Monday Fun Fact Dec 12

 

Reindeer Sleigh Ride

image from Pexels

This beautiful creature is a reindeer.  Here are some fun facts about reindeer:

Reindeer noses are completely covered by hair that helps to warm cold air before it gets into their lungs.  

Both male and female reindeer grow antlers.

Reindeer and caribou are the same animal.  In North America, the animals are called reindeer if they are taken care of by humans; if they are living out in the wild, they are called caribou.

Here is a video of a man taking a ride in a one reindeer open sleigh:

Reindeer Sleigh Ride

Monday Fun Fact Dec 5

 A Christmas Story Christmas

image from Best Buy

The movie, A Christmas Story, came out in 1983. The movie is set in the 1940s and tells the story of Ralphie Parker who tries to convince his parents, teacher, and Santa Claus that a Red Ryder BB gun is the perfect Christmas present.  The movie was so popular that for many years you could watch a marathon of it on Christmas Eve. 

Fun Fact about the movie:  the restaurant scene in which a cooked duck was brought out to the family to eat was a surprise for Melinda Dillon, the actress who plays Ralphie's mother.  She had no idea that the duck would still have the head on, so her squeals and shock when it was placed on the table is genuine! 

Monday Fun Fact Nov 28

A Charlie Brown Classic

 

image from Parade

The holiday show A Charlie Brown Christmas debuted in 1965.

The producers of the show hired real children, not actors, to give voice to the characters.  Some of the children were from the director Bill Melendez's Southern California neighborhood.  Some of the children were so young that they could not yet read.

Monday Fun Fact Nov 21

 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

 The first time that New York City hosted the Macy's  Thanksgiving Day parade was in 1924.  The parade has many balloons, floats, and bands - including the University of Missouri's Marching Mizzou playing this year!

image from ILoveNY.com

Here is a fun video to watch about the balloons:

Balloonatics!

Monday Fun Fact Nov 14

 

Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture

images from DeviantArt and Last.fm

Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky wrote the 1812 Overture to commemorate the success of the Russian army keeping the French Army, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, from invading.

Here is the finale of that composition, performed by at the BBC Proms: 

1812 Finale

The 1812 Overture is beloved worldwide, and it can be heard in many places:

Stella Jumping Into Leaves

Monday Fun Fact Nov 7

 

ABCYa!  Oh Yeah!

image from ABCYa

ABCYa! has been a favorite website of mine ever since I started teaching at Shepard :) The fun and educational games that you play make learning exciting! My favorite section is the green section:  strategy games. 

ABCYa was created in 2004 by school teachers Alan and Lisa Tortolani.  They wanted to find learning games for their students that were not filled with violence and inappropriate ads.  The name "ABCYa" was created to make it easy for children to type into a web browser.  The games were successful, and many other teachers began using the website with their own students.

Monday Fun Fact Oct 31

 

American Women Quarters

image from Coin News

The US Mint has been making special quarters since 1999 to celebrate the United States.  The American Women Quarters Program was set up to celebrate the accomplishments of American women.  The program will last four years and started in 2022.  The quarters will showcase women who contributed to the arts, space, humanities, civil rights, and suffrage, to name a few.  

The first 5 quarters will feature:

 Maya Angelou - writer and performer

 Dr Sally Ride - first American woman astronaut in space

 Wilma Mankiller - first woman chief of the Cherokee nation

 Nina Ortero-Warren - leader in New Mexico's suffrage movement

 Anna May Wong - first Chinese American film star

You can learn more about this program and these women at:

American Women Quarter Program

Monday Fun Fact Oct 24

 

What Is That Group Called?  Part 2!

image from iStock

A group of baboons is called a "troop".

A group of bats is called a "colony".

A group of ducks is called a "paddling".

What other animal group names can you find?

Monday Fun Fact Oct 17

 

What Is That Group Called?

image from Medium

Groups of animals have some interesting names!  A group of cats, like the one pictured above, is called a glaring of cats.

We call a group of cows a herd of cows.

What do we call a group of owls?

image from Pixels

We call them a parliament of owls.

Here is a group of giraffes:

image from Dreamstime.com

This group is called a tower of giraffes.

I promised that I would tell you what we call a group of crows:

image from Mongabay

This group is called a murder of crows!

Monday Fun Fact Oct 10

 

The Scarecrow

image from iStock

The earliest scarecrows were found in Ancient Egypt.  Their task was to keep birds away from the fields near the river Nile.

The Urchfont Scarecrow Festival, located in Wiltshire, England, has been running since the ’90s and draws in up to 10,000 people every year. This festival features over 50 handmade scarecrows with prizes and contests to raise money for charity.

