Friday Fun Fact Dec 25

 

Why Do Dimes Have Ridges?

image from Littleton Coin Company Blog

The United States passed the Coinage Act in 1792 which established the US Mint. According to History.com:

“That same act of legislation also specified that $10, $5 and $2.50 coins (known as eagles, half-eagles and quarter-eagles) were to be made of their face value in gold, while dollar, half-dollar, quarter-dollar, dime and half-dime coins were to be made of their value in silver. (Cent and half-cent coins were made of cheaper copper.) But a problem soon arose, after would-be criminals saw they could make a good profit by filing shavings from the sides of gold and silver coins and selling the precious metal. Before the 18th-century was out, the U.S. Mint began adding ridges to the coins’ edges, a process called “reeding,” in order to to make it impossible to shave them down without the result being obvious. As a side benefit, the reeded edges also made coin design more intricate and counterfeiting more difficult.”

image from Treehugger

I hope that you are having a wonderful winter break!  I will not post again on this page until January 11th.  

Be safe!  See you then!

Monday Fun Fact Dec 21

 

Lovely Water Lilies

image from Metropolitan Museum of Art

Oscar-Claude Monet painted this lovely picture of water lilies. He began painting pictures of water lilies in 1899 and painted more than 200 water lily pictures. 

 

Monet had a beautiful garden, and he painted many pictures of the flowers and plants there.  He also had a pond full of lily pads.  The job of one of Monet's gardeners was to paddle a boat onto the pond every morning to wash and dust each lily pad. 

 Monet loved the way the sunlight played on the water and the lily pads.

Here are more Monet paintings accompanied by peaceful music:

https://youtu.be/nCVYEqc_Hw4

Relax, enjoy your day, and I'll see you on Friday!

Friday Fun Fact Dec 18

Christmas Star

image from Mark Hostetler

Jupiter and Saturn have been getting closer and closer these past few nights. On December 21, they will appear so close in our sky that they will look like a double planet.  They have not been this close and visible in the night sky since March 4, 1226. 

Look for this amazing view, called by many the Christmas Star, for the next few nights an hour after sunset in the western sky. 

Jackson Pollock

image from Guggenheim Museum

Jackson Pollock was an artist who put large canvases on the floor and painted them, moving quickly and dribbling paint in long, wobbly lines.

Sometimes he threw the paint onto the canvas.  His way of creating art is called "action  painting".  Here is a video about Jackson Pollock's art from the Museum of Modern Art:

https://youtu.be/EncR_T0faKM

Go to this website to paint like Pollock:

http://jacksonpollock.org/

Hint:  every time you click your mouse, the color changes :)

"Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is."

- Jackson Pollock 

Stallion Storytime

https://flipgrid.com/edwards5739

Have a wonderful weekend!

Monday Fun Fact Dec 14

 Ready Spready Go!

image from BBC.com

What is Ready Spready Go, you ask?  Why, it's the name of one of Scotland's snowplows!

Scotland began naming its snowplows in 2006 when the Scottish Transport Ministry encouraged school children to come up with fun names. In 2016, an online tracker was put on the snowplows so that children can see where the snowplows are working.  Snow plows are called "gritters" in Scotland, so some of the names will make more sense knowing that.   Here are some of the plows besides Ready Spready Go:

Polar Bear Explorer

Snowball

Ice Destroyer

Sir Salter Scott

Han Snow-lo

Luke Snowalker

Gritty Gritty Bang Bang

Snowkemon Go

Fred

Mr Plow

image from kottke.org

This is a map that helps the public keep track of where their favorite snow plow is working.

Thank you, Scotland, for today's fun fact!  Long may your snow plows plow!

Stallion Storytime is celebrating the 12 days before Winter Break!

Check out the fun at:

https://flipgrid.com/edwards5739

Username is 2020

See you on Friday!

Friday Fun Fact Dec 11

Merry December!

image from The Millenial Mirror

December is a big celebration month for many people!  Here are a few:

image from WorldStrides

Christmas is celebrated by many in the United States.  People may put up Christmas trees and look forward to snow and Santa Claus. In Australia, Christmas falls during their summertime, so Australians celebrate by going camping or to the beach.  They may decorate a "Christmas Bush," a native Australian tree with small green leaves and flowers that turn red in the summer.

 

Hanukkah, known as the Festival of Lights, begins on the 25th of Kislev on the Hebrew calendar. On each of the holiday's eight nights, another candle is lit at sundown.

Potato pancakes and jam-filled donuts are traditional foods eaten, and games using the dreidel are played.    

image from Study.com

Kwanzaa comes from the Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza” which means “first fruits”. Songs, dances, poetry reading, and drums are a part of the celebration as well as a large traditional meal.

image from Study.com

image from YABAI

Ōmisoka is New Year's Eve, a very important day in Japan.

Families get together to share a bowl of toshikoshi-soba or toshikoshi-udon: long noodles to cross over from one year to the next.

How does your family celebrate December?

You can learn more about these celebrations at:

https://worldstrides.com/blog/2015/12/december-holidays-around-the-world/ 

image from Iron River Library

Stallion Storytime is celebrating the 12 days before Winter Break!

Check out the fun at:

https://flipgrid.com/edwards5739

Username is 2020

See you on Monday!

Monday Fun Fact Dec 7

Calling All Supers!

This time I was walking past our Art teacher, Ms McLaren's room and saw the above bulletin board.  We are all superheroes when we wear our masks!

When did superheroes first show up?  The comic book Superman first appeared in 1938.  Less than a year later, Batman made his comic book debut.

Captain Marvel, Green Lantern, and The Flash showed up in 1940, and Captain America and Wonder Woman comics started publishing in 1941.

So how about you?  

  You can perfect your super powers when you practice hard in PE with Coach Smothers! 

PE Superheroes!

Ok all of you Super Heroes!  Wear your mask, practice your super powers, and meet me here again on Friday!

You are awesome!

Friday Fun Fact Dec 4

Taiko Drums

image from Swarthmore Phoenix

I was walking past Mr. Thomas's classroom today and saw a picture of taiko drums on the bulletin board outside his room.  I wondered what they are and started searching for information.  Here is what I found:

The taiko drum is from Japan.  In taiko drumming, movement is just as important as rhythm.  The drummers must be in very good physical shape because they use their entire bodies to beat the drums and they do it with all of their energy.

image from Japan Travel

There are many sizes of taiko drums. The world's largest taiko drum weighs 3.5 tons, and only the most experienced drummers are allowed to play it.

The drummers use two bachi (wooden sticks) to play the taiko drum.  The drummer uses choreographed movements which look similar to Japanese martial arts movements. In fact, to perform well, you must have training in endurance and speed, much like training for the martial arts.    

Taiko drumming sounds like a wonderful way to develop your body and your spirit!  

Taiko Drumming

See you on Monday!