Salty Sam’s Fun Blog for Children
Post Number 47
lcebergs
Hello Everyone
ls it chilly where you are too? lf you are the other side of the World from me you may be having a very hot day.
Do you ever have a drink on a hot summer’s day and put ice cubes in it to make it nice and cold? Have you noticed that the ice floats to the top?
This is because the ice is lighter than the liquid it is floating in.
When ice floats in the sea in great chunks, these chunks are called icebergs.
Bill and Bob are doing a class project on icebergs at the moment and they wanted to know if l had ever seen any on my travels in my days as a sailor.
lt is not unusual to see them in certain parts of the world.
lcebergs come from glaciers at the North and South Poles.
Glaciers are frozen rivers that move very slowly towards the sea. The ends stick out into the sea and eventually break off and float away on the waves.
lcebergs can be enormous. They can be bigger than a town and as high as a really tall building.
As they float into warmer waters they start to melt, often more quickly below the surface of the water than above it. Over time they become top heavy and then they turn over. When an iceberg capsizes like this, a new part rises to the top to be seen above the water.
Most of the iceberg is below the waterline – there is maybe eight or nine times more ice below the water than the ice you see above the sea. What you can see is called the ‘tip of the iceberg’.
Strangely, icebergs in the Northern Hemisphere can be a different shape from the ones in the Southern Hemisphere.
lcebergs with steep narrow pinnacles only form in the Arctic and flat-topped ones only in the Antarctic. The northern ones typically last for about two years but the southern ones for longer because they are usually bigger and so take longer to melt.
Some Arctic icebergs have been known to float as far south as Bermuda! Bermuda is an island in the Atlantic on the same latitude as North Africa.
There are lots of different names for the size and shape of icebergs. ‘Growlers’ are the tiny ones no bigger than a car. ‘Bergy bits’ are the next size up.
Of course icebergs are very dangerous to ships as the poor, unfortunate people on the Titanic found out when their ship hit one in 1912.
Bill and Bob say that they will always look out for icebergs when they go out in a boat from now on.
Personally, l don’t think they’ll ever see one around here.
Have you ever seen an iceberg?
Bye bye everyone – don’t forget to subscribe to my blog!
Love and kisses
Salty Sam
www.christina-sinclair.com
Bill and Bob’s Joke of the Week
Bill: Bob have you seen the book that l borrowed from the library to do my project?
Bob: No. What’s it called?
Bill: lt’s called The Arctic Ocean by l.C. Walters!
Salty Sam © Christina Sinclair 2015
Unauthorized use and/or duplication of material from this blog without express and written permission from this blog’s author and owner is strictly prohibited.
Links may be used to www.christina-sinclair.com
Picture Gallery
Bermuda
The Titanic
A glacier is a river of ice
(Travelsupermarket.com)
An iceberg
THE SALTY SAM NEWS DESK
Last week, I was telling you how Bill and Bob’s mum and dad give them a box of books on Boxing Day.
Well, there is something else they get on Boxing Day as well – tickets to The Rocky Bay Pantomime.
Every January, the Rocky Bay Amateur Dramatics Society puts on a show in the village hall.
It is something to look forward to when Christmas is over. People often feel at a low ebb at the beginning of January, but the people in Rocky Bay try to do something to cheer themselves up!
Lots of people like to join in, and if they are too shy to go on stage, they can do other things to help, like make costumes, paint scenery or sell tickets.
The people who act on stage love dressing up and playing to an audience. They often look and sound so different when they are playing a part, it is sometimes hard to recognize them.
Of course the pirates Barnacle Bob and Jim always play themselves! They always appear in Peter Pan when it is on – but for some strange reason seem to be written into all the other stories as well. No matter what story the pantomime is about, there will always be pirates in it. You have never seen anything like a Rocky Bay pantomime!
The children love the pirates when they come on stage because they are always so noisy and create trouble!
The pantomimes are mostly for children but they are fun for all the family.
For those of you reading this who have absolutely no idea what a pantomime is, let me explain.
Pantomime dames are men dressed in outrageous costumes
A pantomime is a very colourful play where some of the men dress up as women and some of the women dress up as men (confused?) and play out famous fairy stories like Cinderella, Aladdin and Sleeping Beauty. But there are stories from books as well that are used, like Wind in the Willows or even stories from history like Dick Whittington Lord Mayor of London and his famous cat.
