Little Dancer of Fourteen Years - Edgar Degas

We just learned about the work of art The Snail - By Henri Matisse.

Another famous work of art is a sculpture called Little Dancer of Fourteen Years made by French Edgar Degas in 1881 in Paris.

Degas was famous for making paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings.
Many of his paintings were about ballet dancers, and this statue is of a young girl who was a ballet student in Paris.

The statue is made of wax, and has a real shirt, tutu and slippers, and even has a wig made of real hair.
When he made the statue, he started off with some lead pipes all connected together to act like a skeleton so he could make the wax body and it wouldn't fall apart.
A metal skeleton like the one he made is called an armature.

Some people looked at the little girl and thought she was uncomfortable trying to put her body in the right ballet pose, and others thought she looked beautiful because she was a young girl trying to be the best dancer she could.


(from: wikipedia - Little Dancer of Fourteen Years)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: New Moon

German - This house is big

Let's learn about some of the things we see every day.

To say this house is big in German you say Das Haus ist groß.


We can break it up into four words:
This - Das - sounds like dah-ss /?/
house - Haus - sounds like house /?/
is - ist - Sounds like isst /?/
big - groß - Sounds like gross /?/


So all together Das Haus ist groß sounds like Zee zint ow-f-guh-raykt.


(from: wikipedia - Goethe Institute)

Do you remember how to say it in Spanish?
Esta casa es grande

Do you remember how to say it in French?
Cette maison est grande

Stratocumulus Clouds

We've learned about many types of clouds already, like the Altocumulus Clouds!

Another type of cloud is called the stratocumulus cloud.

Stratocumulus clouds are large dark and round, usually in groups or waves, and they are lower in the sky.

In the cold polar oceans there are many very large stratocumulus clouds.
They look very similar to altocumulus, but much larger sized groups.

(from: wikipedia - stratocumulus cloud)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Basalt

Siberian Husky

We just learned about the Basset Hound.

Another type of dog is the Siberian Husky.
The husky was a dog used by the Inuit people who live in Alaska and Siberia, who were once called Eskimos.
Some people think the name husky came from esky which was a nickname for eskimos.

Huskies were used as sled dogs in Alaska when people were looking there for gold.
The dogs have lots of energy and can survive temperatures colder than -70 degrees!
Unlike most dogs, some huskies have blue eyes!

Huskies have two types of fur, they have a short coat of fur that stays close to their body, and a longer coat of fur that goes on top of the first one. This is like wearing two fur coats so it keeps them nice and warm.

(from: wikipedia - siberian husky)


Huskies have a curved tail, and when they lay down they can curl their nose right into their tail to keep warm. Some people call this the "Siberian Swirl".

(from: wikipedia - siberian husky)

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Suni

Radial & Ulnar arteries

We know that the subclavian artery in the chest goes to the axillary artery in the armpit and then the brachial artery in the upper arm.

After that it goes further down the arm, and splits into two arteries: the ulnar and radial arteries.

These arteries go right along the radius and ulna bones in the forearm.

The radial artery is the one that ends up at your wrist right by your thumb, where you can feel your pulse.

(from: wikipedia - radial artery)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Bronchioles

Michigan

We just learned about the US State of Massachusetts.

Michigan is a state in the midwest of the US, bordering Canada to the north.

The state of Michigan is split up into two pieces of land, the Upper Peninsula and the Lower Peninsula.
A peninsula is a piece of land that is surrounded by water on 3 sides.
The two peninsulas are connected by a long bridge called the Mackinac Bridge.
People that live in the Upper Peninsula are sometimes called yoopers because when you say the letters U and P it sounds kind of like Yoop.

The state nicknames are: The Great Lake State, The Wolverine State, The Mitten State, Water (Winter) Wonderland
The state mottos are: Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice, which means If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you.


(from: wikipedia - michigan)

The Michigan flag is dark blue, and has the words E Pluribus Unum which means Out of many, one.
it says Tuebor, which means I will defend, and it also says Si Quæris Peninsulam Amœnam Circumspice, which means If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you.
There is a moose an elk and an eagle on the state crest, and in the middle is a man standing on the edge of water holding a rifle, meaning that he will defend Michigan from invaders.

(from: wikipedia - flag of michigan)

Michigan has the largest bunch of fresh water lakes in the world, with the 4 lakes that it borders: Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and Lake Erie. There is one more lake called Lake Ontario that Michigan does not border, and these lakes are called The Great Lakes.

(from: wikipedia - great lakes)

The Mackinac Bridge is a five mile long bridge that goes from the Lower Peninsula to the Upper Peninsula.


(from: wikipedia - mackinac bridge)

There are many islands in the great lakes, but the biggest one is Isle Royale.
It is 45 miles long of natural beauty, and has moose and wolves living on the island.


(from: wikipedia - isle royale national park)

Another big island in Michigan is Mackinac Island.
It used to be a military base for ships to go to long ago, and now on the island they don't allow cars so people have to go everywhere by hiking and biking.

(from: wikipedia - fort mackinac)

In the city of Sault Ste Marie (sounds like soo saint marie) the St. Mary's River connects Lake Huron to Lake Superior.
The rapids on the St. Maries river fall down 21 feet, so it was very tough for boats to go from one lake to another,
so someone built a machine where the boats can go into something called a lock, wait for the water to lower them slowly down 21 feet, then go to the lower lake.


(from: wikipedia - soo locks)

On the coast of lake Michigan, there are many nice beaches, and some very large sand dunes.
One of the biggest is called Warren Dunes, where there is a beach, campground and large sand dunes to climb.

(from: wikipedia - warren dunes)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Syria

Jesus Crucifixion - With criminals

When Jesus was nailed to the cross he was put between two criminals.

Crucifixion was one of the worst punishments for anyone, so even though Jesus was a good person he was punished with bad people.

One of the criminals was not nice to him, said nasty things to him and said that if Jesus was really the Messiah he should save himself.
The other criminal told the nasty one that he was wrong, and that while both the criminals were being punished for things they did wrong, Jesus hadn't done anything wrong.
He asked Jesus to remember him in his kingdom.

Because this man had faith in Jesus, even though he was a criminal Jesus said that the nice criminal would be with him in paradise that day.


(from: wikipedia - crucifixion of jesus)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jesus' Miracles - Healing in the land of Gennesaret