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

KEVIN MAZUR—WIREIMAGE/GETTY IMAGES

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

ANYA SEMENOFF—THE DENVER POST/GETTY IMAGES

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.

EVAN VUCCI—GETTY IMAGES/POOL

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

SAUL LOEB—AFP/GETTY IMAGES

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?

Star Wars

It has been more than 10 years since a Star Wars movie hit the big screen. After six films, which have earned more than $4 billion worldwide, creator George Lucas considered the series finished with 2005’s Revenge of the Sith. But a seventh movie, The Force Awakens, opened on December 18.

Lucas, who wrote or cowrote all of the previous films and directed four of them, is no longer involved. But a new generation of filmmakers hopes to recapture the qualities and spirit that made Star Wars beloved around the globe. 

Click  the link to see the movie trailer.

Star Wars Trailer

Did you see the movie? if so tell us all about the movie

Let Girls Learn

In Ghana, a girl’s place is in the home. She is expected to learn to cook and clean and, one

day, get married and have children. Educating girls is considered a waste of money. “It happens more than it should, where parents have money to send their girls to school but choose not to,” says Ryan Roach, a Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana, where nearly 55% of girls are not enrolled in secondary school. “Cultural beliefs say education is not a wise investment.”

The White House’s Let Girls Learn initiative is working to change this view of girls’ education, in Ghana and in countries worldwide. First Lady Michelle Obama says parents have to be persuaded that girls’ education is a better investment than marriage or household labor. For more, click  the video link below.

Let Girls Learn Video

How is girls not going to school in Ghana like civil rights and Martin Luther King Jr?

Inventions of 2015

What makes an invention great? Sometimes, an invention solves a problem you didn't think could be solved. Sometimes, an invention solves a problem you didn't even know you had. And sometimes, an invention just makes life more fun. Every year, TIME makes a list of the very best inventions. This video showcases five of our kid-friendly favorites.

Click the Link below to watch the latest inventions for 2015.
Inventions of 2015

Inventions are things that make life easier. If you could invent something, what would it be? 

Arctic Warming At All-Time High A new study finds record-high temperatures and less ice

According to the annual Arctic Report Card, released Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Arctic is warmer than ever. The average air temperature over Arctic land reached 2.3 degrees Fahrenheit above average for the year ending in September. That's the highest since observations began in 1900.

"Warming is happening more than twice as fast in the Arctic than anywhere else in the world,” said NOAA chief scientist Rick Spinrad, at a meeting in San Francisco, California. “We know this is due to climate change.”

A Changed Environment

The Arctic is a polar region at the northernmost part of the earth. It centers on the North Pole and reaches into North America and Eurasia. With these record-high temperatures, the sea ice that forms when Arctic Ocean water freezes is melting. Even when the ice reached its peak coverage this past February, it was at its lowest amount since records began in 1979. The minimum ice coverage, reached in September, was the fourth lowest on record.

Melting ice takes a toll on animals, including walruses. Usually, these marine mammals haul themselves onto ice floes, or sheets of floating ice, to mate and give birth. But finding little ice, the walruses in Northwest Alaska have lately been crowding onto beaches. This is new behavior, and it can cause big problems, according to Martin Jeffries of the federal Office of Naval Research and Jackie Richter-Menge of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Crowds can lead to stampedes, putting baby walruses, called calves, in danger.

Snow cover in June in both the North American and Eurasian parts of the Arctic was at the second lowest level since scientists began recording in 1967. With less snow covering the ground, more sunlight gets through to the land, which soaks up the energy and gets warmer. June snow cover has been dropping by 18 percent every ten years since 1979, according to the study.

As kids, what can we do to help stop global warming?

Baby Chameleons

Chameleons are very interesting lizards. Learn how mother chameleons have babies and see how cute
the little ones are.


Click the link below to see a short video on baby chameleons.
Baby Chameleons

Do you think having a baby chameleon would be a good idea? Why or why not
Remember to respond in complete sentences.

How Is Your Holiday Break Going?

I hope you are having a great Holiday Break! I miss you all. I have had a relaxing break so far. Lots of time for fun things like roller skating, fishing, and visiting my family. So tell me how is your break going.

What did you get for Christmas? Where have you gone? Who have you seen? 
Please remember to respond in complete sentences and use correct end marks!

