Different Kinds of Art: Renaissance Art

Aldobrandini Madonna by Raphael

David by Michelangelo

The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli 

Look at these cool Renaissance paintings and statues

The School of Athens by Raphael

Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci

Different Kinds of Art: Medieval Art

A tapestry of  the resurrection of Jesus Christ

Look at these cool Medieval tapestries and statues!

A Medieval tapestry

Byzantine tapestry of Emperor Justinian

A French tapestry 

History of Santa Claus: St. Nicholas

St. Nicholas

St. Nicholas, better known as Santa Claus, and Father Christmas was a saint that lived during the 4th century. He was born on March 15, 270 in Greece. He was very religious from a early age. According to the legend, he would have canonical fasts on Wednesdays and Fridays. His parents died in a epidemic. He went to live with his uncle-who was also called Nicholas-who was the bishop of Patara. He tonsured him to read and later taught him to be a priest. During his lifetime he did lots of miracles. One miracle he did was when there was terrible famine stuck the island and malicious butcher lured three children in his house, where he slaughtered them, placing there remains in barrel to cure, planning to sell them as ham. St. Nicholas seeing this, resurrected the boys through his prayers. He loved to give things to people. He gave all his toys to other children As a grown-up he gave all of he things. Because of this, he was very poor. At the end of his live he was very poor, but he was very happy. He died on December 6, 346. He died at the age of 76.

Different Kinds of Art: Ancient Art

Look at these cool pictures of ancient art to Greek art to Egyptian art!

The Book of the Dead

The Great Sphinx of Giza

Ancient Egyptian painting

Laocoon and His Sons
by Agesander, Athenodorus, and Polydorus

Ancient Greek pottery

Different Kinds of Art: Prehistoric Art

Look at these cool pictures of art from the cave painting to the Stonehenge!

A cave painting of a deer

Venus of Willendorf

A spout vessel from Peru

Stonehenge, a ancient wall of stone

A ancient golden statue 

A cave painting of a bison

Prehistoric Mammals: Sthenurus

A Sthenurus

In this post you will read about the prehistoric kangaroo the "Sthenurus". It looked like a modern-day kangaroo but, it was much bigger! At the bottom there are more websites you can visit.

When animal was discovered: It was discovered by Darren R. Gröcke in Australia.

Time Period: Late Pleistocene

Where it lived: Australia

Diet: Plants

Behavior: It mostly ate plants and slept.

Visit these websites:
http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/mesozoicmammals/p/Sthenurus.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sthenurus
http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/s/sthenurus.html

Prehistoric Mammals: Amphicyon

A Amphicyon fossil

In this post you read about the prehistoric bear-dog like thing the "Amphicyon". Visit more websites at the bottom.

When animal was discovered: It was discovered in Sioux Country, Nebraska.

Time Period: Aquitanian period

Where they lived: Asia, Europe, North America, and Africa

Diet: Omnivorous

Behavior: It mostly preyed on food and ate plants and slept.

Visit these websites:
http://retrieverman.net/2012/01/24/amphicyon-ingens/
http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/mesozoicmammals/p/amphicyon.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphicyon

Prehistoric Mammals: Baluchitherium

A Bauchitherium

In this post you will read about the prehistoric giant the "Baluchitherium". It was way BIGGER than a elephant! At the bottom, there are more websites you can visit.

When animal was discovered: It was discovered in Pakistan by Sir Clive Forster Cooper.

Time Period: Oligocene period

Where they lived: Asia

Diet: Plants

Behavior: Since the Baluchitherium was a giant mammal, it was very slow. It mostly ate plants.

For more info about the Baluchitherium go these websites:
http://dawn.com/2010/12/20/baluchitherium-the-largest-land-mammal/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baluchitherium
http://nethack.wikia.com/wiki/Baluchitherium

Prehistoric Mammals: Glyptodons

A Glyptodon fossil

In this post you will read about the prehistoric mammal the armodillo-like "Glyptodonts".  Visit more websites at the bottom.

When animal was discovered: It was discovered in South America.

Time Period: Pleistocene period

Where it lived: It lived in South America.

Diet: Plants

Behavior: It mostly ate grazed on plants

For more info about glyptodonts go to these websites:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/mammals/armadillo/Glyptodonprintout.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glyptodon
http://prehistoricearth.wikia.com/wiki/Glyptodon

Prehistoric Mammals: Giant Beaver

A Giant Beaver fossil

In this post you will learn about the prehistoric animal the "Giant Beaver". You can visit more websites at the bottom.

