ChillKids
September 2020
Fun Family Educational Resource of Chapel Hill • Carrboro • Durham • Hillsborough • NC Triangle
Back to School! Meet Gryffindor Lion! Fun Games & Puzzles
at the Animal Park at the Conservators Center in Mebane, NC
Observing the Weather with Owlie Skywarn
How Do Hurricanes Form? NASA Space Place
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Educational fun for the whole family! ChillKids is your LOCAL award-winning educational family resource magazine for parents, grandparents, children, and educators K-5th grade in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough/Orange County, Durham and the NC Triangle.
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HAVE FUN READING & LEARNING with ChillKids, featuring award-winning educational puzzles and games. Educators can request FREE distribution for your K-5 classroom(s) by calling (919) 951-4410. Read the monthly online edition at www. ChillKids.com/news.
DIVISION SUDOKU
The ChillKids family educational resource is supported by sponsors who share our mission to promote literacy and a love of learning in our local community. To learn more about supporting our 501(c)(3) nonprofit literacy mission in partnership with the Newspaper in Education Initiative, call us at (919) 951-4410. 1 6 3
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COIN CAPER ANSWERS: HNNNN, QQDNN 1 ADDITION SQUARE ANSWER 2, 6, 3, 4, 1, 7, 7
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MANY THANKS to our sponsors for supporting the ChillKids literacy & Newspapers in Education programs in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough/Orange County, Durham and the NC Triangle!
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ChillKids
Welcome August!
Chapel Hill/Carrboro/Hillsborough/ Orange & Durham Counties' Fun Family Educational Resource
September Fun !
PUBLISHER/EDITOR Kate Look kate@ChillKids.com
September is a great time in the North Carolina Triangle to enjoy the beautiful autumn weather outdoors! Go on family walks at your favorite local parks and forests. Visit DiscoverTheForest.org to find forests near you. (For hiking safety tips from the CDC, visit https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/daily-life-coping/visitors.html). Meet Gryffindor Lion (p. 4), and schedule a tour to meet Gryffindor Lion, his brother, and all of the animals at the Animal Park at the Conservators Center in Mebane, NC.
For Sponsorship Information, or to request (FREE!) K-5 distribution for your school, contact us at: (919) 951-4410 www.ChillKids.com/news ChillKids 1818 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd, #210 Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Another fun outing idea: plan a visit to the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, NC! They have re-opened and they have made changes to help protect the health and safety of Museum guests. Visit https://www.lifeandscience.org/ to learn more. (The Museum's website advises that North Carolina and Durham County currently require visitors age five and up to wear masks at the Museum at all times, indoor and outdoor, unless actively eating and drinking.) This month we'll learn all about the weather with the National Weather Service's (NWS) friendly and adorable Owlie Skywarn. Learn with Owlie about observing the weather, and how to help the NWS by volunteering to measure rain and snow (p. 5), learn with Owlie what it takes to become a meteorologist (p. 7), and check out Owlie's Back to School suggested educational resources for teachers and families (p. 11).
Copyright © 2020 ChillKids. All rights reserved. No part of this issue may be reproduced in whole or in part in any form without permission of the publisher. Neither participating advertisers nor the publishers will be responsible or liable for misinformation, misprints or typographical errors. The publishers reserve the right to edit any submitted material. ChillKids is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, artwork, or other material. Children's art submissions should include name, address, telephone number, and permission to publish signed by a parent or guardian.
We'll also learn with NASA Space Place all about hurricanes (also known as tropical cyclones). Check out the image of Hurricane Laura from the International Space Station 250 miles above earth on p. 15! Have fun and be sure to get outside in the sunshine and play in the beautiful Autumn weather!
Math-A-Muse
Look for Math-A-MuseLook Answers on page 2. Answers on page 2. for Math-A-Muse
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By Evelyn B. Christensen, Ed.D.
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ANIMAL KINGDOM This month let's get to know Gryffindor lion! Griffyndor Lion resides at the Animal Park at the Conservators Center in Mebane, NC, in a pride (lion family) with his brother, Pacino.
Meet Gryffindor Lion
at the Animal Park at the Conservators Center in Mebane, NC
These two lions are the highlight of many tours at the Animal Park as they are sure to always start an "oof" to help the tour guides show off this unique lion vocalization. Living with your brother can definitely cause sibling rivalry Gryffindor is a perfect example of the instigator though! He seems to always know when Pacino is in a solitary mood and will attempt to play with him - which can cause Pacino to just become grumpy! No matter what - they always settle their differences and can be spotted cuddled together.