How to Plant Seed

Learn how to grow plants in your backyard. Soil and climate are two parts that can make your gardening adventure successful!

Click the link below to learn how to grow seeds.
How to Plant Seeds

Remember to write in complete sentences.
In your words, how do you plant seeds? 

Should Kids Have Homework Over Breaks?

JON ANDERSON—GETTY IMAGES

For many students, school breaks are a time to rest and recharge. Many families spend time together, and kids are able to catch up with their friends and participate in activities they may not have time for when school is in session.

School vacations are also a time when some students get a break from homework. Many school districts and teachers don’t give homework over breaks. The school board for the Princeton Public Schools in Princeton, New Jersey, recently passed a resolution that bans homework during the winter and spring vacation periods.

“When homework or projects are designed and deadlines are assigned in a way that requires students to work on or substantially complete them during the holiday breaks, students and their families are deprived of the unstructured time they need and deserve to pursue other, equally important life activities,” reads the resolution.

Other school districts and teachers believe it’s beneficial for kids to do some homework over school breaks. Girls Prep, a charter school network in New York City, gives students homework when school is out. Richard Sloan, a fifth-grade teacher at the school, said his grade team works together to give homework that is purposeful and reflects current units of study. Homework over break helps students practice what they’ve learned, and sharpen their skills, he says.

“Some of the work can be fun to do as well,” Sloan told TFK. “It’s not supposed to be a chore. You want to see students thrive over a long break, and not slide.”

Remember to look in the article for clues to the answer. Write in complete sentences.

Do you want homework over Winter Break? Explain why.

Drink Up!

GETTY IMAGES

Kids should drink between 10 and 14 cups every day, according to a new study

Summer is almost here, and the weather is heating up.  Are you drinking enough water? Many kids aren’t, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health.

The study’s lead author, Erica Kenney, a scientist at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, originally planned to look into the amount of sugary drinks kids were consuming in schools. However, during her research she found that many kids were simply not drinking enough water.

Kenney and her team examined data from a group of 4,000 children, ages 6 to19, between the years of 2009 and 2012. The data was taken from the National Health and Nutrition Survey, a study on the health of children in the United States conducted each year by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. 

While looking through the survey results, she noticed that more than half of the kids who participated were dehydrated. Of that group, boys were 76% more likely than girls to not have enough water in their system. Nearly one quarter of the kids in the survey reported drinking no plain water at all.

“These findings are significant because they highlight a potential health issue that has not been given a lot of attention in the past,” Kenney said in a statement. “Even though for most of these kids this is not an immediate, dramatic health threat, this is an issue that could really be reducing quality of life and well-being for many children and youth.”

TONY GARCIA

It is important to drink a lot of water when you are being physically active.

How much is enough?

The human body is made up of 60% water. It regulates body temperature, delivers oxygen all over the body, assists in digestion, and performs various other tasks that keep our bodies healthy.

Not drinking enough water can lead to health problems such as headaches, irritability, poor physical performance, and even more serious issues.  Your body needs more water when you are in hot climates, when you are physically active, and if you have a fever.

The United States National Agriculture Library says on average, kids need between 10 to 14 cups of water every day. This water can come from a mix of drinks and foods that contain high amounts of water, such as celery, melons, or tomatoes. It is also recommended that fluids come from water instead of sugary drinks that are high in calories and can lead to weight problems.

“The good news is that this is a public health problem with a simple solution,” said senior author on the study and professor health sociology at Harvard University, Steven Gortmaker. “If we can focus on helping children drink more water – a low cost, no calorie beverage – we can improve their hydration status, which may allow many children to feel better throughout the day and do better in school.”

Tips for staying hydrated

The United States Center for Disease Control offers the following tips for people to stay hydrated:

- Carry a water bottle for easy access.

- Freeze some freezer-safe water bottles. Take one with you for ice-cold water all day long.

- Choose water instead of sugar-sweetened beverages. This tip can also help with weight management. Substituting water for one 20-ounce sugar-sweetened soda will save you about 240 calories.

- Choose water instead of other beverages when eating out. Generally, you will save money and reduce calories.

- Give your water a little pizzazz by adding a wedge of lime or lemon. This may improve the taste, and you just might drink more water than you usually do.

Remember to look in the article for clues to the answer. Write in complete sentences

Why is it important to drink plenty of water daily?

