LET'S LEARN (4): ANIMALS, THEIR HOMES, YOUNG ONES AND SOUNDS

Sl. No.	Animal	Home	Young one	Sound
1	Lion	Den	Cub	Roar
2	Dog	Kennel	PUPPY	Bark
3	Cat	Cage	Kitten	Mew
4	Sheep	Pen	Lamb	Bleat
5	Bull	Cattle shed	Calf	Moo
6	Elephant	Jungle	Baby elephant	Trumpet
7	Hen	Coop	Chick	Clucks
8	Goose	Water	Gosling	Squawk
9	Deer	Grasslands	Fawn	Grunt
10	Horse	Stable	Foal	Neigh
11	Cow	Cattle shed	Calf	Moo moo
12	Bear	Large forests	Cub	Growl
13	Cock	Pen	chick	cock a doodle doo
14	Rat	Hole	Kitten, nestling, pup, pinkie	Squeak
15	Bird	Nest	Nestling	Chirp
16	Monkey	Trees	Infant	Chatter
17	Pig	Sty	Piglet	Oink oink
18	Rabbit	Burrow	Bunny	Grunt
19	Fish	Water	Small fish
20	Donkey	Stable	Mule	Bray
21	Goat	Pen	Kid
22	Duck	Water	Duckling	Quack
23	Bee	Beehive	Worker bee	Ooom
24	Spider	Web	Small spider
25	Snake	Burrow		Hiss
26	Ant	Hill
27	Man	House	child	Speak
28	Zebra	Zoo	Small zebra

BIOGRAPHY(3): K.R.NARAYANAN

1. K.R. Narayanan was the tenth President of India.

2. His full name is Kocheril Raman Narayanan.

3. He was born on October 27 1920.

4. He was the fourth of seven children.

5. His father was Kocheril Raman Vaidyar.

6. His father was a physician in traditional Indian medicine.

7. His mother Paappiyamma was an uneducated lady.

8. The family lived in a hut at Uzhavoor.

9. They were Dalits.

10. They belong to the Paravan caste.

11. They lived in extreme poverty.

12. Sometimes there was not enough food to serve everyone in the house.

13. But his mother was keen to give him education.

14. He studied at Govt. LP School, Kurichithanam. (Std 1-4)

15. Then he went to Lady of Lourdes UP School. (std 5-7)

16. He walked to school for about 15 km everyday.

17. He was often unable to pay the fees.

18. He could not buy books either.

19. Then he studied at St. Johns High School. (std 8, 9)

20. For his tenth, he was at St. Mary’s High School.

21. He completed his twelfth from C.M.S. College, Kottayam.

22. He worked hard and won merit scholarship.

23. He obtained M.A. in English with a first rank.

24. His family was facing many difficulties.

25. So he started to earn a living as lecturer.

26. Then he went on to work as a journalist.

27. First, he was with The Hindu at Chennai.

28. Next, he worked with The Times of India at Mumbai.

29. He got a chance to interview Gandiji [10.4.1945]

30. He went to England and studied at the London School of Economics.

31. He took his B.Sc in Economics with specialization in Political Science.

32. Thereafter he joined the Indian Foreign Service.

33. He was Indian Ambassador to many countries like Japan, UK, USA, China, etc.

34. He was called “the best diplomat of the country” by Chacha Nehru.

35. As per Indira Gandhi’s suggestion, he entered politics and won 3 elections to Lok Sabha, as M.P. from Ottapalam.

36. He also served as Minister of State in the Union Cabinet with Rajiv Gandhi.

37. Later he was elected as Vice President and thereafter as President of India.

38. He was the first Dalit and Malayali to reach our nations highest office.

39. This life story is a good example that shows how one can rise from poor beginnings through hard work to high positions and inspires us to use our talents effectively.

40. He was married to Ma Tint Tint, called as Usha, a Burmese lady and has two children-Amrita and Chitra.

41. He died on 9^th November, 2005.

PARENTS AS WATCH DOGS

http://www.layman-fromindia.blogspot.com/

In this voiced opinion, blogger, tries to openly point to the probable negative influence of media on our kids. Media as everything, has both merits and demerits. As far as young children are concerned, its up to us as parents to guide them effectively.

Of course, there is a vast difference over generations. So shunning all that evolves overtime is impossible. Keeping this in mind, opening our minds carefully to adopt developments in technology, let us protect our children while exposing them to all latest developments...

Using child lock and keeping passwords with themselves, cooperation between parents, so on...there are lots to it....

