimeters, and weigh a little over 3 pounds.

Verreaux sifakas have white and brown fur and spend most of their lives in the trees.

Sometimes they go down on the ground, but their bodies are built for leaping around trees so they don't really know how to walk.
When these primates go on the ground the hop around on two feet, like a bunny hop!



(from: wikipedia - verreaux's sifaka)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Chimpanzee

Wing of the Nose

We just learned about the Nasal Ridge.

Another part of the nose is the Wing of the Nose also called the Ala of the Nose.

This is the lower part of the nose that spreads out wide where the nostrils are, almost like a wing shape.
The word "ala" is Latin and means "wing".


(from: wikipedia - human nose)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Paratope

Dominica

We just learned about the country of Trinidad and Tobago

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

This country is a small island in the Caribbean Sea, just south east of the Domnican Republic.
It is about 750 square kilometers, and about 71,000 people live there.
The people in this country speak mostly English or Creole.


(from: wikipedia - dominica)

The flag of Dominica is green, with a bird in a red circle in the middle, and a cross with yellow black and white stripes.
Green is for the land, the cross is for Christianity, and the stripoes are for the people, the land and the water.
The red circle is for justice, and the 10 stars on the circle are for the 10 areas on the island.
The bird is a sisserou parrot, which is the national bird.


(from: wikipedia - flag of dominica)

To eat in this country you might have callaloo soup, which is a green leafy stew soup.


(from: wikipedia - callaloo)

Visiting this country you might go see Cabrits National Park, where there is a tropical forest, coral reefs, and an old military base called Fort Shirley.
There is a hiking trail that ends up in this park called Waitukubuli Trail, which is the longest trail in the Caribbean at 115 miles.


(from: wikipedia - cabrits national park)

Dominica has many waterfalls and rainforests all over the island, like Trafalgar Falls in Saint George Parish

(from: wikipedia - saint george parish, dominica)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Georgia