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!

Monday Fun Fact Nov 30

Cheese Rolling!

image from babyswiss.com

My family discovered the Cheese Rolling Competition while watching television this weekend!

  Cooper's Hill near Gloucester in England is the site of the cheese rolling race.  Competitiors race down this 200 yard hill, chasing a wheel of Double Gloucester cheese.  First person to cross the finish line wins - whether you are on your feet or not!

image from Sky News

image from ITV Hub

As  you can imagine, running down such a steep hill can be tricky!  Several people fall, but the town continues the cheese rolling race because everyone enjoys it.

See you on Friday!

Friday Fun Fact Nov 27

 

The Pound Cake

Have you ever had pound cake?

It's a yummy, usually vanilla-flavored cake that can be very simply served or dressed up in drizzled chocolate, lucious berries, or a thick  delicious sauce.

The name "pound cake" was originally a recipe of 1 pound of butter, 1 pound of sugar, 1 pound of eggs, and 1 pound of flour.  A pound cake could serve many people because a family had many members back in the "old days"!  Today's pound cake has smaller quantities of ingredients and may have some kind of leaven added to make it fluffy and light.

Enjoy a slice of pound cake today!  

Monday Fun Fact Nov 23

Braille Legos

image from Brickset

 I was reading through some of the articles found in the DOGO news (you can find this in the CPS Portal in the Electronic Library in Destiny) when a fascinating article caught my eye:  Denmark's LEGO Group, creators of all the wonderful LEGO products that children use to build worlds, has created LEGO braille blocks to help visually impaired children worldwide learn braille. 

Braille is a system of raised dots that represent individual alphabet and numbers. By touching the raised dots, the individual can determine the letter of the alphabet indicated and put letters into words.  This can be difficult for young children, so the LEGO Group created the braille bricks to help young children learn braille through play.

The LEGO braille blocks are similar to the original building blocks, but instead of the eight studs, the 2X3 array has raised braille dots with the number and letters printed on the bottom.  Both blind and sighted players can build together.

image from NPR

Very cool!

Friday Fun Fact Nov 20

"Sinterklaas"

image from Historynet.com

One of my favorite movies in December is "Miracle on 34th Street".  I can tell you the reason that it is my favorite:  because of the scene pictured above.  In this movie, a little orphan girl from Rotterdam, Holland, is adopted by the woman standing behind her.  They saw Santa Claus in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and the little girl - who speaks only Dutch - was so excited, calling him "Sinterklaas".  The woman brought the little girl to see Santa Claus, explaining to him that the girl spoke only Dutch, and she knows that he will be unable to communicate with her.  At this point, Santa speaks in Dutch to the little girl.  The look of joy and relief on the Dutch girl's face is so touching!  Santa Claus can talk with her!

Sinterklaas is the name of the Dutch St. Nicholas. Sinterklaas brings goodies to children on the night of December 5 and leaves them in their shoes which have been left out.  On December 6, the Dutch children wake up to discover what surprises Sinterklaas left for them!

Enjoy your weekend!

 

Monday Fun Fact Nov 16

TV Dinner :)

Popular legend says that Thanksgiving leftovers led to the first frozen dinner idea.

A Swanson employee mistakenly ordered too much turkey in 1953.  Because there was so much turkey meat left over, salesman Gerry Thomas came up with the idea of making frozen dinners similar to the dinners served in airplanes at the time.

5.000 aluminum trays were filled with turkey meat, cornbread stuffing, gravy, sweet peas and sweet potatoes.  The meal cost less than $1 and were a hit with increasingly busy families.

image from History Daily

 

Swanson often is credited with inventing the term "TV dinner" .  They used the newest invention of that year - the television set - to set up their ad campaign, and it worked!  The company sold millions of TV dinners starting in 1954.

TV dinners were prepared in the oven in the early days.  However, during the 1970's, microwave ovens became very popular, and that is when TV dinners really took off. The aluminum trays were replaced with plastic containers, cooking time was reduced, and many more companies began to develop meals that busy families could prepared quickly.  

And the rest . . . is history!   Enjoy!

Friday Fun Fact Nov 13

 

Let's Talk Turkey!

image from iStock

Turkeys are amazingly beautiful birds!  The male turkeys have the big tails that spread out in a fan of green, gold, bronze and red color.  The female turkeys are brown or grey - good colors to hide them while they sit on a nest!