When animal was discovered?: It was discovered in 1837.

Time Period: Ice Age

Where it lived: North America

Diet: Plants

Behavior: It had a very bad temper!!! It could scare away predators very easily!!

Visit these websites:
http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/mesozoicmammals/p/giant-beaver.htm
http://ffe.hendersongdi.com/g/giantbeaver-ff2.html
http://animals.jrank.org/pages/3365/Beavers-Castoridae-BEHAVIOR-REPRODUCTION.html

Prehistoric Mammals: Cave Lion

A picture of a cave lion by Heinrich Harder.

In this post you will learn about the prehistoric animal the "Cave Lion". At the bottom you can visit some other websites about the prehistoric animal, the Cave Lion.

When animal was discovered: It was discovered in 1985.

Time period: Ice Age

Where it lived: Europe

Diet: Elk, Reindeer, and Wolf

Behavior: It acted like modern-day lion.

Visit these websites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panthera_leo_spelaea
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Cave_Lion
http://www.cbs.umn.edu/lionresearch/cave-lions

Prehistoric Mammals: Giant Ground Sloth

Whoaaaaaaaa! Thats a Megatherium a type of ground sloth.

In this post you will read about the prehistoric mammal, the Giant Ground Sloth. At the bottom you can visit other websites about Giant Ground Sloth.

When animal was discovered: It was discovered in 1799 by President Thomas Jefferson!

Time period: Ice Age

Where it lived: North America

Diet: Trees, Cactuses, Leaves, Twigs, Grass, Tall Plants, and Globe Mallow

Behavior: It acted slow. It mostly ate plants and slept a lot

For more info about Giant Ground Sloths visit these websites:
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/mammals/sloth/Megatheriumprintout.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ground_sloth
http://exhibits.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/larson/sloth.html

Prehistoric Mammals: Saber-Tooth-Tigers

A picture of the saber- tooth- tiger fossil.

In this post you will read about the extinct animal "Saber-Tooth-Tiger".This animal lived in the time period called the Ice Age. At the bottom there are more websites you can visit.

When animal was discovered: It was discovered in 1842 by the Danish paleontologist Peter Lund.

Time period: Ice Age

Where they lived: They lived on all the continents except Australia and Antarctica.

Diet: They hunted animals such as mammoths, deer, mastodons, bison, American camels, and horses.

Behavior: They acted like modern-day lions. They lived in prides just like modern-day tigers.


For more info go to these websites:
http://library.thinkquest.org/TQ0312706/sabertoothtigers.htm
http://www.freewebs.com/sabertoothtiger_knifetooth/
http://exhibits.museum.state.il.us/exhibits/larson/smilodon.html

Prehistoric Mammals: Wooly Mammoth

This picture was by Benjamin Waterhouse
Hawkins.

A wooly mammoth is one of the extinct animals of a period of time called the Ice age. In this post you will read facts about the elephant-like animal of the Ice age.

When animal was discovered: It was discovered in 1828 by Joshua Brooks.

Time period: Ice Age

Where he lived: North America, Alaska, Eurasia, Siberia

Diet: Fruit, Plants, Seeds, and perhaps Flowers.

Behavior: They acted like a modern-day African elephant.

For more info about mammoths go to these websites:
http://www.woollymammoth.org
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/mammals/mammoth/
http://www.mammothsite.com

Pluto

A picture of Pluto from space.

Discovered: It was discovered on Feb. 18, 1930 by Clyde Tombaugh.

Named after: It was named after the Roman god Pluto god of the underworld.

Temperature: 33 Kelvin

Diameter: 2,302 miles

Made of: 98% nitrogen ice, methane, and carbon monoxide

Can people live on Pluto?: No. First of all it is way too cold for people to live on it and it doesn't have oxygen in the air.

Neptune

A picture of Neptune from space.

Discovered: It was discovered in 1846 by John Couch Adams and Urbain Le Verrier.

Named after: It was named after the Roman god Neptune god of the sea.

Temperature: 73 K

Diameter: 49,500 km

Made of: 80% hydrogen,19% helium, methane, ammonia, and water ice

Can people live on Neptune?: No. It is so,so,so cold on Neptune that people can't live on this planet.