Let our kids enjoy their life like butterflies, but let them also remember every moment that this freedom offered is always at our liberty! The limit is at the tip of our nose...!!!!!!!!!!! or wherever one's parents fixes it....

KIDS AND VACATION PLANS

During last summer vacation, an elaborate list of opportunities available during summer vacation for kids in and around Calicut city has been presented at :http://shyama17nair.blogspot.com/2010/04/engaging-kids-on-vacation-in-calicut.html

I hope most of the programmes would be revamped during this vacation also. Keep an eye or do a follow up over the telephone to identify those that suit your taste. Post other options if any, as suggested therein...

 Ragadeepam, A children's club functioning in Calicut under the eminent leadership of music director L.Sasikant offers classes on organ and organises annual event to exhibit talent of kids tutored in a public show. A report of the caliber of his son, Anand is presented as a budding talent at:  http://calicutnet.com/articles/rajesh/music@heart.htm Peep in there, if its your taste...

THE STORY OF WONDERFUL NECESSITY- WATER

Water cycle is a comprehensive and essential topic we learn every year. Technically called the hydro logic cycle, it is in fact the story of the most essential and basic need for life on earth. Read more at:

http://calicutnet.com/articles/alisha/the_story_of_water.htm

on The Story of Water- water is life's matter and matrix; mother and medium. there is no life without water...

OUR UNIVERSE

Universe is the outer space. All things around the earth are called Space. There are billions and billions of stars in the universe. Sun is also a star.

GALAXY

The sun, moon, earth, planets, stars, asteroids, comets all together forms the galaxy.
Galaxies are the largest structures in the Universe.
There are 30 galaxies in outer space, where earth belongs.
Our galaxy is called the Milky Way. It is a spiral galaxy with more than 500 billion stars.

(Andromeda Galaxy is another galaxy near to our Milky Way Galaxy. There are 30other galaxies in our Cluster.)

GRAVITY

Earth also has a pull on us. This force is called gravity.
Gravity is the force of attraction between any two objects.
It is a universal force that keeps everything together.
Gravity holds gases within a star.
It helps Sun to hold all components of the solar system together.
It holds stars in the Milky Way galaxy.
It helps things and Man to remain on the surface of earth.
The force of gravity is strong when the mass is high and distance is low.
Earth pulls all things to it by gravity. Let it be a flying kite or bird. So all things thrown up, comes down. It also helps us to walk on earth.
Gravity in earth is stronger than gravity in moon. So people float. We say, in outer space there is no or little gravity.
Tides in the oceans are caused by gravity force of the moon.

ASTRONAUTS & LIFE IN SPACE

People who go to explore outer space are called astronauts or cosmonauts.
Life in space is different from life on earth. In space there is no air, water or gravity.

Water is taken from earth and once in space all forms of water including sweat and urine is recycled and used. they resort to scrub bathing using soapy towels. All used clothes, crushed food packets and utensils of the disposable type reduce usage of water for cleaning.

Clothes are changed only once in few days. They have printed mission logos on their dress.

Astronauts also carry oxygen to breathe.They have special dress called space suit. It takes 45minutes to put on a 280 pound spacesuit, including the bulky back pack.They are always tied to the space craft to avoid floating. However, weightlessness helps scientists to easily lift heavy objects in space.

Food is precooked as per predetermined and tested menu and are used in powder form form packets directly.

Astronauts work on prefixed timetable controlled from earth!They are provided with morning alarm which is mostly a tune or song selected by their family members ...

In space, Sun rises once in every 90minutes. So they use masks and are tied to their sleeping bags and to each other while sleeping. They are always hooked to their vehicle as they can’t walk steadily.

Water doesn’t flow in weightlessness in space. So they can’t drink water!
Air is used to suck wastes from their body and for flushing. The waste is expelled out to earth.

In space, sound is not heard. So astronauts knock on their helmets to speak, as sound also doesn’t travel in empty space! They use radio waves and wireless phones also. They call home using soft phones.

All astronauts grow tall when they are in space and regain normal height once they are back on earth. However, they have to exercise more than two hours a day to keep themselves fit.(due to lack of gravity, blood flows to head and so bones and muscles become weak...)

In brief, life in space is hard but interesting and needs lot of training. View of earth from space, spirit for adventurous travel in rockets, fame associated with this hard work all attract brillinat students into space....

First Man in space is Yuri Gagarin. (1961, Russia).

