Summer Palace

We just learned about the Mysore Palace.

Another famous palace is the Summer Palace, built around 1500 AD in Beijing China.

It was built little by little over hundreds of years as different buildings and islands were added, and it is now over 1 square mile.

There are three islands on the land, that were built to be like three magical mountains in the East sea.
With all of the gates, halls, towers, boats and bridges, there are over 40 different buildings to see in the palace.

All of them have special names for special reasons, like the Dragon Bridge built to honor the story of the Dragon King.
Some other nice names are The Garden of Harmonious Pleasures, the Hall of Benevolence and Longevity, and the Pavilion of Precious Cloud.






(from: wikipedia - summer palace)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Hidalgo

Sabbath Day in Christianity

We just learned about the Great Fire of Rome.

Another part of Christian history is the Sabbath Day.

In the old Jewish faith, people rested on the seventh day, called the shabbat, which is where we get the name Saturday.

After the Christians started to separate into their own religion, they started to move the day of worship to Sunday.
Part of the idea was that Sunday would be seen as the celebration of the resurrection and freedom from sin on the first day of every week.

Some Christians through the years have changed back to Saturday as the holy day, but others still worship on Sunday.

A fancy word for beliefs about which day is the sabbath is "Sabbatarianism".
First-day Sabbatarianism means that Sunday should be the day of worship.
Seventh-day Sabbatarianism means that Saturday should be the day of worship.
There is even Non-Sabbatarianism, which means that there should not be any special day for worship, you should pick whatever day you want to worship on.


(from: wikipedia - sabbath in christianity)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul

Noh Masks

We just learned about the The Great Buddha of Kamakura.

Another old Japanese sculpture was the Noh Mask.

For a while some of the people who followed Buddha did not really like sculptures of Buddha, so there were not a lot of sculptures made.

During this time there was a type of musical theater called Noh, where people wore masks and fancy outfits.

There are many Noh masks carved with different types of faces for happy, sad or angry.


(from: wikipedia - noh)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jane Brown Memorial - Flaxman

Norwegian Alphabet

We just learned how to Count to ten in Norwegian.

The Norwegian alphabet is just like the English one, except for three extra letters:

Æ, - sounds like the a in the word "bad".
Ø - sounds like the i in the word "bird".
Å - sounds like the aw in the word "yawn".



(from: wikipedia - norwegian language)

The Greek alphabet: Α, Β, Γ, Δ, Ε, Ζ, Η, Θ, Ι, Κ, Λ, Μ, Ν, Ξ, Ο, Π, Ρ, Σ, Τ, Υ, Φ, Χ, Ψ, Ω

ASL alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z

The Italian alphabet looks the same as the English alphabet.

The German alphabet has the letters ä, ö, ü, ß

The Spanish alphabet:
A, B, C, D, E, F, G H, I, J, K, L, LL, M, N, Ñ O, P, Q, R, RR, S, T, U V, W, X, Y, Z

The French alphabet:
A, B, C, D, E, F, G H, I, J, K, L, M, N O, P, Q, R, S, T, U V, W, X, Y, Z

Nell Rocket - Robert Goddard

We just learned about the L'Astronautique by Robert Esnault-Pelterie.

Another famous rocket was Nell made by Robert Goddard.

Goddard was a famous inventor who read about rockets in the books by Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, and came up with the very first rocket that used liquid fuel.
He named it "Nell" and launched it in 1926.
His team launched 34 rockets, going over a mile and a half in the sky, and over 500 miles per hour.

The work he did with rockets helped get people interested in space travel and rockets.




(from: wikipedia - robert h. goddard)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Submarine Earthquake

Cephalopod - Skin

We just learned about the Cephalopod - Cirrus.

Another interesting thing is the Cephalopod Skin.

Cephalods like the octopus or cuttlefish can change their skin color, or if their skin is bumpy or smooth.
A fancy word for this is polyphenism.

Their skin is made up of an outside layer that has gooey mucous and sensors to tell when it is being touched.

Underneath that top layer is a layer made of collagen, which is like a fatty cell that holds skin together.
There are also cells in that layer for changing the color of the skin.

Most of an octopuses body is made up of soft tissue like collagen, and their squishy body makes it so they can get through really small holes.
They don't have any hard parts of their body except the beak, so even a big octopus can squeeze through a 1 inch hole!


(from: wikipedia - cuttlefish)


Watch The Octopus Squeezing Through Very Tiny Spaces - Animals R Us


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Frogspawn

Periodontal Ligament

We just learned about the Alveolar Process.

Another part of the mouth is the Periodontal Ligament, sometimes just called the PDL.

We learned that the tooth sits into the tooth socket bone.
The Periodontal Ligaments is a soft tissue that helps hold the tooth in place, and goes between the tooth cementum and the tooth socket.


(from: wikipedia - periodontal fiber)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Glenohumeral Ligaments