Spider Spinnerets

We just learned about a Spider's Hearts and Blood.

In a spider's abdomen they have things called silk glands that make the silk that they use for their webs.

The silk starts out like a liquid, and gets squished out through small tubes called spinnerets.
The spinnerets spit the silk out like tiny strings, and they spin all the strings together to make a strong thread.

(from: wikipedia - spinneret (spider))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Moray Eel

Left Ventricle

We've learned that oxygenated blood goes from the pulmonary veins to the left atrium which is part of the heart.

The left atrium sends the blood into a large area of the heart called the left ventricle.

The left ventricle takes in all of the fresh blood full of oxygen, and pushes it all the way out to every part of your body.
From the tips of your toes to your fingers and ears, the blood carrying the oxygen that your body needs is pumped out by the muscles of the left ventricle.

(from: wikipedia - ventricle (heart))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Procerus Nose Muscle

Florida

We just learned about the US State of Deleware.

Florida is a state on the south east part of the US, right on the Atlantic Ocean.
The name Florida comes from the spanish word for flower.
It's nickname is The Sunshine State, and the motto is In God We Trust.

Since Florida sticks out into the ocean, it is called a peninsula.


(from: wikipedia - florida)

Florida's flag has a big red X on a white background. That is known as St. Andrew's Cross.
This was the flag of Spain a long time ago, and Florida used to be owned by Spain, so their flag is a part of their history.
In front of the red X is Florida's state seal.

(from: wikipedia - flag of florida)

The state seal of Florida has a Native American woman spreading out hibiscus flowers.
There are palm trees and a steamboat in the background.
The words on the seal say Great Seal of the State of Florida and In God we Trust.

(from: wikipedia - seal of florida)

Since Florida is on the ocean, it has lots of interesting wildlife, like the American Alligator, the leatherback turtle and the manatee.

(from: wikipedia - american alligator)


(from: wikipedia - west indian manatee)


(from: wikipedia - leatherback sea turtle)

Kennedy Space Center is in Florida, where they launched the space shuttle Columbia.

(from: wikipedia - kennedy space center)

Walt Disney World is the largest and most visited amusement park in the world.

(from: wikipedia - walt disney world)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Indonesia

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem as King

We just learned about the Plans to kill Jesus

After Jesus told his apostles that he was the Messiah,
that he would be killed and then raised back to life three days later
and was transfigured on the mountaintop he went to Jerusalem.

Jesus told his apostles to go to the nearby village and they would find a donkey.
He told them to take the donkey and bring it back to Jesus.

The apostles went to the village and just like Jesus said they found a donkey tied up there waiting,
so they untied it and brought it to Jesus.

Jesus rode the donkey into Jerusalem, and when he got there a big crowd of people was cheering in the streets for him.
They took their coats off and put them on the ground for Jesus to sit on or walk on.
They cut branches down from the palm trees and placed them on the road for him.
They shouted out loud to him:
Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!

The people of Jerusalem saw Jesus as their king coming to save them.


(from: wikipedia - triumphal entry into jerusalem)

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jesus' Apostles - Thomas

Luncheon of the Boating Party - Renoir

We just learned about the painting The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali.

Another famous painting is called the Luncheon of the Boating Party, by French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir, who is sometimes called just Renoir. (Sounds like uh-en-wah)
This painting shows a bunch of people having lunch on a boat.
When people are painted it is usually called figures.
When things like tables and food are painted it is called still life.
When backgrounds like mountains or sunsets are painted it is called landscape.
This painting combined all three.

Some of the people on the boat were Renoir's friends, and the woman on the bottom left playing with a dog is the woman that Renoir would marry later on.

The painting was made in the year 1881 and Renoir it is called an impressionist painting.
The impressionist painters did things like paint outside in the sunlight when a lot of people thought you should paint indoors.
They used lots of ways to try and show sunlight and brightness in their paintings, to try and make things look alive and happy.

Usually when someone wanted to make something stand out, they would use very sharp strong lines, kind of like the dark lines around the Mona Lisa, but for this painting they used bright colors in front of mixed colors. So the people in the white shirts really stand out in front of their background.

They also used different kinds of mixed colors and bright colors with small brush strokes to make it look like there was light shining off of people and things.
If you look at the white shirt the man is wearing, from far away you can see it as a white shirt, but up very close you can see almost a rainbow of colors like red, blue, pink, orange, yellow and white.


(from: wikipedia - luncheon of the boating party)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lunar Domes

German - Dog, Cat

To say dog in German, you say Hunt and it sounds like hoont /?/

To say cat in German, you say Katze and it sounds like cat-suh /?/


(from: wikipedia - Goethe Institute)

To say it in Spanish:
perro, gato
To say it in French:
chien, chat

Cold Front

We've learned that water vapor can get lifted up into the air to become clouds by things called weather fronts.

One type of front is called a cold front.
It's when a whole bunch of cold air is moving along together in the wind in one direction.

When the cold front hits a bunch of warm air, it is heavier than the warm air.
So the warm air lifts high up into the air.
Almost like a shovel pushing along, the cold air stays low and the warm air goes high.

