4Kids.org - Week of May 9, 2004

Week of May 9, 2004

Living History Farm

The lives of farmers in the ’20s and ’30s were as suspenseful as blockbuster movies. David Wessels turned his farm into The Living History Farm at www.livinghistoryfarm.org to showcase this small piece of American history. Swarms of insects attacked famers’ property, machines helped them do their work and an economic catastrophe made some think it was the end of the world. Find out how farmers dealt with these challenges before and during the Great Depression, and read about the world events that impacted their lives.

Nominate a cool Web site at https://4Kids.org/nominations/

Visit the Featured Web sites to find the answers.

What machine largely replaced horses on the farm?

tractor
truck
combine

What is the preferred drink at FableVision?

grape juice
soda
tea

How does bottled water rank on the United States’ favorite
drinks list?

1st
2nd
3rd

Stories Flow Like Brooks

Visit FableVision Place at www.fablevision.com/place, a magical land where stories flow like brooks. Cross the book-shaped bridge and head to the Museum and Creativity Center where you can play with a movable collage with funky shapes and fluttering pieces. Visit Fable TV to watch funny movie clips with kids fishing for stars and cosmic lobsters. Search for the treasure fruit in Captain Bart’s Golden Pineapple Quest in the Arcade. And at the Library, just download books to your computer.

Co-existing With the Earth

P.O.V. Borders: Environment at www.pbs.org/pov/borders/ 2004/index_flash.html explains how our interaction with the air, earth and water affects the Earth in the present and for years to come. Decisions, such as what cars we buy, determine the quality of the air we breathe. Electric cars, hybrids and other green vehicles help us care for the planet. Decide whether bottled water is better than tap water. If it is better, consider whether it is worth the energy required to bottle it and ship it across the country.

What is a good age to
start earning your own
spending money?

Speak Out Here!

Dear Amy: How does a computer work?
— Allison, Boca Raton, Fla.

Dear Allison: There are lots of components that make a computer work. The central processing unit, or CPU, is like the brain. It oversees what goes on in the computer.

Memory is also important. Long-term memory holds permanent information, such as what the computer must do when it is first turned on. Short-term memory holds temporary information. For example, it remembers your action sequence in a program so that you can use the “Undo” command.

The motherboard is the main circuit board. It connects the CPU, memory and other components. The hard drive is the computer’s main storage space, which holds permanent information such as programs.

Those are all hardware components, but computers need software to run, as well. The operating system is the software that produces the nice interface that we use to navigate and use the computer. Of course, there are many other components that make computers cooler. These include sound cards, graphics cards and CD and DVD drives. Check out http://computer.howstuffworks.com/pc1.htm if you want to learn even more about how computers work.

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