Dick Whittington remembered in London today
Richard Whittington lived from around 1354 to 1423. He was a merchant (bought and sold things) and a politician. He was a Member of Parliament and Lord Mayor of London four times. When he died he left his fortune to create a charity called the Charity of Sir Richard Whittington. It still exists today, nearly six hundred years later – and it is still helping people.
Dick Whittington’s famous cat
There is a lot of slapstick comedy, singing and dancing. There is often romance and maybe a little wickedness but there should definitely always be a lot of mayhem.
The audience is encouraged to shout at the actors and the actors often throw gifts and sweets out to the audience – you have to be quick to catch one.
Me writing my blog
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Quick Quiz
What do these phrases mean?
- to break the ice
- to be only the tip of the iceberg
- to put on ice
- to be skating on thin ice
- to cut no ice
BLOW MY FOGHORN!!!
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lt’s the Weekend!
HOW TO MAKE MY ARCTlC HAT
This hat is good for keeping my ears warm on a very cold day!
ARCTIC HAT (KNIT TWO THE SAME)
Using 3½mm knitting needles and red dk yarn cast on 40 stitches
Knit 4 rows in garter stitch (knit every row)
Change to 4mm knitting needles
Stocking stitch 4 rows
Purl 4 rows
(Decrease 1st at the beginning of each of the next 16 rows)
Continue as follows:-
4 rows stocking stitch
4 rows purl
4 rows stocking stitch
4 rows purl (24sts)
(Decrease at each end of the next 8 rows)
Continue as follows:-
4 rows stocking stitch
4 rows purl (8sts)
Cut off yarn leaving a 20cm tail
FLAPS (KNIT TWO)
TIP
When decreasing, knit into the back of the first stitch in the row
With 4mm knitting needles and red dk yarn cast on 20 stitches
Knit 4 rows garter stitch
Stocking stitch 4 rows
Purl 4 rows
(Decrease 1st at the beginning of each of the next 16 rows)
Continue as follows:-
Stocking stitch 4 rows
Purl 4 rows
Stocking stitch 4 rows
Purl 4 rows (4sts)
Cut off yarn and leave a tail of 10 cm.
Pull this yarn through and with a knitters’ needle take it through to the centre of the bottom edge.
TO MAKE UP
- Sew up side seams of hat with right sides together using running stitch.
- Put the top edge of the flap under the bottom edge of the sides of the hat matching the top centre of the flaps with the centre seams of the hat and attach using a running stitch.
- With contrasting colours of double knitting yarn threaded on a yarn needle, sew a blanket stitch edge evenly along the bottom edges of the hat.
- Embroider lines through the ridges created by the purl rows using back stitch.
- Decorate stocking stitch panels with starburst patterns.
- Crochet 80 chains on a length of the red yarn and neaten bottom ends by pushing the ends of the yarn back into the chain using a knitters’ needle.
- The top ends can be tied to the bottom of the flaps and the two ends darned in (Or you can chain stitch the left over yarn when finishing the flaps before you cut it off).
- Wind some white yarn around the width of a pack of playing cards several times.
- Tie a length of yarn (40cm) to the top of the tassel and then another 2cm down from the top.
- Slide the tassel off the box wrapping the lower tie round all of the strands and knotting securely.
- Tie together tightly and trim neatly.
- Tie the hat to the tassel and the tassel to the inside of the hat (use a knitters’ needle to help you).
- Twist the red and white yarn around.
Please note that the material on this blog is for personal use or for use in classrooms only.
It is a copyright infringement and, therefore, illegal under international law to sell items made with these patterns.
Use of the toys and projects on all of these blogs is at your own risk.
©Christina Sinclair Designs 2015 
Quick Quiz Answers
- to break the ice
- to be only the tip of the iceberg
- to put on ice
- to be skating on thin ice
- to cut no ice
- to overcome shyness in a situation like a party– to start talking to people you have not met before
- something that is visible but only a small part of everything that is there
- to put something aside so that you can deal with it later
- to be in a risky or dangerous situation
- to have no effect
Great website Salty Sam!
I like your hat Salty Sam!
Thank you both!