The Animal Park is open under limited availability.Currently, available tours are limited to Small Group Adventures and Private Tours. Please consider helping to support their animal residents during this stressful time by Gryffindor Lion Photos: The Animal Park at the Conservators Center. donating to the Animal Park. Learn more at https://animalparknc.org/
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Observing the Weather
by Stacie Hanes, Lead Meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Portland/Gray. Maine So how does it work? Every time it rains, snows or hails, volunteers make precipitation measurements and enter them onto a website. Once the information is entered, it can be displayed on a map. The observations can then be used for many situations, like helping the National Weather Service decide whether to issue flood warnings.
How hot was it today? How cold was it last night? How much rain or snow fell yesterday? Was it cloudy, windy or foggy? To know the answers to these questions, someone had to observe the weather.
Measuring rain and snow is easy. To measure rainfall, you will need a rain gauge. Be sure to place it outside on level ground, and away from trees and buildings. After it rains, simply read how much rain fell onto the rain guage and record your observation.
Some weather observations (like how cloudy it is) can be made with your eyes and some observations can be based on how it feels (like temperatur or wind), but the best way to observe the weather is to take measurements.
Although the National Weather Service uses a variety of instruments to observe the weather, we also rely on observations taken by volunteers across the country. Your family or school can contribute to the weather information collected around the country by joining a volunteer network of weather observers. One such program is the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow etwork, or CoCo RaHS for short. CoCo RaHS weather observers work together to measure and map precipitation in their local communities and across the country.
Families and Schools can contribute to the weather information collected around the country by joining a volunteer network of weather observers. To help measure and collect weather information that helps the National Weather Service visit www.cocorahs.org or www.weather. gov. You should try to measure the snow as soon as the storm ends to get accurate measurements. If you wait too long, the snow may melt, settle, blow away, drift or evaporate. If it's been windy, you may need to take several measurements in the area and average them in order to get an accurate measurement. To report your snowfall amounts to the National Weather Service go to www. weather.gov and click on your location on the map. The page will open to your local office. Scroll down and there will either be a link to submit a “storm report” directly on that page or you can click on the “Contact Us” section and send your report via e-mail.
Several types of instruments can help. A thermometer tells us how warm or cold it is, a rain gauge tells us how much rain fell and a ruler can be used to measure snow. Anyone can make observations of the weather. In fact, you might want to keep a daily log of the temperature, what the sky looked like and whether there was any precipitation.
Did you know?
If you are interested, the CoCoRaHS network is always loking for more volunteer observers. Snow can be measured with a ruler or for the really big storms, with a yardstick. Your snowfall measurement will be better if you us a "snowboard" (the kind used to measure snow depth, not for sliding down a snowy slope!) A snowboard is simply a board that is painted white. Before a storm, place your snowboard well away from trees and roofs, and make sure to mark where you put it so you can find it when it is covered in snow.
If your family or school would like to become a volunteer weather observer, parents and teachers can visit the CoCoRaHS website at www.cocorahs.org and click "Join CoCoRaHs." Additional details on how to observe and report rain and snow are available on the website.
Have a yardstick handy so that you can take an accurate measurement! Also, have your cold weather gear ready so that you can bundle up and stay warm while venturing out to take each measurement.
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CAREER SPOTLIGHT
Becoming a Meteorologist The basic requirement for becoming a meteorologist is a 4-year Bachelor of Science degree in Meteorology or Atmospheric Sciences. To become a meteorologist, you need to be good at math and science. Some of the classes that you'll be taking to earn your degree include calculus, physics, atmospheric dynamics, synoptic meteorology, and even computer programming courses.
The National Weather Service's Owlie Skywarn has always been interested in the weather! Learn with Owlie what it takes to become a meteorologist. Most people who become meteorologists have been fascinated by weather since they were very young. Meteorologists across the world get to predict some of Mother Nature’s wildest weather! From tornadoes to blizzards and heatwaves to hurricanes, a career in meteorology will keep you on your toes! While meteorology is a fun and exciting career choice, it takes a lot of dedication and hard work that starts with going to school.