First person to walk in space is Aleksei Leonov.(1965, Russia)

First woman in space is Valentina.V.Tereshkova.(1963) She is also the youngest.

Woman who flew more space missions is Shannon Lucid. (more than 5 times).

First paid space tourist is Dennis Tito from US, in 2001.he paid 20 million US dollars.

12 men visited moon. The first was Neil Armstrong. (1961).

STARS

A star is a spinning ball of hot shining gases.
Stars are formed from clouds and dust, which is called a clump. It swirls and condenses. When the heat inside the clump reaches 10 million degree Celsius, protostar is formed. Hydrogen is formed in the core and it burns to form Helium. This emits light that we see. When the Hydrogen gas is finished, core becomes more hot and small. This is called red giant. Helium starts burning in the core. Outer layers are cool. As Helium also gets finished, it bursts. The outer shell is called nebula. The glowing inner core forms a white dwarf, which weakens and diminishes as a black dwarf.
Lifecycle of a star takes billions of years.
Massive big stars form red super giant and on bursting as a supernova, forms neutron stars and black holes.
Star patterns that we see in the sky are called constellations. There are 88 different constellations.
Groups of stars living together are called a cluster.
Hipparchus, an ancient Greek (17-127BC) classified 850 stars according to their brightness.
Star patterns that we see in the sky are called constellations.There are 88 star constellations.

SUN

1. I am round in shape; yellow in colour. I give you light. I am the cause for day and night. Who am I? I am the Sun.
2. Sun gives us light. Plants, animals, human beings- all living things need sunlight for life.
3. Sun gives us lot of energy in the form of light and heat.
4. Sun means “yellow dwarf”. It is a star, smaller than many other stars.
5. Sun looks bigger to us, because Sun is closer to earth than most other stars.
6. Though it looks close to earth, it is 150 million kilometers away from the earth.
7. Sun is enormous. It can hold one million earths inside it. It is 3.3lakh times bigger than earth. There are stars bigger than this!!!
8. Sun being the heaviest star, its gravity is also high. So it can keep 9 planets, their more than 60 moons, and millions of comets and asteroids around it.
9. Sun is a ball of hot gases. The gases are Hydrogen (70%), Helium (28%) and heavy elements.
10. Core of the sun is 15million o C. It’s the innermost part of the sun. The surface of the sun is called Photosphere. It is 6000 o Celsius hot. The surface of the Sun is wavy. Sometimes we can see small black holes on the Sun. These are called Sun spots.
11. The inner atmosphere is called Chromosphere. It is 50000 oC. Corona is the outer atmosphere. It is I million km around the core. We can feel the heat so far down here.
12. Sun is 5 billion years of age. It will live another 5 billion years before it starts to die.
13. Sun spins on its axis. It takes 25days to complete a spin for the centre of the sun, while its ends take up to 36days. This along with the rotation of earth makes us feel that sun rises and sets.
14. The imaginary path of the Sun through the sky is called an ecliptic.
15. Sun rises in the East and we have morning. Sun sets in the West and we have night. So Sun is called the Morning Star.
16. Brightness of the Sun is 380 X 10 24 watts. When a part of Sun taken, the light is equal to 2 lakh 30 thousand candles lighted.
17. Whenever you want to know your direction, stand facing the Sun. Then, side of your right hand is the North.

COMETS

1. Comets are a ball of snow and dust found in the outer space.
2. They are far away from the Sun, beyond the nine planets.
3. These are seen in the outermost part of solar system, called the Oort cloud.
4. There are 10 trillion comets in this Oort cloud.
5. We can’t see them usually. Only when it comes near the sun is it visible.
6. Comet has a head with nucleus and ice called coma. It also has a tail.
7. When a comet comes near the sun, the light rays of the sun fall on it and the nucleus mixes up with the atmosphere. Snow melts. Gas and dust are released. This forms one or two tails which reaches from 150 to 280kilometres.
8. We have studied only 700 comets.
9. Of these, more than 20comets come to earth more often than Hailey’s comet. They are Encke, Hale-Bopp, Temple, etc.
10. Hailey’s Comet is visible once in 76years. This was last seen in 1986.


BIG BANG THEORY

All energy, matter and space were first a small dot. Huge explosion occurred. Universe was formed. It was only a hot, dense mass, without light. About 3 lakh years later, this cooled. Atoms formed. Hydrogen, Helium and other elements were created. Gravity brought these together. It developed into millions of galaxies. In between the galaxies there are lots of empty spaces. Thus, Universe was formed 15 billion years ago.