Only the male turkeys make the "gobble, gobble" sound.  That is why male turkeys are called "gobblers".  Female turkeys make more of a chirp or clucking sound.

Wild turkeys can fly up to 55 mph.  They also tend to fly up into trees to sleep.  Domestic turkeys are too big to fly.

Turkeys eat small stones so that those stones can go into the turkey's stomach called the gizzard.  The stones help break down the food and help the turkey digest.

Now you have some fun facts to talk about while eating your turkey dinner!

image from PNGio.com

Monday Fun Fact Nov 9

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 

image from Evensi

The very first Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade began at 9:00 am on Thursday, November 27, 1924.

The Macy's Department store had recently grown in size to take over an entire city block, and the company wanted to showcase its store in a big way:  thus the Macy's parade got its start.

"To match the nursery-rhyme theme in Macy’s Christmas window display in 1924, floats featured Mother Goose favorites such as the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, Little Miss Muffet and Little Red Riding Hood. Macy’s employees dressed as clowns, cowboys and sword-wielding knights. A menagerie of animals on loan from the Central Park Zoo—including bears, elephants, camels and monkeys—offered a circus-like atmosphere as four bands provided the soundtrack to the festive march. Bringing up the rear of the parade was a float bearing the guest of honor—Santa Claus—sitting in his reindeer-driven sleigh on top of a mountain of ice."

- History.com

The zoo animals did not enjoy the parade, and so they were replaced in 1927 with large balloons.  The first balloon was Felix the Cat who joined the parade in 1927. 

You can read more about the history of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade here:

https://www.history.com/news/the-first-macys-thanksgiving-day-parade

                                                                                               -image from Bettman Archive/Getty Images

"Andy the Alligator" in 1933

image from NY Daily News Archive/Getty Images

"Mickey Mouse" in 1934.

Shepard Students Share Fun Facts!

 Kyra S in 4th grade:  Bus stops in Kangai, Japan are shaped like fruit!

So cool!  Here are pictures of them:

images from Dream Tours Japan

These bus stops were built for the 1990 Travel Expo and remain in use today.

Thank you for this wonderful fact, Kyra S!

Have a great day!

Friday Fun Fact Nov 6

 Thank You, Thanksgiving!

image from Aurit Mediation

The year was 1863.  The United States was in the middle of the Civil War, and the Northern States and the Southern States were deeply divided.

Sarah Josepha Hale was a magazine editor and writer at the time.  She wrote "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and many other items, but she also wrote letters.  Lots and lots of letters!

Sarah wrote letters to governors, senators, politicians and presidents, and those letters were about this:  let's make Thanksgiving a national holiday.

Many people in the United States already celebrated Thanksgiving.  George Washington had requested a day of prayer and thanksgiving in 1789 to show gratitude for the successful end of the War of Independence from England.

 New York proclaimed a Thanksgiving holiday in 1817 for its state. Other Northern states did the same, but each celebrated it on a separate day.  The Southern states were unfamiliar with the tradition because the first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims occurred in the northern part of the United States.

Sarah Hale wanted to have Thanksgiving declared a national holiday - a holiday shared on the same day by ALL of the states.  She wrote so many letters and worked so hard for this idea that she became known as the "Mother of Thanksgiving".

Sarah wrote to Abraham Lincoln, and they both agreed that the Northern states and the Southern states needed something to bring them together, at least for one day.  So in 1863, Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving to be a national holiday.  He asked all Americans to thank God and to “commend to his tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife” and to “heal the wounds of the nation.” *

Lincoln scheduled Thanksgiving for the final Thursday of November, and we have been celebrating this holiday in November ever since.

                                        Abraham Lincoln              Sarah J Hale

                    - image from Unsplash.com                                                                                         - image from Wikipedia

- image from Pinterest

Have a good weekend!

    *https://www.history.com/topics/thanksgiving/history-of-thanksgiving

Monday Fun Fact Nov 2

 

Walt Disney, Young Artist

image from Pinterest

Walt Disney began drawing regularly when he was four years old.  He was encouraged by his aunt and a neighbor to draw.  Walt lived in Marceline, Missouri then, and he found his life there memorable and happy.  He loved Marceline so much that he created Main Street in many of his theme parks to resemble Marceline's Main Street. 

image from Disneyland Resort

In Marceline was a large cottonwood tree that young Walt called his "Dreaming Tree" where he would retreat to let his mind wander.