Meteorology is not an easy degree to get, but it one that is very worthwhile! Owlie's advice is to take as many math Owlie Skywarn visits with a meteorologist at the National Weather Service and science classes as you can in high Lake Charles forecast office. Photo: National Weather Service. school, including calculus and physics if meteorologist and really get to see how we they’re offered because they'll help you a lot forecast the weather. once you get into college. For more information on careers in weather and how to become a Whether you already know you want to meteorologist, visit NOAA’s National become a meteorologist or if you're really Weather Service at https://www.weather. not sure, the best thing you can do is shadow or intern with local meteorologists. gov/careers. This is extremely important because it Source: https://www.weather.gov/owlie/owliesjournal-2014 allows you to experience the job of a
By Jan Buckner Walker
The Original Crossword Puzzle for Kids and Their Favorite Adults
™
The across clues are for kids and the down clues are for grown-ups!
Kids Across
1. It's "crunch" time: Everybody 18. Big sacks that hold autumn leaves after you've raked them knows that an apple is a 21. Tiny 18A of dried leaves delicious fall ____ dunked in cups of boiling 3. It's a word that means water make this hot, tasty "nightfall" and rhymes with drink "tusk" 7. If it begins to rain while you're 22. A section cut from a fallen tree that is ready for a will probably fall on your ___ 23. It's the color of most leaves 8. Autumn art: When you're before autumn arrives coloring a picture of a tree in the fall, you might choose 24. A fall farewell: What is the last word one leaf might say to use a red, orange or to another one as it falls brown _____ from their tree? 10. Daylight savings time tip: November is the month when people set their Parents Down clocks ____ one hour 1. It followed the rise of the Roman empire (and the falls on ______ 22nd word "into" in this puzzle's 14. Where you are if you see a theme title) trapeze artist stumble and fall 2. 1D family feast that focuses into the safety net below her on gratitude 16. It's where a cookie crumb 4. Sudden impact: What a bolt might end up if it falls out of of lightning can do to a tree your mouth that causes it to fall
5. Season after autumn 6. Source of every teardrop 7. Age-old question: If a tree falls in the forest and nobody ____ it, does it make a sound?" 9. What you could do to a canoe to dunk everyone in it 12. Even the best gymnast will fall if he loses his _____ 13. Timeless bedtime classic, like "Rock-a-Bye Baby," which warns of what happens when the bough breaks (How is THAT a soothing song?!) 15. Fall is the time to pull it out of the closet 17. Container that Jack (or Jill) probably lost a grip on as they fell down that hill 19. Old adage: "If you don't _____ for something, you'll fall for anything" 20. One piece of paper torn from a looseleaf notebook
Falling into Fall
™ kris@kapd.com
KAPD ebooks now available on www.kapd.com
September 2020 www.ChillKids.com/news
© 2017 KAPD, LLC
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September Maze
September Word Find
START
Help the squirrel find the acorn he hid!
Find the words by looking up, down, backwards, forwards, sideways and diagonally.
E S A T E L L I T E W F M Y N
V N I G L C N E N A B E M L A
B O O K S M Q A V V I S F C S
Gryffindor Lion Animal Park Mebane, NC September
N O I L R O D N I F F Y R G A
R S L P C M W I A Y N Y Y R S
C A C J Z Y Y M F O R T M E P
F W P H Z X C A B J U B L B A
M E T E O R O L O G I S T M C
Meteorologist NWS Mascot Owlie Skywarn Hurricanes
R A C L X O V P A R Q O R E E
D T F E H N L A J C M M C T P
M H L P R U H R Z O I G W P L
Q E Y C J F E K W X G P E E A
N R A W Y K S E I L W O O S C
H U R R I C A N E S S P H R E
Weather Satellite Tropical Cyclone NASA Space Place
T O C S A M S W N E B Y A R T Fun
Fall Books School
FINISH
THE ANIMAL HOSPITAL Highest quality veterinarian services, using state of the art technology & techniques * Dog boarding * Cat boarding
* Luxury cat condos
* Dog self-wash service
North Carolina’s best small animal practice, serving the community since 1974!
112 West Main St. Carrboro, NC 27510
Back to School
www.theanimalhospitalcarrboro.com
919-967-9261
Follow the Dot-to-dot STARS instructions: Stop at each star, then skip to the next number and start your line again. End at star 100. After you have completed the dot-to-dot, color in the picture!
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September Sunday
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Talk Like a Pirate Day
Take a Child Outside Week Sept. 24 to Sept. 30 takeachildoutside.org
First Day of Fall
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Take a Child Outside Week is an annual program coordinated by the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. Its mission is to get children outdoors to discover the natural world around them, and to help children understand and appreciate the environment in which they live, while having fun exploring nature!