Scientists who studied about various aspects of the universe are mentioned below.
1 Ptolemy
2 Coppernicus
3 Edwin Hubble
4 Galileo Galilei
5 Aristotle
6 Albert Einstein
7 Issac Newton
8 Arthur Eddington
9 Johannes Kepler
10 Edmund Halley

SOLAR SYSTEM

Sun is the centre of our Solar System. There were formerly 9 planets including Pluto, which has been discarded. It was an ice planet. So now, there are only 8 planets. Of these, 4 planets are terrestrial planets, 3 are Gas Giants and one is a Windy planet.

The terrestrial planets are:
1.Mercury, which is the smallest planet;
2. Venus which is also called the Morning or Evening Star;
3.Mars or the red planet and
4. Earth which takes 365 days, 6hours to go round the sun once. Earth has only one satellite and it is Moon. Earth rotates around its own axis in a day, 23hours and 56minutes.

The Gas Giants are:
1.Jupiter, the largest planet;
2.Saturn or the ringed planet and
3.Uranus or the Father sky.

Neptune is the windy planet. Sun pulls everything to it by gravitation.

Planets and asteroids go round the sun in same direction at different speed.These paths are oval or elliptical in shape and are called orbits.

Aristotle and Ptolemy were the pioneers who studied about our universe. However, it was Nicolaus Copernicus, who suggested that Sun is the centre of our solar system, in 1543. Later in 1610, Galileo Galilei studied about the surface of Moon. This branch of science later came to be known as Space Science.

Light Year:

In space, light travels at a speed of 3 lakh km per second. The distance covered by light in a year is called a light year. Light from moon reaches earth in 1.26 seconds. Light from sun reaches us in 8 minutes 17 seconds. Light from a star reaches earth in 4.22 years….

The Olympic Games

The Olympic flame for 2008 has already reached Beijing, China. This flame was lit from Olympia and transferred by famous Olympians to the venue as during past years.

We covered a capsular over view on the topic last fortnight at school...Here goes the summary....

Olympics is a global sports festival.its held once every four years. This four year period is called an Olympiad.

Ancient olympics was held at Olympia in Greece in honour of their God Zues, from 776BC to 392AD.Only greeks participated in these games for thousand of years. During the 293rd Olympics, King Theodosius had banned the games...

Pierre de Fredi, Baron de Coubertin, a French educator, studied about the history of these games and pioneered the International Olympics Committee. He is considered the Father of Modern Olympics.

The first Modern Olympics was initiated in 1896 at Athens, Greece. 14 nations participated. There were 245 players in 43 events.
From then it progressed into 202 nations, 301 events and 11099 participants in the last Olympics of 2004 also at Athens...

The Olympic Motto is coined from three Latin words- Citius, Altius and Fortius-meaning swift, higher and stronger...

The Olympic Creed as per Bishop Ethelbert Talbot can be read as follows:
" The most important thing is not to WIN but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph,but the struggle.The essential thing is not to have conquered, but to have fought well."

Games are usually held in stadiums. This comes from the word "Stade" which is a unit equivalent to about 182metres.

In Ancient Olympics, the prize were leaves of plants; whereas in Modern Olympics it varies from Gold(first),Silver(second) and Bronze (third) medals with a Diploma.The national anthem of the respective country of the winner is also played in their honour.

The opening and closing ceremonies are the greatest mega events in world history. The release of doves symbolise peace; parade with national flag; flame and torch relay; many arts forms and so on make the evenings colourful and memorable.

Olympics flag was designed in 1920. It is a set of intertwined five rings with colours of blue, yellow, black, red and green on a white background. This represents the five populated landmasses in the world and theres atleast one color from the flag of any country as well...

The Olympic events are generally Summer Olympics, Winter Olympics and Paralympics for the disabled.Most common events are athletics, swimming, gymnastics, soccer and hockey.Softball is the only sport exclusively for women.

The first winner in Ancient Olympics is koroibos whereas the player who won maximum gold medals is Ray Ewry. He had been debilitated by polio as a child but rectified by Physiotherapy exercises and made up the way all along to Olympics medal many times.

The Olympic oath according to Victor Boin : " We swear that we will take part in the Olympic Games in a spirit of Chivalry, for the honour of our country and for the glory of sport."

The most attractive events of our choice are synchronised swimming and rhythmic gymnastics....We are waiting for the show...eagerly...

(Prepared during the Olympic games of 2008...)