Magnesium

We just learned about the element Obsidian

Another chemical element is Magnesium, called "Mg" for short on the Periodic Table.

Magnesium is a metal that is very common on our planet.
It is also in our bodies, and is used a lot to help plants grow.

One of the most interesting things about magnesium is that you can light it on fire.
It can even stay burning if it is underwater!

Since it burns so well, it is used a lot in fireworks, and even the metal sparklers that you light up for the 4th of July.

(from: wikipedia - magnesium)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Anode and Cathode

Firefly

We just learned about a Butterfly Imago.

Catching fireflies in the summer time can be pretty fun!
Fireflies are sometimes also called lightning bugs, but their real fancy name is lampyridae.


(from: wikipedia - firefly)

Even when the fireflies are babies (called larvae) they glow, and are sometimes called glow worms.
(from: wikipedia - firefly)

The fireflies light up because of something called bioluminescence. That's a fancy word that means there are some chemicals in their body that mix together and glow.


(from: wikipedia - firefly)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Armadillo

Liver

We just learned about the Gall Bladder

The liver is a part of your digestive system near your stomach.

The parts of your body like your stomach or gall bladder are called organs, and the liver is the largest organ in your body.

Just like the gallbladder, it helps put bile into the duodenum, but it does a lot of other things too.

It helps store the sugar in your body for when you need energy, it helps the blood in your body clean and healthy, it helps create chemicals called hormones that help change your body, and it helps clean out bad things in your blood called toxins.


(from: wikipedia - liver)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Latissimus Dorsi

Niger

We just learned about the country of Zambia.

Niger (sounds like "nah-ee-jer") is a country in Southern part of Africa.


(from: wikipedia - niger)

The flag of Niger has an orange stripe at the top, then a white strip with an orange circle in the middle, and a green stripe at the bottom.

The orange stripe is for the desert, the white stripe is for purity, the green stripe is for hope and the plants and trees, and the orange circle is for the sun and freedom.

(from: wikipedia - flag of niger)

To eat in Niger, you might have jollof rice which is rice, tomatoes, onion, salt and red pepper, with some meat added.

(from: wikipedia - jollof rice)

The Erg of Bilma is a large desert in Niger.

(from: wikipedia - erg of bilma)

There is a festival in Niger called Guérewol, where men dress up in outfits, get their faces painted, dance and sing to try to get young women to marry them.

(from: wikipedia - guérewol)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Finland

Do Unto Others

We just learned about Ask, Seek and Knock for his help.

In Jesus' Sermon on the Mount he told his followers to treat other people the way that they themselves want to be treated.

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

This is a very popular saying that is sometimes called the golden rule.


(from: wikipedia - golden rule)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Daniel

Venus - Venera 3-6, Mariner 5

After the Mariner 2 space craft got close to the planet Venus, scientists kept trying to get closer.

Starting in 1967, the Russians sent some spacecrafts to study the air around Venus (called the atmosphere).
The Venera 3 was first but it crashed on the planet and never sent back any information.
They sent 3 more spacecrafts, the Venera 4, Venera 5 and Venera 6.

The USA also sent the spacecraft Mariner 5 to Venus to study the sky.


(from: wikipedia - Mariner 5)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Luminosity Class

Spanish - Counting to Twenty

We just learned how to count to 15 in Spanish, let's keep going!
16 dieciséis - sounds like dee-ay-ss-ee-say-ss/?/
17 diecisiete - sounds like dee-ay-ss-ee-see-eht-ay /?/
18 dieciocho - sounds like dee-ay-ss-ee-oh-choh /?/
19 diecinueve - sounds like dee-ay-ss-ee-noo-ay-vay /?/
20 veinte - sounds like bay-een-tay /?/


(from: wikipedia - Association of Spanish Language Academies)

Do you remember how to say it in French?
French - seize, dix-sept, dix-huit, dix-neuf, vingt