Uranus

Discovered: It was discovered on March 13, 17811. It was discovered by William Hershel.

This is a picture of Uranus from space.

Named after: It was named after the Roman god of the sky, Uranus.

Temperature: 224 C (-371 F 49 K)

Diameter: 51 118 km

Made of: Water, methane, ammonia, hydrogen, helium

Can people live on Uranus?: No. It has no surface and it is extremely cold!

The 1st Thanksgiving: The Pigrims

One of the favorite crops that the pilgrims
liked best is corn.

A boy pilgrim

Do you know what the 1st Thanksgiving was like? Well, I'll tell you about it! This is the story. Once there was a group of people who didn't go to the church that the King, King James went to. He got very angry and put most of the people in prison. They escaped and late at night they got into a ship called the Mayflower. At first, the people went to the country Holland and got supplies such as, food, water, and medicine. Then they got back on the Mayflower and was planning to go to where Virginia is now but, a big storm blew them off course and damaged the ship! They fixed the ship up but were on the way to Plymouth not Virginia! When they got to Plymouth it was winter and most of the pilgrims died. But, there was a skillful Indian  named Squanto who knew how to speak English, plant corn, build houses and more! Squanto helped the pilgrims. at the end of the winter everyone picked crops, and hunt duck! The next day they had a feast to thank God for surviving the cold winter! and that is the first Thanksgiving!

Saturn

Discovered: It was known since the ancient times but when Galileo looked into his telescope

A picture of Saturn from space

he saw Saturn's beautiful rings.

Named after: It was named after the Roman god Saturn god of harvest.

Temperature: 11,700 Â C

Diameter: 120536 km

Made of: 94% of hydrogen 6% of helium and small amounts of methane and ammonia

Can people live on Saturn?: No. People can't because the planet is made of gas and has no surface.

Jupiter

Discovered: It was discovered in ancient times.

A picture of Jupiter from space.

Named after: It was named after the Roman god Jupiter god of thunder

Temperature: 108 C (166 F)

Diameter: 142,984 km

Made of: It is made of rock, metal, hydrogen, and helium.

Can people live on Jupiter?: No. We can't because it is a big ball of gas that has no surface.

Also, It is to hot in the clouds reaching 60,000k.

Jupiter's "Great Red Spot" a storm that has
been on Jupiter for more than 100 years.

Mars

A picture of Mars from space.

Discovered: It was discovered in ancient times.

Named after: It s named after the Roman god Mars god of war.

Temperature: In winter it can get 191 degrees below 0.

In the summer it can get 24 degrees below 0.

Diameter: 6,792km (4,196 miles)

Made of: It is made of iron and rock.

Can people live on Mars?: Scientists say in the future we will be able to live on Mars. But it won't be easy. Mars has this red dust so it won't be easy to breath and to see.

Earth

A picture of Earth from space

Named after: It is not named after anything. The word comes from Old Saxon word ertha, the Dutch word aerde, and the German word erda.

Temperature: The coldest temperature on Earth is 14 C.
The hotest temperature on Earth is 70.7 C (159 F).

Diameter: 7,926.41 miles (12,756.32 km)


Made of: Rock and lava. It has three parts: Crust, Mantle, Core

Venus

A picture of Venus from space 

Discovered: Know one really knows who discovered Venus. When Galileo looked though his telescope he noticed that Venus had a visible disc and it had phases like the moon. He is considered that he discovered Venus.


 Named after: It was named after the Roman goddess Venus goddess of love and beauty.


Temperature: The average temperate is 464 C (867 F).


Diameter: 12103.6 km (7520.8 miles)


Made of: It is made of dried up lava and carbon dioxide and nitrogen

Can people live on Venus?: No. First of all the air is poison. There is hot lava is very,very hot. That is why people can not live on Venus.