Speaking of crows - do you know what you call a group of crows?  Find out next week! :)

Monday Fun Fact Oct 3

 

Volcano!

image from Encyclopedia Britannica

Hawaii's Mauna Loa volcano is the largest active volcano on our planet.

1950 Mauna Loa volcano

2018 Kilauea volcano

Monday Fun Fact Sept 26

The Wood Wide Web

 

image from ResearchGate

Adult trees can use their root systems to share their sugar resources with younger trees to help them grow.

They also use the root system to warn other trees of invaders.

Check out this video from The Kid Should See This:

https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/the-wood-wide-web-how-trees-secretly-talk-to-and-share-with-each-other

 

Monday Fun Fact Sept 19

 

World's Loudest Bird

image from The Hindu

image from Birds of the World

The White Bellbird has been named the "Loudest Bird Ever Recorded" as of 2019 study.  The sound can reach 125 decibels!

The bird can be found in the mountain forests of the north-eastern area of the Amazon and Venezuela.

https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/white-bellbird-loudest-bird

Monday Fun Fact Sept 12

 Queen Elizabeth II

image from Town & Country Magazine

The United Kingdom crowned Queen Elizabeth II on February 6, 1953. She was 25 years old. Her father, King George VI, had passed away, and she was his oldest child; therefore, she inherited the crown.

 

image from Parade

Elizabeth died on September 8, 2022 at the age of 96.  She was the longest reigning monarch that the United Kingdom ever had.

Her first born son, Charles, is now King Charles III of England.  After 70 years of singing the anthem "God Save The Queen", the British people will now sing "God Save The King".

image from  Forbes

image from Mint

Monday Fun Fact Sept 5

 Cheetah Facts

image from Encyclopedia Brittanica

Cheetahs can run very fast!

Cheetahs cannot roar, they meow :)

Click here to watch the noises that cheetahs can make:

Cheetah sounds

Monday Fun Fact August 29

This Plant Repels Water

The Taro plant lives in the rainforest where it rains a lot.  This plant can repel the rain off its leaves when it no longer needs water.  It also cleans itself this way by letting germs roll off with the water.

Here is a video of the Taro plant:

https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/waterproof-taro-plant-water-pooling-bromeliads-video

Monday Fun Fact May 23

Marbles, Music and Sand!

image from DepositPhotos

Marbles make beautiful music when working in this machine:

https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/the-wintergatan-marble-machine-music-made-from-2000-marbles

image from Earth Eclipse

Sand becomes a liquid in this video:

https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/royal-institution-fluid-sand-video

Monday Fun Fact May 16

Heavenly Light Shows

image from ThoughtCo

This is an image of the Aurora Borealis, also known as the Northern Lights.

"Aurora" is the name given to the lights we see when energetic charged particles travel along Earth's magnetic fields.

  The north pole is a magnetic field, and the lights we see there are called Aurora Borealis (boreal is Latin for "northern").

image from Science Photo Library

This is a photo of the Aurora Australis, also known as the Southern Lights.

  The south pole is also a magnetic field, and that is why we call the lights there Aurora Australis  (austral  is Latin for "southern").

Here is a link to a magnificent light show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ombTF5j97RQ

Aurora Explained

Monday Fun Fact May 9

 

Supernova!

image from Futurism

Look at this beautiful supernova!

What's a supernova?  It is a star that has exploded, and it is the most powerful explosion that humans have ever seen.

According to the European Space Agency website:  "Stars explode when they run out of fuel to burn.  Stars more than 10 times the mass of our Sun will explode in an event called a 'core-collapse supernova'.

"Without fuel and thus energy to support their gravity, such stars first implode.  The core reaches a critical density, and much of the collapsing matter gets bounced back out violently into space by powerful shockwaves."

image from NASA.gov

You can watch a video that showcases the power of a supernova here:

https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/physics-girl-the-stacked-ball-drop-and-supernovas

More information about supernovas can also be found here:

https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/supernova/en/

Monday Fun Fact May 2

 

Popsicles

image from Clipart Library

Here is a fun fact about a popular frozen treat, the Popsicle:  it was invented by an 11-year-old boy named Frank Epperson in 1905! Frank was stirring some sugary soda powder into water with a wooden stick.  He left the cup out overnight.  The night was cold, and when Frank came out the next morning, he found that the mixture had frozen into a treat on a stick.  He called it an "Epsicle" and started selling the treat around his neighborhood.