Remember that the warm air can be full of water vapor, and now that water vapor is high up in the sky where clouds start forming.

When the weather scientists want to show cold fronts on a map, they use blue triangles on a line, with the tip of the triangle pointing which way the cold front is moving.

(from: wikipedia - cold front)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Stratovolcano

Spider Hearts & Blood

We just learned a little about Spider Lungs.

Spiders have hearts up along the back side of their lower body, on the part called their abdomen.

Spiders don't have normal blood like we do, they have something called hemolymph.
It's kind of like our blood, but it's a blue or grey color instead of red, and it has different kinds of nutrients in it.

Our heart pumps blood to all the parts of our body in tubes called veins and arteries.
Spiders have a heart and some smaller tubes for their hemolymph, but mostly they just help dump it out on all the inside parts of the spider's body.

(from: wikipedia - chelicerata)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Electric Eel

Left Atrium

We've learned that our blood gets filled up with good oxygen in the capillaries by the lungs, and then goes through tubes called the pulmonary veins toward the heart.

The oxygen filled blood, sometimes called oxygenated blood, enters the heart at a place called the left atrium.

The heart is divided up into four parts, called chambers, and the atrium is one of those chambers.

(from: wikipedia - left atrium)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Tongue

Delaware

We just learned about the US state of Connecticut.

Delaware is a state on the northeast part of the US, right on the Atlantic ocean.
It is the second smallest state in the US.
It was named after one of the first people to come to America and help build the nation, Thomas West, 3rd Baron De La Warr.

It's nicknames are: The First State; The Small Wonder; Blue Hen State; The Diamond State.


(from: wikipedia - delaware)

The flag of Delaware has a tan colored diamond on a blue background. These were the colors that the first US president George Washington wore when he fought in the war for America's freedom.

The flag shows the date of December 17, 1787 because Delaware was the first state in the USA to ratify the US Constitution. That means they were the first ones to agree to all the rules made for our country.

There is a shield in the middle that has wheat, corn and an ox for Delaware's farming.
A ship is shown because Delaware was famous for making ships, and it is right on the ocean.
There is a blue stripe for the Delaware river.
Two people are on the flag, one is a farmer and the other is a soldier.
The flag has the words Liberty and Independence.

(from: wikipedia - flag of delaware)

Delaware Bay is a large bay of water right next to Delaware that is a very important place for ships to come in from the ocean.
It is the second busiest place for ships, right after the Mississippi river.

(from: wikipedia - delaware bay)

The 47th Vice President of the US Joe Biden is from Delaware.


(from: wikipedia - joe biden)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Indonesia

Plans to kill Jesus

We just learned about Jesus' Transfiguration.

After Jesus had done many miracles and taught people using parables, some of the people in those days didn't like what Jesus was doing.

Some of the leaders were upset because people were following Jesus instead of them.

So they started making plans to have Jesus killed, because they could not stop him from doing miracles and teaching people.

(from: wikipedia - pharisees)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jesus' Apostles - Thomas

The Persistence of Memory - Salvador Dali

We just learned about the famous painting The Scream of Nature by Edvard Munch.

Another very famous painting is called The Persistence of Memory by the artist Salvador Dali.

His painting was very strange looking, almost like something weird out of a dream where things are melting.
This painting was using something called surrealism which kind of means taking things from our dreams or imagination and making real looking pictures out of them.

The painting has pocket watches that look like they are melting.
Some people think this painting says something about the way we think about time.
Is it really as simple as we think, where clocks just ticks on every second?
Or can we bend time, mush it around, speed it up or slow it down?
Salvador Dali said he thought of the idea to paint them that way by watching some cheese melt in the sun.


(from: wikipedia - the persistence of memory)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Moon Rille

German - Do you speak German?

To ask if someone speaks German, you say Sprechen Sie Deutsch?.

It sounds like sh-puh-ehk-en zee doh-ee-ch /?/

To say yes you would say jah which sounds like yah  /?/
or to say no you would say nein which sounds like nine  /?/



(from: wikipedia - Goethe Institute)

Do you remember how to say it in Spanish?
Hablas español?

Weather Fronts

We just learned about Deposition where water vapor turns right into a solid.

We've also learned that the water vapor that makes up clouds can come from evaporation or sublimation.
That all happens near the ground, but somehow that water vapor has to get way up in the sky to make a cloud.

There are a few different ways that water vapor gets lifted up to become a cloud, and one of them is using something called weather fronts.

A weather front is how the weather on our planet changes all the time.
Cold winds blow in during the winter, hot air moves in during the summer.

The way that these fronts move around with hot and cold temperatures, and different amounts of water vapor can cause different kinds of clouds, rain and storms.

If you look at weather maps, you can usually see colored shapes on the map that show what kind of temperature and pressure is in the air, and what kind of front is coming.


(from: wikipedia - weather front)

We'll learn more about each of these types of fronts next time.

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Pillow Lava

Spider Lungs

We just learned about the Spider Esophagus.