Have a good day somewhere under YOUR "Dreaming Tree"!

Friday Fun Fact Oct 30

 Candy Corn!

image from Parker Feierbach

Today is National Candy Corn Day!

Candy corn was first introduced in the 1880s.  According to alwaysatreat.com website:

"...its tri-color design was considered revolutionary. Lack of automated machinery meant that candy corn was only made seasonally, likely starting production in late August and continuing through the fall. It has remained unchanged for more than 100 years and is a favorite at Halloween."

What's the right way to eat candy corn?  White end first? Eat it whole?  You can survey your friends and family to decide!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Monday Fun Fact Oct 26

Grand Canyon Cloudburst

image from Conde Nast Traveler

If you have ever travelled to or have seen pictures of the Grand Canyon, you know how breathtakingly beautiful it is!  It is so enchanting that musical composer Ferde Grofé wrote the Grand Canyon Suite. One of the pieces in this musical suite is called "Cloudburst".

I said that music can create images in your mind - well "Cloudburst" does an amazing job of creating the sounds of a frightening thunderstorm!  You can hear the wind, thunder and lightning!  Take a listen to it here.  The scary wind starts to blow at the 2:57 mark:

                           https://youtu.be/iCaX-t_P5q0

image from Follow the Cougar

I would listen to this song many times when I was a child, and I would wrap myself in a blanket when the thunder and lightning began! It was so good and scary!!

 Ferde Grofé, wrote The Grand Canyon Suite between 1929 and 1931.  A suite in music is an ordered set of musical pieces.  Ferde Grofé initially titled his music Five Pictures of the Grand Canyon, and when you listen to them, you can picture those as well!  You can hear and see the sun come up in "Sunrise" and the donkeys braying in "On the Trail".  

image from Grand Canyon Deals

Enjoy!

 

Friday Fun Fact Oct 23

 

Sink or Float?

You have two cans of soda:  one is a Coke, and the other is a Diet Coke.

You place them both in a tub of water.

What happens?

image from physics.upenn.edu

As you can see, the can of Diet Coke will float in water, but the regular Coke can sinks.   Both cans contain mostly water, but the can of Coke also has sugar in it.  The sugar makes the liquid more dense than pure water, so the can sinks.

On the other hand, the can of Diet Coke contains less than a gram of sweetener, so the density of the liquid is the same as pure water, and the can floats.

According to Penn Physics (University of Pennsylvania):

"Due to the difference in density, the can with the sugar in it sinks while the diet can floats. For a further refinement, mix in a bunch of salt--the density of the salt water increases enough that the sugared coke now floats." 

                    More Fun....

           

You can create a "candy slide" to safely deliver treats this Halloween in a socially distanced manner.  You could also win a prize for it!  Here is the information:

https://columbiastemalliance.com/socially-distant-candy-device-contest/

Have a great weekend!

Monday Fun Fact Oct 19

 Trolls and Starman!

Music can create images in your head, and the music of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" is just one of those!

  Edvard Grieg wrote music to accompany the story of Peer Gynt, a young boy who runs away into the mountains where he is captured by mountain trolls and meets their king.  Peer eventually escapes after being chased by all of the trolls!

The musicians playing this piece use a method called "pizzicato"  on their stringed instruments to make the sounds of Peer tiptoeing out of the hall.  "Pizzicato" means to pluck the strings on your instrument instead of using a bow.

 Listen to the music here and see if you can picture in your mind the images of Peer running away from the trolls:

"In the Hall of the Mountain King"

Here is another version of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" being played on an enormous musical organ at the Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, Müpa Budapest (Palace of Arts), Hungary.  

https://youtu.be/dBoGdJ54oWI

SpaceX's Starman just did a flyby of Mars in his Tesla Roadster!

image from Space.com

Starman is a mannequin dressed in an astronaut's suit who is seated in a red Tesla Roadster.  Starman and his Roadster were launched into space on November 5,  2018 aboard SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket, and he has travelled 1.3 billion miles in less than 2 years.

You can read more about Starman in his Tesla Roadster by going to DOGO news in the Destiny Library in the Electronic Library of your CPS Portal.

That's all for now.  See you on Friday!