North Macedonia

We just learned about the country of Luxembourg

Let's learn a little about the country of North Macedonia, also sometimes just called Macedonia!

This is a small country in Europe, about 10,000 square miles where about 2 million people live.
People in this country might speak Macedonian, Albanian, Turkish, Romani, Serbian, Bosnian, or Aromanian.


(from: wikipedia - north macedonia)

The flag of North Macedonia is red with a yellow sun on it with eight sun rays.
In the country's national anthem it talks about the New Sun of Liberty as they became independent from Yugoslavia.


(from: wikipedia - flag of north macedonia)

To eat in North Macedonia you might have Tavče gravče, which is beans, onions, peppers mixed into a kind of chili and cooked.


(from: wikipedia - tavče gravče)

Visiting North Macedonia you might go see the ancient Greek ruins at the city of Heraclea Lyncestis.

(from: wikipedia - heraclea lyncestis)

In North Macedonia there are musical bagpipes called gaida

(from: wikipedia - culture of north macedonia)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Roald Amundsen

Pilgrims

We just learned about the Thirty Years' War.

Another part of early Christianity is the Pilgrims.

We learned before about the Puritans who wanted to worship God in a different way than the English church.
Some people decided to get away from England so they could worship in the way they thought was right.

A group of about 100 people got on a boat called the Mayflower, and landed in the area now known as Massachusetts.
These people were the ones who told the story of the first Thanksgiving, and also how they landed on Plymouth Rock.


(from: wikipedia - pilgrims (plymouth colony))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cyrillic Script

Untitled - Donald Judd

We just learned about the Four Squares in Square Arrangement by George Rickey.

Another famous American sculpture is Untitled by Donald Judd, made in 1991 in New York.

Judd was born in 1928 in Missouri, and went to art school in New York.

He was famous for making art that was called Minimalism.
The sculptures that he made were very simple, with straight lines and edges and simple colors.
One big difference for his art is that he sometimes used machines to cut and shape his art, instead of making it using hand held tools.

His art "Untitled" is about 25 feet long, 5 feet tall and 5 feet wide.
It is made out of aluminum that is then painted.

Some of his art looks like a piece of furniture, and he even worked later on to make some tables and chairs for furniture companies.


(from: wikipedia - donald judd)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Standing Lincoln - Augustus Saint Gaudens

Swahili - We are surprised

We just learned that in Swahili I am happy is Nina furaha,
you are sad is Una huzuni,
he is angry is Ana hasira,
and they are excited is Wanafurahi.

Let's learn how to say We are surprised.

Tunashangaa - Sounds like too-nah-shah-n-gah - 文A




(from: wikipedia - swahili language)

Russian: Мы удивлены (My udivleny)

Norwegian: Vi er overrasket

Greek: Είναι έκπληκτοι (Eínai ékpliktoi)

ASL: We are surprised

German: Wir sind begeistert

Spanish: Estamos sorprendido

French: Nous sommes surpris

Camshaft

We just learned about the Oil Galleries.

Another part of a car engine is the Camshaft.

We learned a long time ago that a Cam is a disc with a bump on it that spins around and pushes down to open up valves for the engine.

The camshaft is the long metal pole that cams are attached to.
The shaft spins around, and the cams take turns pushing down with their bumps at different times.



(from: wikipedia - camshaft)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Hydraulics

Nomascus Gibbon

We just learned about the Siamang type of Gibbon Primate.

Another type of Primate is the Nomascus Gibbon.

This type of gibbon lives in southern China and Vietnam.
There are 7 types of these gibbons: Black crested gibbon, Eastern black crested gibbon, Hainan black crested gibbon, Northern white-cheeked gibbon, Southern white-cheeked gibbon, Yellow-cheeked gibbon, Northern buffed-cheeked gibbon.

Each of these types of Nomascus gibbons looks a little different and usually lives in a different part of China or Vietnam.
Some of them like the Northern White Cheeked Gibbon have some white fur on their cheeks, the Southern White-Cheeked Gibbon has a white mouth, and the Yellow-Cheeked Gibbon has yellow fur on it's cheeks.

They all have very long arms that help them live in the trees, and most of them start out brown and then the male Gibbons fur turns black when they get older.

Northern White Cheeked Gibbon:

(from: wikipedia - northern white-cheeked gibbon)

Southern White-Cheeked Gibbon:

(from: wikipedia - southern white-cheeked gibbon)

Yellow Cheeked-Gibbon:

(from: wikipedia - yellow cheeked-gibbon)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Snow Leopard

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

We've learned about the different types of Leukemia, whether it is Acute or Chronic, and whether it is Lymphoblastic or Myelogenous.

If the Leukemia is Acute and Lymphoblastic, it is called Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia or ALL for short.

We know lymphocyte white blood cells are made in the bone marrow.

They start as stem cells, then turn into something called lymphoblasts, then later turn into lymphocytes, and then later turn into B-Cells, T-Cells or NK Cells.

The human body is only supposed to have so many B, T or NK cells, and only so many lymphoblasts.

With ALL, the body makes too many lymphoblasts over and over, they don't turn into B, T or NK cells, and the lymphoblasts cause problems in the human body like tiredness, pale skin, fever, bleeding, bruising, enlarged lymph nodes, or bone pain.

Chemotherapy is one of the ways to try and beat this cancer, which is a type of radiation that tries to kill the bad cells.


(from: wikipedia - acute lymphoblastic leukemia)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Rapid Eye Movement