Rectum

We've now learn how food goes up the ascending colon on the right side of your body, across your transverse colon and down your descending colon and over to the middle at your sigmoid colon.

We've learned that feces is a fancy word for poop, or sometimes we say bodily waste.

When the bodily waste gets to your sigmoid colon, it goes down to the very last part of your colon called your rectum.
The rectum has nerve senses in it that send a message to your brain telling you that it's time to go to the bathroom.

When you go to the bathroom, your rectum pushes out the bodily waste, and you are finally done digesting the food that started all the way up in your esophagus!

(from: wikipedia - rectum)



Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lumbrical Hand Muscles

Arizona

We just learned about the US State of Alaska

Let's learn about the US State of Arizona!

Arizona is a US state in the far southwestern part of the US.
It borders Mexico on the south side of the state.

It's sometimes called The Grand Canyon State and The Copper State
It's state motto is Ditat Deus, which means God Enriches.

(from: wikipedia - arizona)

Arizona's flag has 13 red and yellow stripes like sun's rays, for the 13 original states.
The red and yellow are for Arizona's sunsets.
There is a copper star for the mining, and the blue color is for the Colorado River.


(from: wikipedia - flag of arizona)

The state seal has the year 1912 when Arizona became a state, and a mountain range with the sun rising behind it.
It has water and a dam, with fields and orchards.
There are cows, and a miner with pick and shovel.


(from: wikipedia - seal of arizona)

The Grand Canyon is a gigantic deep long canyon in Arizona that many people travel to see the natural beauty.

(from: wikipedia - grand canyon)

In the northwest part of Arizona, there is a place called the Four Corners.
It is the spot where the states of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico all meet.
If you stand right on top of the four corners spot, you can be standing in four different states all at the same time.

(from: wikipedia - quadripoint)

There is a place in Arizona called the Petrified Forest. Some wood from a very old forest is so old that it has become hard like a rock, and you can find old logs that are just rocks like fossils!

(from: wikipedia - petrified forest national park)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Switzerland

Parable of the Rich Fool

We've learned about Jesus' teaching stories called the Parable of the Sower,
the Parable of the Weeds
the Parables of the Hidden Treasure and the Pearl,
the Parable of the Wandering Sheep,
the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant,
the Parable of the Wedding Banquet,
the Parable of the Bags of Gold,
the Parable of the Two Sons,
and the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Another parable Jesus told his followers was about a rich man whose farm grew so well that at harvest time he had so much grain from his crops that he didn't have enough room to store it all.

He decided to build himself bigger barns to store all of his extra grain so he could just relax and be rich for the rest of his life.
God was angry with the rich man and said he was being very foolish, because that night the man was going to die!
Since he kept all the grain and money to himself, all the things he had stored up for himself would not help him.

Jesus was telling his followers that we need to build up our treasures in heaven instead of on earth.
When we die we can't take all of our things with us, but if we have used the things he gave us to help other people then we are building up treasures in heaven for after we die.


(from: wikipedia - parable of the rich fool)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jesus as a young boy

Mona Lisa - Da Vinci

One of the most famous paintings in the whole world is the Mona Lisa.
It was painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, one of the most famous artists of all time.

It might seem like just a nice painting of a woman, but there were many reasons why people liked it so much.

You might notice in the painting that the woman is sitting in front of what looks like a sky and mountains. She wasn't really sitting in front of that place, Da Vinci drew the background from his imagination. In the time when Da Vinci was living, people usually only painted pictures of real places they had in front of them. To paint an imaginary place without something to look at was a very big deal!

Da Vinci painted the woman's face and hands to look very bright compared to her hair and outfit. When something bright is put up against something dark it is called contrast, and artists sometimes use it to help things stand out more.

The painting also has very dark lines around the woman's hair and body, and the background looks fuzzy and has lighter colors. This helps make the woman look more important in the picture, and makes the background look far away.

The Mona Lisa also has very good perspective. That means it looks ike the woman's arms are in front of her body and the painting is behind her. Even though it is a flat painting, it looks almost like a real person was sitting there. These days we have 3D movies to go see, but in those days making a painting that looked real was the closest thing they had to 3D.

Da Vinci made this painting about 500 years ago, and even to this day it is one of the most well liked paintings in the world.

(from: wikipedia - mona lisa)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Planetary Nebula

German - Hello and Goodbye

We've now learned a whole year of Spanish words.
Muy bien!

Let's try another language now, how about German?

First let's learn how to say hello and goodbye.

Hello - Hallo - sounds like hah-low /?/

Goodbye - Auf Wiedersehen - sounds like ow-f vee-dah-zane /?/


(from: wikipedia - Goethe Institute)

Do you remember how to say it in Spanish?
Hola! Adiós!

Do you remember how to say it in French?
Bonjour! Au Revoir!

Water Vapor

We just learned about the Troposphere
Let's keep learning about weather!

We've learned that clouds are tiny little bits of water floating in the air.
The water that turns into clouds usually starts off as water vapor.
That's kind of like the steam that comes up in the air from a pot of boiling hot water on the stove.

You really can't see water vapor that's in the air around us, but we have tools that can tell us how much is in the air.
When we're measuring water vapor, we call that humidity.

Even though the air around us is all invisible, we know that there is such a thing as dry air and wet air.
Usually we say it is very humid if the air is wet.

In the desert, there is not much water vapor around, so that air is very dry.
In the rainforest or in places with lots of water and very hot temperature, there is a lot of water vapor around, so it is very humid.

The water vapor can eventually rise and turn into clouds, so if the air is very humid there will be more clouds.
If it is very dry, there will be no clouds.

(from: wikipedia - water vapor)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Pāhoehoe lava

Spider Cephalothorax & Abdomen

The main part of a spider's body is split up into two pieces:
cephalothorax and abdomen

The cephalothorax is where the head is and where the legs are attached.
The abdomen is the lower body part that has other organs like the spider's heart, lungs and the spider's silk.


(from: wikipedia - spider anatomy)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lobsters