Statue of Charles Sumner - Thomas Ball

We just learned about the The Rescue - Horatio Greenough.

Another famous American statue is the Statue of Charles Sumner made by Thomas Ball in 1878 in Boston Massachusetts.

Charles Sumner was a politician who fought against slavery in America.

The sculptor Thomas Ball started off in music, singing and playing the violin.
Later he started painting, and then he moved to Florence Italy to study art.
He stayed there for a while and would make sculptures and have them sent back to America.


(from: wikipedia - statue of charles sumner (boston))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Noh Masks

Russian Alphabet

We just learned how to Count to ten in Russian.

The Russian alphabet looks kind of like the English one, but there are some new letters and many that sound different.

Аа - sounds like the "a" in father
Бб - sounds like the "b" in bad
Вв - sounds like "v" in vine
Гг - sounds like the "g" in go
Дд - sounds like the "d" in do
Ее - sounds like the "ye" in yes
Ёё - sounds like the "yo" in your
Жж - sounds like the "s" in pleasure
Зз - sounds like the "z" in zoo
Ии - sounds like the "i" in police
Йй - sounds like the "y" in toy
Кк - sounds like the "k" in kept
Лл - sounds like the "l" in lamp
Мм - sounds like the "m" in map
Нн - sounds like the "n" in not
Оо - sounds like the "o" in more
Пп - sounds like the "p" in pet
Рр - sounds like the "r" when it is rolled, the same as the Spanish r
Сс - sounds like the "s" set
Тт - sounds like the "t" in top
Уу - sounds like the "oo" in tool
Фф - sounds like the "f" in face
Хх - sounds like the "ch" in loch, but with more air coming through, almost like a cat hissing
Цц - sounds like the "ts" in sits
Чч - sounds like the "ch" in chat
Шш - sounds like the "sh" in sharp
Щщ - sounds like the "sh" in sharp, and sometimes like "shch" in pushchair
Ыы - sounds like the "i" in hit
Ээ - sounds like the "e" in met
Юю - sounds like the "u" in use
Яя - sounds like the "ya" in yard

The last two letters are strange, because they don't have a sound but they change the way other letters sound when they are in a word.

Ъъ is called the "hard sign", and Ьь is called the "soft sign"

Sometimes when two letters are next to each other they make a different sound.
Just like in English, s and h sound different when they are put together like sh.

In Russian the word "объять" means "hug", and it is pronounced "ah-be-yeh-t"
The letter Ъ makes sure the "yeh" sound comes through.
Without that letter it would be "обять" sound like "ah-bee-t" because of the way that the letters "бя" go together.

The letter Ьь is a little different and is used sometimes to make something plural няня or нянъ.
It is supposed to make the letter "softer" in the word, but a lot of times it is really just something you have to remember to spell in a Russian word but you don't usually say it out loud.


(from: wikipedia - russian academy of sciences)

The Norwegian 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, Æ, Ø, Å 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

Valve Stem

We just learned about the Valve Seat.

Another part of a valve is the Valve Stem.

This is the part that sticks up out of the valve, and is used to help open and close the valve disc which lets gas or water go or stop.

There is a valve stem on a bicycle tire that sticks out.
If you hook a pump up to the valve stem, it will push in a pin which will allow air to go in or come out.


(from: wikipedia - valve stem)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Nell Rocket - Robert Goddard

Velarium

We just learned about the Jellyfish Statocyst.

Another part of some jellyfish is the Velarium.

For the box jellyfish, underneath the edge of the bell on the inside it folds in, kind of like a little shelf.
This makes it so that when they squish their bell to swim, it makes it like a torpedo and pushes water out faster than normal.

Because of this these are the fastest jellyfish in the world, and we already know they are one of the most dangerous because of their sting!
They can swim up to 20 feet per minute.
That's still not even one mile per hour, but for a stinging jellyfish that's pretty quick.


(from: wikipedia - box jellyfish)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cephalopod Skin

Fovea

We just learned about the Photoreceptor Cells.

Another part of the eye is the Fovea, sometimes called the fovea centralis, central fovea or fovea of the retina.
The word fovea just means a pit or a depression, and there are other parts of the body that have small pits so sometimes people have to say fovea centralis of the retina to make sure everyone knows which fovea they are talking about.

In the back of the eye by the macula on the retina is a small pit that is full of the cones we talked about.

This part of the eye is where the best sight comes from, when you are focused on looking at something while reading a book or driving a car.


(from: wikipedia - fovea centralis)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Periodontal Ligament

Transantarctic Mountains

We just learned about the Antarctic Peninsula.

Another part of Antarctica is the Transantarctic Mountains, sometimes just called TAM.

This mountain range goes from one end of Antarctica to the other, and splits it between the East and West sides.
It is about 3,500 kilometers long,
The high summits and low valleys of the TAM are some of the only places on the continent that are not totally covered up by ice.


(from: wikipedia - transantarctic mountains)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Mysore Palace

Gregorian Chant

We just learned about the Christianity in Britain.

Another part of early Christianity is Gregorian Chant.

This is a type of singing that monks or people in church would do, where choirs would sing very slowly with not a lot of different notes.

It was very popular in the churches for choirs to learn songs in Gregorian chant and then sing them during service.
They were usually sung in the Latin language.

Many people have believed for a long time that Pope Gregory I was the one who came up with this and told everyone to learn it, but other historians now think maybe it was someone else.

The legends say that a dove came down and spoke into Gregory's ear and told him what to do.


(from: wikipedia - gregorian chant)


Gregorian chant - Deum verum - Callixtus


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: The Great Fire of Rome