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Hidden Picture Puzzle by Liz
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Learning About Weather:
Owlie Skywarn's Educational Website Picks
Do you like learning about the weather? Owlie Skywarn has found so many useful online resources from the National Weather Service, NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), and their partners, highlighting a plethora of weather information. Many of these resources were designed for educators and parents to teach to students in schools, community centers, after school and other programs. These websites share learning resources like lesson plans, games, classroom ideas including experiments and activities, and weather safety and preparedness information. Have fun checking out some of these fun ideas, information, and learning resources and get ready for Back to School! Have a WEATHERful school year! NWS Owlie Skywarn Social Media: Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/nwsowlie) and Twitter (@NWSOwlieSkywarn)
NOAA in your Backyard: http://www.noaa.gov/ education/noaa-in-your-backyard
Weather-Ready Nation Ambassadors: https:// www.weather.gov/wrn/about
NWS Education: http://www.weather.gov/ owlie/
NWS Citizen Science: http://www.weather.gov/ media/wrn/citizen_science_page.pdf
NOAA Resource Collections: http://www.noaa. gov/education/education-resource-collections
NWS Seasonal Safety Campaigns: http://www. weather.gov/safetycampaign
JetStream: https://www.weather.gov/jetstream/
Smithsonian Weather Lab: https://ssec.si.edu/ weather-lab
National Centers for Environmental Information https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/ NOAA Planet Stewards Education Project: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/ planet-stewards/ NSSL HotSeat Simulator: http://www.nssl. noaa.gov/education/hotseat/ Symbol-supported weather safety materials made specifically for individuals with disabilities. https://www.weather.gov/wrn/ intellectualdisabilities
NOAA Education: http://www.noaa.gov/ education
NWS Homepage: https://www.weather.gov/
NWS Social Media: weather.gov/socialmedia
The National Hurricane Center Create-a-Cane: https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/outreach/games/ canelab.htm
Data in the Classroom El NiĂąo: https:// dataintheclassroom.noaa.gov/ NOAA Games: https://games.noaa.gov/ welcome.html NWS Careers: http://www.weather.gov/careers/ NOAA Student Opportunities: http://www. noaa.gov/opportunities/student-opportunities Science on a Sphere Explorer: https://sos.noaa. gov/SOS_Explorer/
Source: http://www.weather.gov/wrn/ backtoschool
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How Do Hurricanes Form? Hurricanes are the most violent storms on Earth. People call these storms by other names, such as typhoons or cyclones, depending on where they occur. The scientific term for all these storms is tropical cyclone. Only tropical cyclones that form over the Atlantic Ocean or eastern Pacific Ocean are called "hurricanes." Whatever they are called, tropical cyclones all form the same way. Tropical cyclones are like giant engines that use warm, moist air as fuel. That is why they form only over warm ocean waters near the equator. The warm, moist air over the ocean rises upward from near the surface. Because this air moves up and away from the surface, there is less air left near the surface. Another way to say the same thing is that the warm air rises, causing an area of lower air pressure below.
A computer-generated image of Hurricane Fran using data from the GOES weather satellites data.
As the storm system rotates faster and faster, an eye forms in the center. It is very calm and clear in the eye, with very low air pressure. Higher pressure air from above flows down into the eye. When the winds in the rotating storm reach 39 mph, the storm is called a "tropical storm." And when the wind speeds reach 74 mph, the storm is officially a "tropical cyclone," or hurricane. Tropical cyclones usually weaken when they hit land, because they are no longer being "fed" by the energy from the warm ocean waters. However, they often move far inland, dumping many inches of rain and causing lots of wind damage before they die out completely. (Continued on p. 13).
A cumulonimbus cloud. A tropical cyclone has so many of these, they form huge, circular bands.
Air from surrounding areas with higher air pressure pushes in to the low pressure area. Then that "new" air becomes warm and moist and rises, too. As the warm air continues to rise, the surrounding air swirls in to take its place. As the warmed, moist air rises and cools off, the water in the air forms clouds. The whole system of clouds and wind spins and grows, fed by the ocean's heat and water evaporating from the surface. Storms that form north of the equator spin counterclockwise. Storms south of the equator spin clockwise. This difference is If you could slice into a tropical cyclone, it would look something like this. The small red arrows show warm, moist air rising from the ocean's surface, and forming because of Earth's rotation on its axis. clouds in bands around the eye. The blue arrows show how cool, dry air sinks in the eye and between the bands of clouds. The large red arrows show the rotation of the rising bands of clouds.
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NASA SpacePlace: How do Hurricanes Form? (Cont. from p. 12)
Tropical Cyclone Categories:
Watch this video for kids from NOAA SciJinks about How Hurricanes Form at https://youtu.be/wPDoIrGUrEc.
