Tornadoes, or twisters, are spinning columns of air. A tornado’s funnel stretches from a cloud to the ground. In a supercell storm, warm air gets pulled up, and cold air falls down, which makes the clouds spin. It forms a funnel cloud, and the whirling wind spins everything up along with it. The most powerful twisters can produce winds up to 300 miles per hour!
Ever hear a loud “buzzing” in the summertime, but not been able to find out where the noise was coming from? Chances are, it was coming from high in the trees, from large groups of cicadas singing.
Cicadas are insects with six legs and long, clear wings. They hatch as nymphs from eggs and live underground for anywhere from 13 to 17. While living underground, the nymphs feed on juices from tree roots. When ready, the nymphs tunnel up to the surface and climb up trees, where they molt to become winged cicadas.
Have you ever eaten an avocado? Is it a fruit or a vegetable? It’s a delicious fruit because it is a large berry with a seed, or pit in the center. Avocados grow on trees called Persea Americana. The fruit is picked from trees while still green. Its skin starts to turn brown after it’s harvested. They ripen and soften when stored at room temperature.
Bigfoot is said to be a large, hairy, humanlike creature. Stories say it roams the forests and remote areas in North America. Legends of a Bigfoot-like creature exist around the world, and they all are different. Each place has a different name for the creature. Several Native American tribes have Bigfoot legends. In the United States, the creature is often called Bigfoot or Sasquatch, which comes from a Canadian Native American word meaning ‘wild man’.
Although they are commonly mislabeled as vegetables, pumpkins are actually fruit! Pumpkins are a type of fruit that grows on vines and bushes. Pumpkins start off as seeds in the ground. Over time, a stem sprouts out of the ground and uncurls leaves. With the help of sunlight and water, the pumpkin plant grows. Before long, vines cover the pumpkin patch. Soon afterwards, yellow flower buds appear on the vines. During the cool nights and early mornings, bees fly around and pollinate the flowers. Eventually, the flowers turn into pumpkins.
Baking is a way of cooking food using an oven. It’s a little like magic—ingredients like flour, sugar, eggs, and butter are mixed together, and when they go into the oven, they turn into something delicious, like cookies, bread, or cake! The heat of the oven cooks the mixture and changes its shape, color, and flavor. That’s why baking is called a “science,” because it uses heat to make something new.
A Little History of Baking
Have you ever seen people knitting? Well, that could be you! This fun technique simply involves using needles to loop yarn around itself to create a fabric. You can make hats, scarves, sweaters, blankets, or many other projects. The possibilities are endless.
Knitting originated so long ago, no one knows for sure when! Some say it was invented in the Middle East, but others say Egypt. But we do know that a pair of knitted socks were discovered in Egypt that were made over 1,000 years ago!
Bessie Coleman was an incredible woman who made history by becoming the first African American woman to earn a pilot’s license. She was born on January 26, 1892, in Atlanta, Texas, and grew up in a time when people of color, especially women, were not often given opportunities to follow their dreams. Despite these challenges, Bessie’s determination helped her break barriers and inspire others for generations to come.
