Victory For the Broncos!

The Denver Broncos defeat the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50

RONALD MARTINEZ—GETTY IMAGES

Denver Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning receives the Vince Lombardi Trophy after defeating the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50.

On Sunday night, the Denver Broncos beat the Carolina Panthers 24-10 to win football’s biggest contest. The match-up’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) award went to Broncos’ linebacker Von Miller. His forced fumbles paved the way for victory, and helped give teammate Peyton Manning the second Super Bowl win of his career. (Manning’s first win was with the Indianapolis Colts.)

BEN MARGOT—AP

Super Bowl MVP, Von Miller, chases a loose ball during the second half of the game.

Teamwork meant everything to Manning. After the game, he praised Miller and the Broncos’ entire defensive line.“Whenever you’re doing something for your buddies, it means a little bit more,” Miller said. “As human beings, we’re selfish, but when you’re doing something for somebody else, that’s when the magic happens.”

"I certainly knew that (with) this defense, this team would have a chance," Manning told the Associated Press. "Our defense has just been, from the get-go, they've been nothing but awesome. Being hurt and struggling early in the season wasn't a lot of fun so I was grateful to get back healthy and to try and play my part these last couple of weeks."

The Last Hurrah?

“All signs point to retirement,” says TIME’s Sean Gregory. “He’s played for 18 seasons . . . and now he can leave the game on top, with a second Super Bowl [win].” The big question now is whether Sunday night’s game was Manning’s last.

Manning, however, has not yet said when, or if, he’ll retire. After the game, he told reporters, “I’m going to take some time to reflect.”

A Golden Event

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Beyonce, Chris Martin of Coldplay, and Bruno Mars perform together during the Pepsi Super Bowl 50 Halftime Show.

This year’s Super Bowl was extra special. The game, held at Levi’s Stadium, in Santa Clara, California, marked the National Football League’s “golden” anniversary. To celebrate the occasion, the league honored 43 previous MVP’s before the game kicked off. The NFL also created a Super Bowl High School Honor Roll, which will give commemorative golden footballs to high schools for every Super Bowl player or head coach who attended the school.

More than 114 million people tuned in to watch Super Bowl 50, making it the most-watched television event in U.S. history. But viewers weren’t there just for the football. To many people, Super Bowl commercials and the halftime show are just as exciting as the game. Advertisers spend as much as $5 million to air a 30-second ad during the Super Bowl broadcast, CBS president Leslie Moonves told Fortune. Lots of money goes into producing the halftime show, too. This year, the show featured energetic and colorful performances by Coldplay, Beyoncé, and Bruno Mars.

Did you watch the Superbowl? if so, what was your favorite part of the game?

Commitment to Coding

President Barack Obama announces a plan to help students learn computer science

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Boris Cochajil, 14, works on a DVD cover project during the computer art lab portion of job training at Downtown Aurora Visual Arts in Aurora, Colorado. 

Following up on a proposal he made during his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama announced on January 30 his new Computer Science for All initiative. The $4 billion plan aims to fulfill Obama’s commitment to “offer every student the hands-on computer science and math classes that make them job-ready on day one,” as he described in his annual speech to Congress.

The CS for All initiative is intended to provide every student between kindergarten and 12th grade with computer science education. The $4 billion would be distributed to states over three years, with $100 million going directly to school districts, to train teachers and purchase high-quality instructional materials. 

“In the new economy, computer science isn’t an optional skill—it’s a basic skill, right along with the three ‘R’s,’ ” Obama said in his weekly radio address on January 30. 

A Growing Need

According to a statement released by the White House, while more than 90% of parents say they want their children to have computer science courses, only about 25% of schools in the United States offer quality coding and programming classes. In 22 states, computer science classes are not allowed to count towards high school graduation. At the same time, a growing number of jobs require computer science skills, including those in industries such as transportation, education, and health care. And there is a shortage of people who are qualified for the jobs. Last year, more than 600,000 high-paying tech jobs in the U.S. went unfilled. Experts predict that in the next two years, more than half of all Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) jobs will involve computer science.

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President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address on January 12 in Washington, D.C.

The initiative is also designed to promote diversity in the tech industry. In 2015, only 22% of students who took the Advanced Placement Computer Science test were female. Only 13% of students who took the test were either African American or Latino. These percentages carried over to employees at big tech companies. Mandatory computer science classes, it is hoped, will encourage more students from all different backgrounds to confidently pursue technology driven careers.

How is this like what you did for Mrs. Sanchez in the computer lab? Do you think it is related to the article?

Return of the Panda Warrior

Kung Fu Panda 3 hits theaters today

DREAMWORKS ANIMATION

In Kung Fu Panda 3, Po joins forces with a group of pandas living in a hard-to-reach mountain village.

In the new film Kung Fu Panda 3, the main character Po finds himself on a soul-searching journey. The young panda is reunited with his long-lost father, and he also must save China from a supernatural villain named Kai who is determined to wipe out the entire country.

Po, who is trained in the martial art of Kung Fu, seeks refuge at a panda village deep in the mountains. He learns to harness his true potential in order to defeat Kai—and eventually finds his place in the universe.

This is the third film in the popular animated series. Fans of the first two films will find familiar characters such as Master Shifu and Mr. Ping as well as new ones including Kai.

The Voice of Kai

BRIAN GORDON/DREAMWORKS

Oscar Award winning actor J.K. Simmons voices the villain Kai in Kung Fu Panda 3.

In an interview with TFK, actor J.K. Simmons, the voice of Kai, admits that he doesn’t have much experience with martial arts. He is the only member of his family who doesn’t practice. “My wife has a black belt in Taekwondo and my kid does karate,” he told TFK. 

