[THEME SONG BEGINS]
>> Rachel: Good morning, it's time for Chompers, your morning and night toothbrushing show. Start brushing on the top of your mouth on one side, and brush in little circles around each tooth.
>>KIDS: 3, 2, 1 brush!
[THEME SONG ENDS]
>> Rachel: It’s History Week, and today we’re exploring the history of South and Central America!
Ok, let’s jump our time machine and time travel!
I’ve landed on a beautiful island. I can hear the waves crashing on the shore.
[WAVES]
>> Rachel: I see a line of huge and beautiful sculptures of heads! They are statues made from dark volcanic rock.
So time machine What are these statues heads?
>> TIME MACHINE: RACHEL THESE ARE CALLED MOAI.
Switch your brushing to the other side of the top of your mouth…
[SWITCH BELL]
>> Rachel: -and brush the molars in the way back too.
Moai are statues on the coast of Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean. Researchers think the Moai were made about 1000 years ago, but no one knows how they were made or how they ended up on the coast! They are so huge and heavy, it must have been very difficult to move them there!
The people who lived on the island at the time - the Polynesians - may have made them to honor their ancestors, their great great great grandparents. We don’t know for sure! What we do know is that they are masterpieces of creative genius!!!!
Switch to the bottom of your mouth…
[SWITCH BELL]
>> Rachel: -but don’t brush too hard.
Ok Here’s our next travel - this time even farther back in time:
I’ve landed somewhere in Mexico where the Mayan people live. I’m in a workshop! I see a big sculpture. Kind of like a disk but made of stone. Someone is carving some tiny drawings into it! A few small lines, and then a dot or two, and some squares.
Hmmm.. Time machine - what is this?
>> TIME MACHINE: A MAYAN CALENDAR
>> Rachel: Switch to the other side of the bottom of your mouth…
[SWITCH BELL]
>> Rachel: -and brush your front teeth too.
The Mayan people were experts in mathematics and astronomy. They carefully kept track of the movement of the planets to count time and used a form of writing called hieroglyphics to record it.
The calendar most of us use today - called the Gregorian calendar - is different from the Mayan calendar. The Mayan calendar has more months, and those months have more days! But both calendars work are exact. And the Mayan calendar is still used today by the great great great grandkids of the Mayan people who live in different countries in South and Central America.
[THEME SONG BEGINS]
>> Rachel: That’s it for Chompers today, but we’ll be back tonight for more of your world records. Until then…
>> KIDS: 3, 2, 1 spit!
[THEME SONG ENDS]