Time for Coding

Do you know how to code? If not, it may be the perfect week to learn.

From December 7 to 13, eager minds across the world are gearing up for Computer Science Education W

eek. Code.org, a non-profit group dedicated to expanding access to computer science, established the weeklong event to give students the chance to explore coding in a fun way. The group is also behind a campaign called Hour of Code, which encourages students to try a one-hour introduction to computer science to learn the basics of coding.

According to Code.org, more than 100 million students across 180 countries and 40 languages have participated in the Hour of Code, including one in three students in schools throughout the United States.

“In a world that’s being completely changed by technology, how apps and coding work is something that everyone needs to know in the 21st century,” Code.org CEO Hadi Partovi told TFK.

Coding with Minecraft

MICROSOFT CORP/PRNEWSFOTO/AP

Microsoft and Code.org have teamed up to bring Minecraft to the Hour of Code event.

This year, Code.org expects more than 100,000 events to be held during Computer Science Education week, due in part to their partnerships with Microsoft and Mojang AB. The three companies teamed up to bring Minecraft to Hour of Code. The new tutorial, for ages six and up, introduces players to basic coding within the fun and popular 2-D environment.

“There may be lots of games but there really is only one Minecraft,” Partovi says. “Last year, students made thank-you cards for bringing Hour of Code to their school. When I read them, more then half were actually Minecraft requests.”

Deirdre Quarnstrom, Director of Minecraft Education at Microsoft, says the game was a natural fit. “A lot of Minecraft players are already interested in coding,” she told TFK. Quarnstrom notes that the skills learned from the coding program can help students in many areas. “It teaches logic, conditional statements, problem solving, and even vocabulary,” she says.

More than A Game

Currently, computer science is taught in only about 25% of the high schools in the U.S., and the number is even lower in middle and elementary school grades. By 2020, 4.6 million of 9.2 million science, technology, engineering, and math jobs will be in computing, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Supporters say it's not just about learning how to code, but learning how computers work. Partovi says learning computer science can open the door to high-demand jobs.

“Whether you’re thinking about working in medicine, finance, communication, transportation, or agriculture, all of these fields are being impacted by technology,” Partovi says. “Having some basic knowledge about how it works is critical for all of these careers.”

Schools in New York, San Francisco, and other cities have said they will offer computer science to students in all grade levels. Experts say the subject will eventually become a high school requirement. But one challenge is finding enough well-prepared teachers. The National Science Foundation is seeking to have 10,000 well-trained computer-science teachers in thousands of high schools.

“Everyone knows that you can’t learn an entire field in one hour,” Partovi says. “Our goal is to get a computer science course added to every single school.”

Remember to look in the article for clues to the answer. Write in complete sentences

Why do you think Time to Code is important?

What Snakes Eat

Snakes are carnivores, which means they will eat only meat including each

other.  Some snakes are hunters while others will lie in waiting to ambush their prey.  They can be very sneaky and will try to trick their victims into coming to them! The Cantil snake, for example, has a bright yellow tip on its tail to look like a worm.  Boy, won’t the bird be surprised when it finds out it isn’t a worm that it bit! Desert living snakes will hide under the sand and wait for something yummy to wander by.

The smallest of all snakes, the Thread snake, eats the pupae, or eggs, of ants and centipedes.  The largest snakes, the Pythons and Anacondas, have been known to eat, deer and pigs! Most snakes live off of insects, rodents, birds, eggs, fish, frogs, lizards and small mammals.

All snakes swallow their food whole.  While they do have teeth, the teeth are made for grabbing, hooking and holding their prey, not chewing.  

Constrictors will grab and hold their prey while wrapping their bodies around the victim and slowly “constricting” or tightening their coils until they squeeze the last breath out of their prey and the heart stops.  Cobras, Vipers, Rattlesnakes, and other venomous snakes will maim or paralyze their prey by sinking their fangs into it before swallowing it.

Have you ever wondered how a snake can swallow such big meals without chewing? Snakes have powerful muscles all along the front half of their bodies.  Snakes use these muscles for moving as well as swallowing.  The muscles move the food down along the throat and into the snake’s long stomach.  Moving the food through the throat into the stomach can take 10 minutes to an hour, depending on the size of the animal they are eating.
In egg-eating snakes the sharp rib bones will poke through the eggshell to help speed along digestion.  Food in the snake’s stomach can take anywhere from a few days to a couple of months to breakup or digest.  That is a long time to work on a meal! 