The Epsicle was very popular, and by 1924 Frank was selling the treats beyond his neighborhood.  His children called the treat "Pop's sicle", and this new name stuck.  Frank called his Popsicle "A drink on a stick."

image from The National Archives

The name "popsicle stick" has become a common name these days.  The official name for these wooden sticks is "craft stick", and they are usually made of birch wood.  Here is a fascinating project that you can do with giant craft sticks:

Popsicle Stick Chain Reaction

How To Make That!

Monday Fun Fact Apr 24

Daffodils

image from All Free Download

Daffodils are one of the first flowers to bloom in spring.

image from Breck's

The name for a daffodil's trumpet or central cone is "corona". 

image from Breck's

Daffodils were brought to England by the ancient Romans.  

Monday Fun Fact Apr 18

"Meadow"

image from Studio Drift

"Meadow" is a kinetic sculpture that reacts to visitors in the same way that flowers react to sunlight:  the sculpture blooms!

Studio Drift artistic team created these mechanical flowers made of LED lights that hang like a chandelier and react to the motion of people who walk in.

Here is a video of "Meadow" in motion:

Meadow 

Monday Fun Fact Apr 11

 

Please Won't You Be My Neighbor?

image from JSTOR Daily

Mr. Rogers was an only child until he turned 11 years old.  At that time, his parents adopted a little girl named Elaine.  His sister was the inspiration for his puppet,  Lady Elaine.

image from Medium

The stoplight in the theme song blinks yellow.  This is to remind children to slow down a little during your day.

image from My Traffic Lights

Mr. Rogers tells us aloud that he is feeding his fish.  A young blind child listened to him talk about his fish, and she wanted to know that the fish were still doing okay.

image from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood

Celebrating Mr. Rogers

Monday Fun Fact Apr 4

 Starling Murmuration

image from Popular Science

Have you ever seen a flock of birds flying in formation?  Starlings take this formation to the next level, and it is quite beautiful. Here is a video:

Starling Murmuration

Scientists say that the starlings fly this way to protect themselves from predators.  Birds like peregrine falcons can find it very difficult to capture one bird when they are flying in this hypnotizing pattern.

This movement fascinated artists Kevior John and Richard Harvey.  Together they created a piece of art - a chandelier - that is 3 stories high and mimics the movements of the starlings:

Murmuration Chandelier

Monday Fun Fact Mar 21

Oranges

image from Unsplash

The word "orange" does not have a rhyme in the dictionary.

 

Fun Fact Monday Mar 14

 Pi Day and Pie Day!!

image from WickedLocal

What a year so far!  First we had 2/22/22 on a Tuesday, and now we have 3/14 which some people celebrate as Pi Day! Even better, it falls on a Monday this year, and what could be better than starting a week with pie?

image from Pillsbury.com

Pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Pi starts with 3.14 and continues on for a long, never-ending number. People like to see how much of the number they can memorize:  3.1415926535 8979323846 2643383279 5028841971 6939937510 5820974944 5923078164 0628620899 8628034825 3421170679 ...

image from Math Is Fun

Larry Shaw, a physicist at the San Francisco Exploratorium, is credited with organizing the first large-scale celebration of Pi Day in 1988.  The staff and anyone else who wanted to join marched around one of the circular spaces on campus and then ate fruit pies.  

image from cairnschildrensmuseum.org.au

Oh! And by the way,

Pi Day can also be celebrated by eating a pizza pie!

image from iStock

Pizza Skills  click here to watch fun pizza dough tossing  8:00

                       Infinite Life of Pi click here to watch a TED video about Pi

Monday Fun Fact Mar 7

 Eggs!

image from Encyclopedia Britannica

The color of the shell depends on the breed of the chicken that laid it.  The age of the chicken and its diet will also affect the egg's color.  White, brown, blue, and even green - yes! green! - are all possible eggshell colors.  No matter the color, the egg tastes the same.  We see white and brown eggs the most because they are cheaper; blue and green eggs are more rare.

The color of the yolk depends on the hen's diet.  Chickens who eat vegetables have a darker yellow yolk.  Chickens who eat barley will have lighter color yolks.

image from Wikipedia

I have used commercial egg dye to color my Easter eggs since . . . forever!  However, you can use natural dyes to color your eggs.  Cabbage, red onion skin, tumeric, and other natural foods can be used to naturally add color to your Easter egg.

image from Hungry Happenings

Colorful foil wrapped eggs, Cadberry Creme Eggs, and chocolate rabbits are all popular treats to find in your basket.  Here is a video of how giant chocolate eggs are made:

Chocolate Egg

next week: Pi Day!