Tag: grade 3

News

Flotilla A Highlight Of Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Celebrations

When someone’s done the same job for 60 years, she deserves a party. And that’s what happened in London, England this week.

The party for Queen Elizabeth II lasted four days.

On the first day, she attended the Royal Derby, a big horserace held every year.

The second day, more than a million guests lined the River Thames and watched the Queen and members of her family float along in the royal barge, majestically surrounded by a flotilla of 1,000 boats. A flotilla is a group of small boats together on the water.

Science Technology

World’s First Private Spacecraft Makes Successful Trip To International Space Station

Governments from just a handful of countries have flown into space.

But never has a private company successfully sent a spacecraft into space.

Not only is it extremely expensive, but it’s incredibly risky. There are a million things that can go wrong.

Last month an American company called Space Exploration Technologies – better known as SpaceX – made history by sending its unmanned Dragon spacecraft into space.

Kids Lighter News

The Biggest Swimming Pool In The World

What’s more than one kilometre long, covers 7.7 hectares, holds 250 million litres of water, is as deep as 35 metres and is a beautiful turquoise colour?

It’s the biggest swimming pool in the world.

In case it’s hard to imagine just how much water that is, imagine a huge lagoon the size of 6,000 regular-sized pools. It’s a whopping 12 football fields long.

Located beside the ocean at a resort named San Alfonso del Mar in Algarrobo, Chile, it holds the Guinness record as the world’s largest swimming pool.

Lighter News Politics

A Penny Saved Is A Penny Spurned

The Canadian penny will soon be a thing of the past—like the Canadian one-dollar and two-dollar bills. The loonie and the toonie replaced those bills in 1987.

In its last budget, the government said the Royal Canadian Mint will stop making pennies starting this Fall, and that stores will stop using them.

Everyone is asked to return their pennies to a bank; they will be melted down and recycled.

Pennies will always be worth one cent. However, there will be fewer and fewer of them out there as the years go on.

Any prices that don’t end in a zero or a five (in other words, purchase we can use nickles, dimes or quarters for) will be rounded up or down to the nearest zero or five.

Health Kids News

Mike Holmes To Help Rebuild High Park Children’s Castle

The people who are rebuilding the High Park castle are getting some high-profile help.

Mike Holmes is a celebrity contractor. A contractor is someone who is skilled at the kinds of jobs needed to build or renovate homes. Contractors hire and oversee all of the work—for instance, electrical, plumbing, carpentry and design work.

Holmes became famous for his motto, “make it right.” On his TV show, he rescues homeowners from renovations that have gone wrong and he brings in workers who fix the house properly and “make it right.”

Holmes also does a lot of charity work. On one of his TV shows, he helps people in New Orleans whose houses were destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Now he’s lending a hand to help rebuild the children’s play castle in the High Park neighbourhood of Toronto, Ont. Much of the wooden structure was destroyed by a fire last March.

Animals News Science

Millions Of Butterflies In Ontario And Eastern Canada

If you were sitting outside on April 16 in Eastern North America, you may have seen a wondrous site. That day, millions of Red Admiral butterflies flew in – or perhaps “blew in” – from the southern United States.

Drew Monkman is a local natualist (“nature watcher”) and writer, living in Peterborough, Ont. He tracks the habits of animals including butterflies.

He told TKN that the April 16 migration was “completely unprecedented. (The Red Admiral has) never been seen in these kinds of numbers.”

He said on that day there were probably several million butterflies, most of them Red Admiral, but there were other species as well.

Drew Monkman is a naturalist and butterfly expert living in Peterborough, Ont.
Why did this happen? This year in the southern United States like Texas, where the butterflies began their journey, the winter was “amazingly mild,” said Monkman. This allowed more butterflies to survive the winter and reproduce.

Entertainment

Hip Hop Legend MCA Passes Away

You may not have heard of Adam Yauch, but you have probably heard of the Beastie Boys.

Yauch – better known as MCA – was one of three members of the legendary hip-hop group from New York City. He died from cancer early this month.

Yauch and the rest of the Beastie Boys were famous for wild, silly songs and wild, silly behaviour.

A perfect example is their most famous song: “(You Gotta) Fight For Your Right (To Party).”

Yauch taught himself to play the bass guitar in highschool and formed the Beastie Boys for his 17th birthday party along with the group’s two other members: Michael “Mike D” Diamond and Adam “Adrock” Horovitz.

News

Updates On Two Of Our Breaking Stories: Montreal And Royals

University students continue to protest in Montreal.

The students had started out protesting a tuition hike.

However, the protests have grown and broadened to be about more than tuition.

The Royal Visit — Charles, the Prince of Wales, and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, are touring Canada.

They are taking a four-day tour of the country to commemorate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

News Sports

Canadian-Owned Horse Has A Chance To Win U.S. Triple Crown

“I’ll Have Another” did indeed have another, just last Saturday.

Canadian-owned horse, “I’ll Have Another” (yes, that’s its name) won the 137th Preakness Stakes.

Blazing down the stretch, “I’ll Have Another” pushed hard with each powerful stride to cross the finish line first — winning by only the length of its neck.

It was a very close and exciting finish. The horse was jockeyed by Mario Gutierrez.

The jockey is the person who rides and directs the horse in the race.

News

More Money Problems For Greece

The debt problem in Greece is causing problems for the country again. And, once again, there is fear these money problems could spread to other countries around the world.

This time, some people in Greece have begun taking all their money out of the country’s banks because they’re worried about what will happen to the value of their money if Greece stops using the euro.

The euro is a currency, like the dollar, and it is used in many countries in Europe.

But Greece has borrowed a lot of money that it is having trouble paying back, and there have been talks about whether Greece should be allowed to keep using the euro.