Large Intestine

We've now learned about all of the parts of the large intestine.

Food enters the large intestine at the cecum, goes past the appendix, up the left side of the body at the ascending colon, across the transverse colon, down the descending colon, over the sigmoid colon and out the rectum.

All of these parts after the small intestine are together called the large intestine.



(from: wikipedia - large intestine)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Dorsal interossei hand muscles

Arkansas

We just learned about the US State of Arizona

Another state in the US is Arkansas.

This state is toward the south but not all the way to the ocean.
It's nickname is The Natural State, and it's motto is The People Rule.
The state name comes from an old Native American word meaning People of the South Wind.
The state Kansas comes from the same old Native American word too!


(from: wikipedia - arkansas)

The state flag of Arkansas is red, with a big diamond inside of it.
The diamond has a blue border, and is white on the inside, and there are 25 small white stars inside the blue border.
Inside the white diamond are 4 more blue stars, and the name ARKANSAS.

The 25 white stars are for Arkansas being the 25th state added to the USA.
The blue star above the word ARKANSAS is because Arkansas was part of the Confederacy in the civil war.
The 3 blue stars below are for a few reasons, but one very interesting one is that Arkansas has been part of Spain, part of France, and then part of the US.

(from: wikipedia - arkansas)

The state seal has the words Great Seal of the State of Arkansas.
The inside has a picture of the Angel of Mercy, the Sword of Justice and Goddess of Liberty, with a bald eagle.
There is also a steamboat, plow, beehive and wheat.


(from: wikipedia - arkansas)

There is a large cave in Arkansas called Blanchard Springs Cavern.

(from: wikipedia - blanchard springs cavern)

Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the US was from Arkansas.

(from: wikipedia - bill clinton)

One of the most famous musicians named Johnny Cash was from Arkansas.

(from: wikipedia - johnny cash)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Europe - Many Nations

Parable of the Prodigal Son

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,
the Parable of the Good Samaritan, and the Parable of the Rich Fool.
Another Parable Jesus told his followers was called the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

Jesus told a story about a rich man who had two sons.
One son came up and said that he wanted his father to let him have his part of the family farm.
So the father split up the farm and gave the son what was his.

The son sold everything his father gave him and then ran off to live in another place where he wasted his money until he had nothing left.
He was poor after that and had to get a job feeding pigs. He was so hungry he even wanted to eat the food the pigs were eating!
He thought to himself that maybe he could just go home to his father and say sorry, and work as a servant there and at least get good food.

He went home, and when his father saw him coming he ran out to see him and gave him a big hug.
The son said that he was very sorry, and was not even good enough to be called the man's son anymore.
But the father was so happy to see that his son was alive that he threw a big party and welcomed him home.

The man's other son that did not leave was upset because he had stayed at home and worked while the other son was out wasting all of his money.
He didn't think it was fair that they would throw a big party for the son who left.

The father told him that he should not be sad because the father was always with him every day.
He was just so happy that his son came back because he thought he had lost his son forever.

Jesus didn't mean we should go run off with all of our money and it's still ok to come home!
He was trying to tell people that it didn't matter what they had done wrong in the world, he would always forgive them and be happy to welcome them into heaven.


(from: wikipedia - parable of the prodigal son)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jesus Tested

The Starry Night - Van Gogh

We just learned about one of the most famous paintings ever made, The Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci.

Another very famous painting is The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh.

When Van Gogh was painting, he was trying very hard to be creative and come up with a special style.
Something that wasn't simple like just a painting of a person or a town.

In his painting he used very bright yellows and bold blues to show contrast.
The spinning swirling wind makes it look like there is actually a strong wind blowing through the air.
The big bright stars and moon in the big blue night sky are there to help you imagine about how a clear dark night sky over a sleepy town might look.
Even the dark shape in the front which are cypress trees or bushes are a very strong contrast.

One very interesting thing about this painting is that after Van Gogh painted it, he cut his ear off!
He was at a mental hospital at the time, which is a place you can go if you are worried about life and not making good choices.
One of his friends came and visited him, and shortly after that Van Gogh went a little crazy, cut part of his ear off and ended up in the hospital with a bandage on his head.

He was ok later on, but it is a very famous story about a very famous painter.


(from: wikipedia - the starry night)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Clownface Nebula

German - Good Morning

We just learned that in German hello and goodbye is hallo and auf wiedersehen.

Many times in German instead of hello people say good morning, good day, good evening or good night.


Good Morning - Guten Morgen - sounds like gootn more gen /?/

Good Day - Guten Tag - sounds like gootn tahg /?/

Good Evening - Guten Abend - sounds like gootn ah bnt /?/

Good Night - Gute Nacht - sounds like goot eh nah xht /?/

The word Nacht in German has a sound that we don't have in English.
It's almost like making a K sound, but you don't touch the back of your tongue all the way to the roof of your mouth.
Sometimes it's the sound we make to try to sound like a cat hissing.
While we're learning if you see "sounds like xh" that means the cat hissing sound that's almost like a K.


(from: wikipedia - Goethe Institute)

Do you remember how to say Hello and Goodbye in Spanish?
Hola! Adiós!

Evaporation

We've learned that clouds are tiny bits of liquid water or ice floating in the part of our sky called the troposphere.
And we know that when there is water in the air that is not like tiny ice or water drops, that is called water vapor.

One way that water vapor is made is by something called evaporation.

Remember that water and air are all just tiny bunches of little things called molecules.

If you have a glass of water, there are water molecules in the glass, glass molecules around the water, and air molecules above the water.

You can think of water molecules sometimes as crazy little balls of energy that don't want to sit still.
The only way you can make them stay still is to trap them with other molecules like the ones that make a glass.

When you have dry air that is next to water, the water really wants to go jump to where the air is.
So the water molecules right at the top of the glass get really excited and then shoot off into the air.
When they shoot off into the air, they make the air a little more humid, and they create water vapor.
This happens over and over and over until the air is really humid and wet, then the water doesn't want to jump out anymore.

This isn't something you can see happening with your eyes, but we can tell it happens by watching the water disappear from a glass very slowly over time and then measuring the air for humidity.

The excited water shooting out of the glass into the air is called evaporation.

When the sun is heating up the oceans and lakes, lots and lots of water gets excited, and evaporates into the water vapor that creates clouds.

(from: wikipedia - evaporation)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lava Domes

Spider Eyes

We've learned that a spider's body is split up into the cephalothorax and abdomen.
A spider's eyes are on the cephalothorax.

There are so many spiders out there it's hard to keep track of what they are.
Even looking close sometimes it's very hard to tell the difference between two types of spiders.

One of the best ways to figure out what type of spider you're looking at is to look at the size, shape and place where it's eyes are.
Most spiders have eight eyes, but there are a few types of spiders that have six, four or two eyes.

The Caponiidae spider is one of the few spiders that has only two eyes.

(from: wikipedia - caponiidae)

Some spiders have big front eyes, and smaller eyes next to them

(from: wikipedia - jumping spider)

Some have small eyes up on their back.

(from: wikipedia - jumping spider)

And some spiders have two rows of eyes, one row right above the other.

(from: wikipedia - dolomedes)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Albatross