Reliquary of St. Maurus

We just learned about the Gloucester Candlestick.

Another ancient sculpture is the Reliquary of St. Maurus.

Just like the Shrine of the Three Kings these are sarcophagi, coffins with people's bones in them.
Inside the silver plated golden covered boxes are the bones of St. Maurus, St. John the Baptist, and St. Timothy.

During World War II, this reliquary was buried underneath a church to protect it from armies that would steal it.

It was buried for around 40 years and forgotten, until someone went looking for it and dug it up.


(from: wikipedia - reliquary of st. maurus)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Composition II - Mondrian

ASL - Red, Orange, Yellow

We just learned about the alphabet in ASL.

Now let's learn some colors!

red - Hold up your pointer finger in front of your chin below your mouth, and pull it down two times, almost like you are scratching your chin.

orange - Hold your hand out like a fist in front of and below your mouth, and squeeze it two times, almost like you are squeezing a bottle of orange juice into your mouth.

yellow - Hold up your hand in the finger spelling sign for "Y" and spin your hand two times.

Here is a helpful video showing these signs:

Learn to sign: COLORS in American Sign Language - Meredith ASL




(from: wikipedia - american sign language)

Italian: rosso, arancione, giallo

German: rot, orange, gelb

Spanish: rojo, naranja, amarillo

French: rouge, orange, jaune

Slag

We just learned about the Smelting.

When a blacksmith is smelting to get the iron out of iron ore, the left over stuff is called slag.

It looks kind of like glass, sand or rocks, and was usually thrown away as waste.


(from: wikipedia - slag)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Firestorm

Snake - Skull

We just learned about the snake skeleton.

Part of the snake's skeleton is the skull.

Sometimes when a snake has to eat a really big meal, it has to open up it's mouth very large.
Some people say that the snake has to unhinge or unhook it's jaw.
This is not really true, because the snake's jaw is already split open at the bottom middle, even before eating anything.

So when they have to eat something big, their bottom jaw spreads out to the left and the right to get big enough for their meal.

(from: wikipedia - snake skeleton)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Keeshond

Parasympathetic Nervous System

We just learned about the Sympathetic Nervous System.

Another part of the Autonomic Nervous System is the Parasympathetic Nervous System, sometimes just called the PSNS.

Remember the Sympathetic Nervous System gives us the "fight or flight" feelings.

The PSNS gives us what we call the "rest-and-digest" feelings.
These are more for when you are sitting at rest, eating or just relaxing.


(from: wikipedia - parasympathetic nervous system)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Heart - Blood Flow

Olympic Mountains

Remember we're learning about the moutain ranges in the Pacific Coast Belt on the North American Cordillera.

We just learned about the Insular Mountains.

Another mountain range in the Pacific Coast Belt is the Olympic Mountains.

These mountains have water on three sides, with the Pacific Ocean to the west, and Seattle to the east.
Because they are surrounded by so much water, the western slopes are the wettest place in the lower 48 states, which doesn't include Alaska and Hawaii.

The tallest mountain in this range is Mount Olympus, which is different from the famous mountain in Greece.


(from: wikipedia - olympic mountains)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Great Bear Lake

Leah

We just learned about the person from the Bible named Rachel.

Another person from the Bible is Leah.

Leah was Rachel's older sister, and when Jacob asked to marry Rachel, her father said he had to marry Leah first.
She was sad that Jacob loved Rachel, but she had six sons (Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun) and one daughter (Dinah).

Her son Judah would be the ancestor of David, who was the ancestor of Jesus.
Rachel died in childbirth of her son Benjamin, so when Jacob was laid to rest in his tomb he was put next to Leah.


(from: wikipedia - leah)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Third John