The sound of an orchestra playing is a thrilling experience. An orchestra is a group of musicians who play musical instruments. Some orchestras have more than 100 musicians. Yet when they play together, the orchestra sounds like one mighty musical instrument.

Try to jump as high as you can. Bend your knees. Now jump! No matter how hard you try, or how high you jump, you always come back down again.
Something called gravity pulls you back down. Gravity holds you down on Earth. Without gravity, you would fly off into space. You would jump up and just keep on going. That might sound like fun, but you could not live very high up. For one thing, you need to breathe air. The higher you go, the less air there is. You need gravity to keep you down on Earth.

Remember Mary’s little lamb? It followed her everywhere. Lambs follow their mothers. If a newborn lamb loses its mother, it will form a bond with a human being who adopts it. Just like Mary’s lamb, it will try to tag after its human parent. Lambs are baby sheep.

What is love? What is truth? What is justice? Socrates, a philosopher in ancient Greece, asked big questions like these and tried to make people think.
Socrates was born in Athens, Greece, in 469 bc. He devoted his life to philosophy. He taught students, made speeches, and debated with anyone who would listen to him.

Imagine sticking your nose in the air and sniffing the smell of a hamburger cooking a mile away. Some bears can do just that. Bears have a keen sense of smell. They use this sense to help them find food. Bears are meat eaters, or carnivores. But most bears also eat fruits, nuts, and other foods. Bears live in North America, South America, Europe, and Asia. They do not live in Africa, Australia, or Antarctica.

A woman grips a long, slender club and stares down at a small, white ball on the ground. She swings the club back and then forward, striking the ball with a loud CRACK! The ball launches into the distance and comes to rest down a narrow stretch of grass.

The Spanish call their country España. The name comes from the ancient word Span, which means hidden or remote land. It’s a fitting name, since Spain stands somewhat apart from the rest of Europe.

A thunderstorm is coming. A bolt of lightning flashes across the sky. Thunder rumbles in the distance. The storm comes closer. The lightning bolts get brighter. They light up the clouds. The thunder gets louder. It crashes and roars. Thunder and lightning can be frightening.

Was Benjamin Franklin a famous scientist? Or was he an inventor? Was he a diplomat and a statesman? Or a printer and a writer? Franklin was not just one of these things—he was all of them!

Brazil is a big country. It covers about half of South America and is home to about half the continent’s people. In fact, only four countries of the world have more land than Brazil: Russia, Canada, China, and the United States. All that area gives Brazil many kinds of landscapes and great natural beauty.

Do not be bored. Classical music can be very stimulating. Classical music began in Europe in the Middle Ages and continues today.
Classical music is the art music of Europe and North America. When we call it art music, we are distinguishing classical music from popular music and folk music. Art music generally requires more training to write and perform than the other two kinds.

Have you ever watched baby chickens hatch? You can see them on farms and at many children’s zoos.
The baby chick is inside a shell. It pecks at the shell for a while, and then it rests. When the chick has pecked away enough of the shell, it breaks out. Baby chickens are covered with soft down.

Explorers only reached the North Pole and the South Pole in the 1900s. They risked chilling cold, blinding blizzards, and frostbite to investigate these frozen zones.

Crazy Horse grew up riding horses and hunting buffalo. But it was his bravery and daring in battle that earned him the name Crazy Horse. This was also his father’s name.
Crazy Horse was one of the greatest Native American chiefs. When the United States government tried to force Native Americans to live on reservations, Crazy Horse fiercely defended his people’s land and way of life.

BALLET Raise your arms and bring your fingers together over your head. Now lift one foot, point your toes, and strike a pose. You are doing ballet. Ballet is a form of dance with graceful steps and arm movements as well as leaps and spins. We also use the word ballet...

VACCINATION “You’ll just feel a little jab.” Ouch! That wasn’t too bad, and it could save your life. Most of us have had “shots” from a needle. These are usually vaccinations, and they are extremely valuable. They help protect us against diseases. VIRUSES Most...