GOES Weather Satellites Help Keep People Safe We have weather satellites that are constantly monitoring the weather conditions here on Earth. The GOES-R series of weather satellites scan the hemisphere constantly, keeping an eye on conditions that might cause a hurricane to form. (GOES stands for Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite.) Once a hurricane forms, the satellites can help predict the storm's intensity and track it minute by minute. This information allows meteorologists to deliver early warnings and help people stay safe. Source: SciJinks. gov. Learn more about the GOES-R series of weather satellites on p. 14, and at https://www.goes-r.gov/
The GOES satellites keep their eyes on hurricanes from far above Earth's surface—22,300 miles above, to be exact! (Learn more about this kind of orbit at https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/how-orbits-work.) These satellites, built by NASA and operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), save lives by helping weather forecasters predict and warn people where and when these severe storms will hit land. Source: NASA SpacePlace "How Hurricanes Form" at https:// spaceplace.nasa.gov/hurricanes/en/. Turn to page 15 to see an August 2020 image of Hurricane Laura taken from the International Space Station by NASA commander Chris Cassidy, more than 250 miles over the dangerous storm as it swirled and churned across the Gulf of Mexico toward Louisiana.
Tropical Cyclone regions around the world.
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GOES Weather Satellites The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) is a weather satellite. GOES is out in space, orbiting Earth. That means it travels around and around Earth. It makes one trip around Earth each and every day. GOES looks down on the same side of Earth all the time. GOES and Earth do a kind of space dance together. The GOES take pictures all the time. They see storms forming over land and ocean. They take the pictures of clouds and hurricanes that you see on TV! The GOES help weather forecasters do their jobs. The GOES-R is the newest version of the GOES. The GOES-R takes pictures of Earth's weather with faster and more accurate data, and also studies the Sun, lightning, and Earth's magnetic field. The GOES–R is the nation’s most advanced fleet of geostationary weather satellites. The GOES-R Series significantly improves the detection and observation of environmental phenomena that directly affect public safety, protection of property and our nation’s economic health and prosperity.
The GOES-R satellites provide advanced imaging with increased spatial resolution and faster coverage for more accurate forecasts, real-time mapping of lightning activity, and improved monitoring of solar activity and space weather. The GOES-R Series is a four-satellite program (GOES-R/S/T/U) that will extend the availability of the operational GOES satellite system through 2036. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) builds and launches these satellites, and NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) pays for and operates them. Source: NASA GOES-R Fun Activity Book, https://spaceplace.nasa. gov/posters/en/ and https://www.goes-r.gov/. Learn more about the GOES-R series of weather satellites at https://www.goes-r.gov/
Help GOES-R Find Earth
Color the GOES-R Weather Satellite
GOES-R hovers over one spot on Earth all the time.
The GOES-R satellites can see in infrared light - a kind of light our eyes cannot see,
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SEPTEMBER 2020 ONLINE Flick Picks Mulan Available on Disney + (Sept. 2020)
Acclaimed filmmaker Niki Caro brings the epic tale of China’s legendary warrior to life in Disney’s "Mulan," in which a fearless young woman risks everything out of love for her family and her country to become one of the greatest warriors China has ever known. When the Emperor of China issues a decree that one man per family must serve in the Imperial Army to defend the country from Northern invaders, Hua Mulan, the eldest daughter of an honored warrior, steps in to take the place of her ailing father.
The Princess and the Frog Available on Netflix (as of Sept. 2020)
Set in 1926 New Orleans, Disney's The Princess and the Frog is a 2009 animated musical fantasy that tells the story of a hardworking waitress named Tiana who dreams of opening her own restaurant. After kissing a prince who has been turned into a frog by an evil voodoo sorcerer, Tiana becomes a frog herself and must find a way to turn back into a human before it is too late. Rated G. 1 hr. 37 min. (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.)
Masquerading as a man, Hua Jun, she is tested every step of the way and must harness her inner-strength and embrace her true potential. It is an epic journey that will transform her into an honored warrior and earn her the respect of a grateful nation…and a proud father. Rated PG-13 (for peril/action, some thematic elements, and brief mild language). 1 hr. 40 min. Walt Disney Studios.
Hurricane Laura, as seen from the International Space Station!
This image of Hurricane Laura was shared on August 26, 2020 on Twitter by NASA commander Chris Cassidy from the International Space Station, more than 250 miles over the dangerous storm as it swirled across the Gulf of Mexico toward Louisiana.
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