Simmons has an accomplished acting career. He won an Oscar last year for his role in the movie Whiplash, and has appeared on many TV shows and films in the past 30 years.

“It’s easier and less time consuming to do animated films,” Simmons says. For the film, he and the other actors — including Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Bryan Cranston, and Lucy Liu — went into recording studios to voice their characters separately and at different times. The process only took about eight hours. “Even though we weren’t in the same room, the directors did a brilliant job of keeping us on the same page,” he says.

Voicing Kai was a lot of fun. “He’s bigger and scarier than anyone I have played before,” he says. “It was pure playtime.”

Have you seen the movie? If so, how was it? If you have not seen the movie, would you want to see it from what you have learned?

Taking a Stand

Standing desks allow kids to think on their feet.

A student at Vallecito Elementary works at his desk.

The new year brought new desks for students at Vallecito Elementary School, in San Rafael, California. The last three of the school’s 22 classrooms switched from seated desks to standing desks. “It’s now the first all-standing school,” Juliet Starrett told TFK. She started the group StandUp Kids. Her goal is to have every U.S. public school kid using a standing desk within the next 10 years.

Starrett’s daughters—Georgia, 10, and Caroline, 7—attend Vallecito. They are thrilled with their desks. “You feel happier, you’re less tired, and you’re more active,” Georgia says.

Some of the desks have wheels and fidget bars. The bars let kids move in a way that doesn’t disturb the class. Wheels allow the desks to be moved easily. The desks also adjust to ­different heights. Kids take breaks by sitting on the floor or on stools.

TO SIT OR NOT TO SIT?

Ergonomics is the study of designing things to make them easy and safe to use. According to Mark Benden, the director of the Texas A&M Ergonomics Center, standing workers are more focused and healthier. He says his research shows that kids using standing desks are more engaged and burn more calories. In December, researchers in New Zealand, Australia, and the United Kingdom released similar findings. But not everyone is convinced standing is better than sitting. Some parents and teachers worry that kids will get tired and that standing for long periods of time may be harmful. And standing desks are more expensive.

Benden says both sitting and standing desks can cause problems if they are not the proper height. “Our message should not be ‘Sit less, stand more,’” he says, “but ‘Sit less, move more.’”

Some teachers are for keeping sitting desks while allowing kids to read on a treadmill or an exercise bike. Others encourage daily dance and yoga breaks. Where do you stand on the ­issue? Vote in the poll below!

Do you think that you would like a desk without a seat? Please tell me why or why not. 

Celebrating Black History

Two important birthdays helped organizers choose February as the time to celebrate African Americans

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Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton speaks with students about Black History Month alongside a statue of Martin Luther King, Jr., in Washington, D.C., on February 20, 2014.

In the early 1900s, Carter G. Woodson, an African-American historian, was frustrated. He did not feel that the history and accomplishments of black people were being taught or celebrated in the United States. While working to address this problem, Woodson set the foundation for what would become today’s national Black History Month. It is observed each February.

Woodson was studying history at Harvard University, in Massachusetts. He saw that black people were not well represented in history books. Black history was also not discussed in his classes. According to the way many historians taught the nation’s past, African Americans were barely part of the story.

GETTY IMAGES

This portrait, taken in the 1910s, shows American historian and educator Carter Godwin Woodson, who organized the first black history week.

Woodson knew this was not true. So in 1915, he and Jesse E. Moorland, a black minister and community leader, founded what would become the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, or the ASALH. The organization would promote studying black history and celebrate the accomplishments of African Americans.

Spotlight on Black History

In 1926, Woodson and the ASALH launched a black history week to bring attention to their mission and help schools organize lessons on the topic. Woodson chose the second week in February. That week held two very important dates: Frederick Douglass’ birthday on February 14 and Abraham Lincoln’s birthday on February 12. Douglass was a famous African-American writer, speaker, and anti-slavery activist. Lincoln was the U.S. president who made the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing the nation’s slaves. Both were major figures in black history, and particularly in the fight against slavery. Honoring the two with a week celebrating African Americans made sense.

The celebration of black history week spread quickly, as the ASALH tells it. There was high demand for teaching materials. People even formed black history clubs. But, though a newfound understanding of black culture and literature was spreading among many people, the idea of expanding the week to a month did not come until several decades later.

UNIVERSAL IMAGE GROUP/GETTY IMAGES

Frederick Douglass was a former slave turned abolitionist, writer, and speaker.

By the mid-1960s, the most popular textbook for eighth-grade U.S. history classes mentioned only two black people in the entire 100 years since the Civil War. This problem could no longer be ignored. It was in that decade that colleges and universities across the country transformed the week into a Black History Month on campus.

A number of mayors had already adopted the celebration as a town or citywide event by the time President Gerald Ford decreed Black History Month a national observance in 1976.

“In celebrating Black History Month,” Ford said in his message, “we can seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”

Now, Black History Month is celebrated in February in schools and communities all over the country.

Presidents have issued national decrees with each year’s theme since the 1970s. African American History Month’s 2016 theme is “Hallowed Grounds: Sites of African American Memories.”

Can you tell me something you learned about a famous Black American?

Puppy Bowl 2016

For those who love football but love puppies even more—the 12th annual Puppy Bowl kicks off Sunday, February 7, on Animal Planet. This year’s competition will see Team Ruff go snout-to-snout with Team Fluff in a game that is sure to be a gridiron -classic. This “paws for a cause” event aims to find new homes for the pups, with all 88 of the canine athletes up for adoption. “We try to show what an amazing variety of dogs you can find up for adoption at your local shelter,“ referee Dan Schachner told TFK. “I guarantee they will all be adopted by the time the game is over.”

Click the link below to see the Puppy-Bowl

Puppy-Bowl Link

Do you think using the Puppy-Bowl as a means to help find pets find homes was a good idea?