Spider lungs are located in the abdomen part of their body.

They don't have regular lungs like we do, they have something called book lungs.

The name comes from the way the lungs look on the inside.
There are stacks of air separated by body tissue.
The stacked up lines of body tissue kind of look like a book, which is why they are called book lungs.

Spiders don't breathe like we do, their book lungs are just sitting open and air flows into them.
They have a special liquid called hemolymph that helps soak up the oxygen into their bodies.

(from: wikipedia - book lung)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Electric Eel

Pulmonary Vein

We've learned that our blood gets filled up with good oxygen in the capillaries down by the lungs.

After the tiny capillaries are filled up with good oxygen, they connect to larger tubes called veins, and the blood flows toward the heart.

The veins that connect the capillaries to the heart are called the pulmonary veins.


(from: wikipedia - pulmonary vein)

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Plantar Foot Muscles

Connecticut

We just learned about the US State of Colorado.

Connecticut is a small state on the east coast of the US.
It is the third smallest state.
The state name comes from a Native American word meaning The Long Tidal River.

It has a few nicknames: The Constitution State, The Nutmeg State, The Provisions State, The Land of Steady Habits.

It's state motto is: Qui transtulit sustinet.
which means He who transplanted sustains.

(from: wikipedia - connecticut)

The flag of Connecticut has the state motto, and three grape vines, for the people who came over from Europe to live here in America.

(from: wikipedia - flag of connecticut)

The seal of Connecticut has the state motto, and grape vines just like the flag, and also the words: sigillum reipublicæ connecticutensis which means Seal of the State of Connecticut.

(from: wikipedia - seal of connecticut)

Connecticut has 21 lighthouses in the state, 14 are still active.
The oldest and tallest lighthouse is New London Harbor Light, built in 1760.

(from: wikipedia - new london harbor light)

The 43rd president of the US George Bush was born in Connecticut.

(from: wikipedia - george w. bush)

The Connecticut River is the longest river in the northeast part of the US that is sometimes called New England.

(from: wikipedia - connecticut river)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Israel

Jesus Transfiguration

We learned that Jesus told his apostles that he was the Messiah, and that he would be killed and then raised back to life three days later.

After that he went up on to a high mountain with Peter, James and John.
When they were up there, Jesus' face shined bright like the sun and his clothes became white as light.
Jesus' went through a big change to look beautiful and holy, and we call that transfiguration.

When Jesus was up on the mountain, he talked to Moses and Elijah, who were in heaven.

A bright cloud came over them and God's voice from the cloud said This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!

Jesus told them not to tell anyone else about what had happened until after he was raised from the dead.

(from: wikipedia - transfiguration of jesus)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jesus' Apostles - Philip and Bartholomew

The Scream of Nature - Edvard Munch

We've now learned about some famous paintings: The Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci, the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo, The Last Supper by Leonardo Da Vinci and The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh.

Another famous painting is called The Scream and was painted by Edvard Munch.

Munch was a type of painter called an expressionist, which meant that he usually made paintings that looked wild or weird or somehow stood out in a way that made you feel a certain way.

He told the story of how he came up with the idea for this picture.
He was walking along a bridge one day and saw the sky turn blood red, and the way the sun was shining on the city it almost look like all of nature was letting out a scream.

So he used bright bold colors with wavy lines to make the painting stand out and hopefully make you feel almost like you can hear a scream from the painting.

He wrote a poem about when he came up with the idea for his painting:

I was walking along the road with two friends
the sun was setting
suddenly the sky turned blood red
I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence
there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city
my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety
and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.


(from: wikipedia - the scream)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Moon - Maria

German - Please, You're Welcome

Remember that to say thank you in German, you say danke.

To say please in German is bitte.
It sounds like bit uh /?/.

And to say you're welcome, you say bitte schön and it sounds like bit uh shoon /?/.


(from: wikipedia - Goethe Institute)
Do you remember how to say it in Spanish?
Por favor, de nada

Deposition

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

And we've learned that the opposite of evaporation is called condensation.

The opposite of sublimation is called deposition. That is when water vapor as a gas turns into a solid.

Usually water vapor would turn to liquid first, then freeze to be a solid.
But sometimes if it is really super cold out, the water vapor gas will turn right to a solid and freeze.

You can see this sometimes as frost, or even the snowflakes forming in clouds in the sky.


(from: wikipedia - deposition (phase transition))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Igneous Rocks

Spider Esophagus

We've learned about the spider's cephalothorax, where they have fangs in their chelicerae, and the parts that are almost like small arms by their mouth called pedipalps

Spiders don't have teeth, so they can't chew food up like humans do.
They use their fangs to kill small insects with venom.

When humans eat food, it goes into our stomachs where some things called enzymes help turn our food soft and mushy.

Spiders actually spit out some of those enzymes right onto the insects that they've killed, and then when the enzymes turn their food to mush they suck it up into their mouth to go down their esophagus into their stomach.


(from: wikipedia - spider anatomy)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Hyena

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

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

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

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

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!


(from: wikipedia - Goethe Institute)

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

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

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