The National Zoo in Washington,DC, is saying goodbye to Bei Bei, a 4 year old panda. Pandas are native to the country of China and the pandas found outside of China are on loan. In 1984, China announced that all pandas when they reach the age of 4, must be returned to China. Bei Bei, named by former First Lady Michelle Obama and the first lady of China, will be going in style on his own Boeing private plane. Called the Panda Express, he will even have a song playlist to listen to during the long journey back to China as well as his special favorite foods including apples, sweet potatoes, biscuits and bamboo.

Photograph from ABC.com

Everyone loves cookies including astronauts at the International Space Station. A special oven is being shipped to the ISS this week so the astronauts can try baking cookies in space. It will be the very first time cookies will be baked at the International Space Station. Scientists wonder if the lack of gravity effects baking.What about the shape of the cookies, will the cookies be flat? Crumbs are a concern as they can get into the different instruments so every morsel will have to be watch. Chocolate chip cookies will be made and hopefully, be a yummy treat for the astronauts.

Photograph from CBSnews.com

It's lunchtime. Time to seek out your friends and enjoy lunch. For some, it's a time when the stomach gets into knots, wondering who you will find to sit with in the cafeteria. A private K-12 school in Wisconsin has started assigned seating for their eight person round tables. The seating will always be changing.

Wpclipart.com

Photograph from CBSnews.com

It can get VERY hot in the country of Qatar. So hot, that the temperatures can reach 115 degrees Fahrenheit! With such sweltering temperatures, people tend to stay indoors in air-conditioning. To encourage people to go outside, the capital city of Doha has installed OUTSIDE air conditioning systems! The cool air is being pumped into outdoor malls and markets. Last year, their soccer stadiums were set up with air-conditioning units. Additionally, near the markets, the main road has been painted a pretty shade of blue! Blue absorbs less heat than black so it its hoped this will also help lessen the temperatures.

Photograph from dailymail.co.uk

An amazing mummy discovery was made in Egypt. Thirty coffins, with their mummies(preserved bodies), were found. Discovered near the city of Luxor, the mummies are believed to be 3000 years old, and include the bodies of both men, women and two children. The mummies were NOT unwrapped. Archeologists say that the coffins of men were depicted with hands made into fists and the coffins of women were depicted with open hands. The wooden coffins are very well preserved with hieroglyphics(ancient Egyptian writing) and their colorful paint, red, white and turquoise, still evident. The coffins will be available for viewing next year at the Grand Egyptian Museum, in Cairo, Egypt.

Photograph from ktla.com

Animals have taken selfies but never a plant. Scientists, at the London Zoo, say Pete the fern(maidenhair fern), just took the world's first plant selfie! Pete, like all plants, creates bio matter as it grows.Through photosynthesis, sugars are produced, some which end up in the soil. Bacteria living in the soil create energy as they break down these sugars. Fuel cells placed in the soil harnessed this energy which powered a small camera. SNAP, a photograph of Pete was taken! In fact, Pete was able to take 20 selfies every 20 seconds! Scientists hope this technology will help study remote shady areas, such as the Amazon Rainforest, where solar power is not an option.

In Japan, black cows are having a tough time dealing with horseflies that land and bit them. Researching the fact that zebras don't seem to have the problem that the cows had with flies, scientists applied white paint(animal friendly) and turned a number of cows into "zebra cows".Farmers were using pesticides to cut down on the flies but the flies developed a resistance to the pesticides. Besides, pesticides are not eco-friendly. The experiment used two groups of three cows. Two painted like zebras, two others with black stripes and two were left in their natural state. The flies didn't land on the white areas so the amount of fly bites was cut in half! The downside to the experiment is that the paint would have to be reapplied after a few weeks.

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"The school is the last expenditure upon which America should be willing to compromise."FDR "If a man empties his purse into his head, no man can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest."(Ben Franklin) "You must be the change you want to see in the world."(Mahatma Gandhi) "School is a building that has four walls-with tomorrow inside."(Lon Watters) "We know the future will outlast all of us, but I believe that all of us will live on in the future we make."(Senator Ted Kennedy) "The purpose of life is a life of purpose." (Robert Byrne)
Special thanks to EducationWorld for letting me use this image of my "alter ego" as Mrs. "Waffenschmidt!

About Gail:

I have retired from teaching after 33 1/2 years in the classroom. Of that time, I taught Grade 6 Social Studies teacher for 31 1/2 years.I earned my BA in early secondary education with a concentration in social studies from SUNY Oneonta, New York, and my MST in social studies education from Binghamton University in New York. In 1988, I was awarded the Outstanding Elementary Social Studies Classroom Teacher of the Year Award from the New York State Council for the Social Studies. Additionally, in 1988, I was also awarded the Outstanding Elementary Social Studies Teacher of the Year Award by the National Council for the Social Studies. I am the author of 8 books for teachers and over 30 books for children(Purple Turtle Series by Aadarsh Publishing). In 2019, my new series of three books, "Odd History" will be published by Red Chair Press.

My work has appeared in most children's publications including:
Appleseeds,Scholastic's Super Science,Scholastic's Science World,Highlights for Children,Jack and Jill,National Geographic World, Ranger Rick, Cobblestone, Faces, Muse Magazine,Contact Kids, US Kids,Action Magazine(Scholastic),Girls' Life,Boys' Life,American Girl, Instructor,Creative Classroom,Middle Years,Time for Kids,Scholastic News,Scholastic News Zone, Time for Kids , Ask Magazine, Dig,Calliope, Cobblestone, FACES, Studies Weekly, Glo Adventurer, and more.

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