4Kids.org - Week of January 10, 2010

Week of January 10, 2010

Visit the Featured Web sites to find the answers.

What strange-looking animal did Darwin see in Brazil?

The Toco Toucan
The sloth
The Boto

What do industrial designers study?

The shape of the human body
The periodic table
Architecture

What dates make up the Civil Rights Timeline?

1939-1971
1942-1973
1945-1975

Discover With Darwin

Every Journey Counts, www.rolls-royce.com/
interactive_games/darwin/
darwin.htm, invites you to take a walk in Darwin's Footsteps as he discovered famously cool plants and animals on his worldly travels. Pick Frank or Annie to join you, grab Polly, Darwin's dog, and prepare to embark on the HMS Voyager. Your travels include Brazil, where you will plant seeds to see which ones grow the best and Lima, Peru, where you will have to work fast to rescue llamas from the mountain after a huge earthquake!

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

Coloring Our Lives

bicycle with hexagon tires A Lifetime of Color: The Land that Design Forgot, www.alifetimeofcolor.com/
play/id1, wants you to open your eyes and really take notice of your surroundings. Hop on over to the playground and see if you notice anything strange. You might be thinking that this is one play area that needs some serious revamping. Listen to the chameleon's advice and learn what you can about different design techniques and why they are important. You can help make the world a better place with your changes.

Triptastic History

Learn to recognize the importance of South Carolina's civil rights history at Road Trip!, www.knowitall.org/roadtrip. Take a virtual walk through the past that will fascinate and educate as you roll through the roads woven by history. Choose from Places, People and Facts to begin your journey. Well-known faces and amazing places await your discovery. The civil rights movement was instrumental in the development of our great nation, so take time to appreciate all the positive changes that have been made in the years since then.

Who is your favorite explorer and why?

Speak Out Here!

Dear Amy: Why do we have to learn math? — Brianie, Plainfield, N.J.

Dear Brianie: I'm sure a lot of kids have pondered this same question. The answer is actually pretty simple. Math is everywhere! There's even math in sports. You need math to keep score, calculate player's averages, and you need math to figure out how many points you need to beat an opponent.
How about something completely different like art? You might not multiply or divide in art, but you do use geometry. When you draw an object, you have to figure out what basic shape it is before you start sketching. For example, you might sketch a face by starting with an oval. For more everyday examples of math, check out http://chalk.richmond.edu/education/
projects/webunits/math and www.learner.org/interactives/dailymath.

Math is also really important for future careers. Most jobs require at least some math, but math is especially important if you want to be a scientist, engineer or researcher. If you want to learn more about careers in math, go to www.whenwilliusemath.com/careers. Now you’ll be seeing math everywhere you go!

—Amy

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