Believe it or not, some snakes only need to eat a couple times a year!

Remember to look in the article for clues to the answer. Write in complete sentences.

Now that you learned about what snakes eat, what do you think our king snake eats?

BODY OF A SNAKE

In case you were wondering (cause they are soooo flexible), snakes actually do have bones.  Animals with bones are know as vertebrates -- snakes are vertebrates. 

A snake's backbone is made up of many vertebrae attached to ribs.  Humans have approximately 33 vertebrae and 24 ribs.  Snakes have between 200-400 vertebrae with as many ribs attached! That is what makes them so flexible and helps them move along!

All those bones and the strong muscles protect the internal organs.  The throat of the snake takes up the front one-third of the body.  It leads to a really long stomach, which, like the throat, will stretch to the size of whatever the snake is eating. 

Snakes also have two long lungs, a long liver, kidneys and intestines.  The last quarter of the snake has a small anal opening (they have to poop, you know!) covered by a scale called the anal plate, and the rest is tail made up of more bone. 

Remember to look in the article for the answer and write in complete sentences.

Why is a snake able to move so fast and bend so easily? 

Horned Dinosaurs

This is the life of a herbivore dinosaur named Parasaurolophus. 

Click the link to see the video on horned dinosuars.
Horned Dinosaur Video

Why do you think Parasaurolophus (dinosaur in the video) had a horn? 

Dinosaurs!!!

Though large in stature, most big dinosaurs that once roamed the Earth were herbivores.

Click the link below to see the dinosaur video
Dinosaur Video

Can you think of three things you want to know about dinosaurs?

Volcanos

The word Volcano name comes from Roman God of fire 'Vulcan'.Volcanoes are openings in the Earth's surface.In other words, volcanoes are holes in the earth's surface from where hot gases and molten metals come out.As pressure in the molten rocks below the earth builds up,it needs to erupt from somewhere.This inward pressure causes some fissures (cracks) on the earth's crust, and when enough pressure builds up a big hole is crated and lava comes out with lot of force and velocity. Volcanoes can be active ,dormant or extinct.When volcanoes are active,hot magma,ash and gases come out and sometimes it seems it is a source of burning fire.

Hot liquid under the earth's surface is known as magma but when it comes out ,it is known as lava.are like safety valves on the earth's surface,when the pressure builds up inside the earth's surface ,this gets released through these holes.

Click the link below to watch the volcano video.
Volcano Video

In complete sentences, explain why a volcano erupts. 

Land Forms

In this animation video ,kids of kindergarten and elementary school can learn various types of land forms. Land forms are natural features of earth's landscape.There are different types of land forms like valleys,mountains,glaciers,delta,coasts,rivers,lakes and island etc.Type of a Land form is based upon a list of different features like slope,drainage,structure and process.

Click on this video and watch the journey of two kids to each type of land form where all of these are explained and defined in an engaging manner.

Land Form Video

Can you name the land forms that are near San Antonio?

Day and Night Explanation

We have day and nights on earth because of the Earth's rotation on its axis. Axis is an imaginary line passing through North and South poles of the earth.The Earth takes 24 hours to complete one rotation around its axis.Half the time i.e.for 12 hours one side of the Earth is facing the Sun,in this side there is Day whereas on the other side there is night.

When we look up in the sky during different times of the day, we see that the sun is moving from one direction to the other.It rises in the East in the morning and sets in the west.In reality,the sun is not moving,it is our earth that is rotating around the sun, this rotation causes day and night as explained above.

Click on the video link to watch an explanation for why we have night and day.

Day and Night Video

In your words, explain why we have day and night.

How Do They Make Toothbrushes?

Have you ever wondered how they make a toothbrush? It is a very fast process that does not involve many people at all. 

Click the link below to see how they make toothbrushes. 
How Toothbrushes Are Made Video

Can you sequence how a toothbrush is made? 

The Water Cycle

One of the things we will learn this year is the water cycle. The water cycle makes life on Earth possible. 

Click the link below to see the video on the water cycle.
The Water Cycle Video

Explain the water cycle in your words.