Mercury

Discovered: It was discovered in the ancient times

A picture of Mercury from space

Named after: Name after the Roman god Mercury a messenger god

 Temperature: (Daytime) 350 degrees celsius (Nighttime) 170 degrees celsius

Diameter: 4879.4 km (3032 miles)

Made of: It s made of rock and iron

Can people live on Mercury?: No. Fist of all there is no water and air. There is also no atmosphere. It is too hot in the daytime and too cold in the nighttime. That is why people can't live on Mercury

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci was born April 15, 1452. As a child, Leonardo would sit around and draw his surroundings. His father sent him to art school to study and be the apprentice of the artist Andrea del Verrocchio. One time Verrocchio was painting a picture of Jesus and a angel. He did Jesus and Leonardo did the angel. When the painting was finished the angel was more beautiful than Jesus. After that Verrocchio did not touch a paintbrush for the rest of his life. Then Leonardo paired his first painting called The Virgin of The Rocks. It was completed in 1480. Leonardo was not only a painter. He was also a scientist, inventor, and sculptor. Leonardo would buy birds and then set them free. He was the inventor of the glider but it did not have a motor. He had sketches for submarines, airplane, screwdriver and the helicopter! He died on May 2, 1519. His best works are The Last Supper and Mona Lisa.

A self-portrait of Leonardo 

A sketch for Leonardo's helicopter

Leonardo's most famous  painting, Mona Lisa

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was born on March 21, 1685. His father, Johann Ambrosius Bach was a musician and Bach's big brother Johann Christoph Bach taught him the harpsichord, violin and organ. He went to go live with him. Sometimes, he got up in the middle of the night and looked at music. When his brother found out he was angry at him and gave him a spanking.
When Bach got older he walked long distances to see the organist Dietrich Buxtehude.


In 1707 when Bach was 22 he married his second cousin, Maria Barbara Bach. She had 7 children but 4 didn't survive. In 1720 she died. Know one knows why. After she died he married Anna Magdalena Wilcken. She had 13 children but 12 of them died.

 After a while Bach began to be a little blind. A few months later, he became very blind. He became so blind that he got sick. He became so sick that he died. He died in 1750. His best compositions are Toccata and Fugue, Brandenburg Concertos, his Passions and Inventions

A portrait of Bach 

Bach's father, Johann Ambrosius Bach

Ludwig van Beethoven

Portrait of 13-year-old Beethoven

Johann van Beethoven 

Ludwig van Beethoven was born on December 17, 1770. His father, Johann van Beethoven made poor little Beethoven get up in the middle in the night and practice the piano.  He was very, very, tired every day. His father was very strict to Beethoven. He would punch him if he made a mistake. When Beethoven was 7 1/2 he performed his first concert. His father announced that he was 6 which made Beethoven think that he was younger that he was. 

After some more practice he was invited to play for the king of Germany. The king liked it so much that he made Beethoven stay. His father didn’t want Beethoven to stay, but the king said he had to. So, Beethoven stayed and played for the king. After a while Beethoven wanted to go home. At first the king said no, but after a day he let Beethoven go. When Beethoven got back, he continued to play the piano. He also started composing his own music. 

When Beethoven grew older he went to Vienna. While he was there he he met the composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Josef Haydn who became his teacher. After he came back, he began to grow deaf. After a while he was so deaf that he had to use a horn to put to his ear. Then he became so deaf that it hurt and he got sick. Eventually he got so sick that he died. He died in 1827 at the age of 57. His best compositions are Symphony No.5, Symphony No. 6,Symphony No.9, Fur Elise, and The Ruins of Athens. 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

9-year-old-Mozart playing the harpsichord

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756. His father Leopold, taught him harpsichord at age 3! He started composing at age 5! His first composition was Andante in C. His sister Nannerl, also played the piano. 

In 1762 Mozart and his family started traveling around Europe to perform concerts (He was age 10). Some of the countries they traveled in were Paris, London,Vienna, and Munich.This period of time was called The Grand Tour. Mozart loved to do tricks on the piano. Once at a concert, he covered his hands with a cloth and played the harpsichord. Another trick he did at the harpsichord was he  played it with his toes. By this time Leopold was very impressed with his son. 

A portrait of Mozart

After a while it was time for Mozart to go. He travel to Vienna. While he was there he met a composer and musician named Ludwig van Beethoven (Lud-VIG- von BAtoven). After he left, he went to another composer’s house. His name was Carl Maria von Weber (Carl-Maria-von-Weaver). He fell in love in Aloysia Weber, but she was all ready in love with somebody else. Instead he went out with Aloysia’s younger sister Constanze. Finally, they were married.They had 6 children, but 4 of them didn’t survive. The ones that did survive were Karl Thomas Mozart and Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart who also became a composer. Mozart  died in 1791 age 35. His best compositions are The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute, Clarinet Concerto in A, and Eine Kleine Nachmusik.