Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Capillaries


Let's keep learning about the Circulatory System.

We've learned before about how air comes in to the lungs and all the way down to the blood-air barrier where the oxygen goes into the blood.

On one side of the barrier are the alveoli holding the oxygen, and the other side has the capillaries which hold the blood that is ready to take in oxygen.

Capillaries are very tiny small tubes. They bring the blood right to the blood air barrier and then carry it off to the heart.

(from: wikipedia - capillary)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Dorsal Foot Muscles

Monday, November 17, 2014

Colorado


We just learned about the state of California.

Colorado is a state in the western part of the USA.
It's nickname is The Centennial State, and it's motto is nil sine numine which means nothing without providence.
The state's name comes from the Colorado River that runs through it.
The Spanish travelers that came through the state called the river the Rio Colorado which means the ruddy or reddish colored river.


(from: wikipedia - colorado)

Colorado's state flag has three stripes. A blue stripe, white stripe then blue stripe. The blue is for the skies and the white is for the snow capped mountains. There is a red C in the middle, with a gold circle inside it. The red C is for the ruddy ground in Colorado.
The gold circle is for the sunshine and the gold mined in Colorado.

(from: wikipedia - flag of colorado)

The state seal of Colorado has an eye in a triangle which is known as the Eye of Providence or All Seeing Eye, a scroll with the words union and constitution, and something called a fasces, which is like an axe that is used by judges.
Below that is a shield with snowy mountains, and a pick and hammer which are tools for miners.
It also has the state's motto nil sine numine.


(from: wikipedia - seal of colorado)

The Rocky Mountains are a very long mountain range that go all the way from Canada through the US, and some of the highest peaks are in Colorado.

(from: wikipedia - pikes peak)

The Mesa Verde is a very old city from some farmers that lived in the area over 1400 years ago.
They built a small city in a cavern, and it is now a national park that people go to visit.

(from: wikipedia - mesa verde national park)

Deep beneath one of the mountains is a base that people created to be safe in case of a war.
They dug out a huge area underneath a rock and made a bunch of buildings, and those buildings are protected by things like giant metal doors with huge locking bars to keep important people safe if there was every a huge war.

(from: wikipedia - north american aerospace defense command)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: India

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Jesus tells his apostles that he will be killed


After Jesus told his apostles that he was the Messiah, he told them that he was going to have to go to the town of Jerusalem, where he would be killed and then would be raised back to life three days later.

His apostles were very upset about this, especially Peter who said he wouldn't let that happen.
Jesus explained to Peter that it was all part of God's plan, and that it had to happen.


(from: wikipedia - jesus predicts his death)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jesus' Apostles - James and John Zebedee

Saturday, November 15, 2014

The Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel - Michelangelo


We just learned about the famous painting the The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci.

Another very famous painting was the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo.

Over 500 years ago, Michelangelo took on the job to add paintings to the ceiling of a chapel in Italy.
It took him four years to finish it, and it has almost 50 different paintings on it, with over 300 different people in all the paintings.

Michelangelo made something called scaffolding, which were like build up giant platforms for him to stand on while he painted the ceiling way at the top of the building.
He painted on what is called fresco, which means they put on wet paste to build the wall and he painted on it. The wet paste soaked the colors into the wall so it would look really good.

His painting shows many stories from the Bible, and he split the ceiling up into different parts for each area.

In the main top part of the ceiling he made three paintings about Noah, 3 paintings about Adam and Eve, and 3 paintings about God creating the world.
Around each of those paintings, he painted what people think might have been angels, and small shields with other paintings in them.
On the outside of those other 9 paintings, he made paintings of 12 prophets like Isaiah, Daniel and Jeremiah.
Below that he made 14 more paintings showing other people from the Bible like Jacob and Joseph.
In the 4 corners of the ceiling he painted more famous people from the Bible: Moses, Esther, David and Judith.
And in smaller paintings in the triangles between he made 8 paintings of the ancestors of Jesus, like Joseph.

Each one of those paintings that he did would have been a masterpiece in a museum somewhere, and he painted 47 different ones on the ceiling of a building!

Michelangelo was considered a master of painting and sculpting the human form.
That means he was really good at drawing and sculpting muscles, bones and skin so that it looked very real.


(from: wikipedia - sistine chapel ceiling)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Moon - Highlands

Friday, November 14, 2014

German - Very good thanks, and you?


We just learned to say How are you? in German, Wie geht es Ihnen?

and Very good thanks is Sehr gut, danke.

To be polite you should also ask how the other person is doing.

And you? - Und Sie? - sounds like unt zee /?/

So with all that we've learned so far, we could understand a meeting between two people like this:

Arnold: Hallo!
Greta: Guten Tag, Wie geht es Ihnen?
Arnold: Sehr gut, danke. Und Sie?
Greta: Sehr gut, danke. Auf Wiedersehen!
Arnold: Auf Wiedersehen!

Goethe Institute
(from: wikipedia - Goethe Institute)

Do you remember how to say it in Spanish?
Muy bien gracias. ¿Y tú?

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Condensation


We've learned now that the water vapor that makes up clouds can come from evaporation or sublimation.

The opposite of evaporation is called condensation.

Condensation is when the water molecules inside water vapor turn from a gas to a liquid.
You can see this happen in real life if you have something like a cold glass of lemonade outside on a hot humid day.

On a hot humid day, there is a lot of water vapor in the air.
If you bring the cold lemonade glass outside, the water vapor in the humid air starts to turn to water on the outside of the glass of lemonade.

Condensation is also how clouds are made. The water vapor molecules all get bunched up together in the air until there are so many of them they start turning from gas back into tiny little drops of liquid.

(from: wikipedia - condensation)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Volcanic Ash

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Spider Pedipalps


We just learned about a spider's Chilcerae mouth parts.

Another part of the spider's cephalothorax is called the pedipalps
or sometimes just palps or palpi.

These are almost like another very short set of legs for a spider, and they even have bones like femur and patella and others, just like the legs do.

Some spiders have very long pedipalps like the Northern yellow sac spider

(from: wikipedia - pedipalp)

And some have shorter pedipalps like the clynotis severus jumping spider.

(from: wikipedia - spider)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Aardvark