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Around the world, Christian followers decorate Christmas trees and homes with bright lights, wreaths, candles, holly, mistletoe, and ornaments. On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, many people go to church. Christmas in the United States brings together customs from many other countries and cultures. Scandinavian descendants in states such as Minnesota celebrate the Feast of St. Lucia by eating saffron buns, while Cajuns in Louisiana eat Kings Cake from the Festival of the Epiphany in early January through Mardi Gras in February.

Are you a student age 9-14 who likes to travel and go on adventures? How does a National Geographic trip to the wilds of Montana sound? If your ears are perking up at the thought, then you should enter the 2012 Hands-On Explorer Challenge! The contest began on September 20, 2011 and applications are being accepted until January 7, 2012. Read more about the competition below to find out how to enter!

Application: Talk about yourself and take a photo!

1. In an essay of 300 words or fewer, tell us how you explore your world, and what it is about exploration that inspires and excites you.

2. Take a photograph of what, where, or how you explore the subject of your essay. You must be the photographer. The essay and the photograph must each be a single work of original material created by the contest entrant (no asking Mom or Dad to do it!)

Expedition:
Fifteen Grand Prize Winners will be selected. The Grand Prize consists of a 7-10-day Expedition to Montana, provided by Montana Office of Tourism, Department of Commerce, for each Winner and his/her guest, and one digital camera. The Expedition is currently scheduled for July 2012, but is subject to change at the discretion of Sponsor. Each Winner's guest on the Expedition must be his/her parent or legal guardian. The Expedition includes meals, local transportation, and double occupancy accommodations for the Expedition nights. Expedition also includes round trip air transportation for each Winner and his/her guest between the major airport closest to that Winner's home and the Expedition departure point (air transport provided by NGS).

Details:
To enter, visit kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/contests/explorer-trip-2012, download, print, and complete an entry form; and be sure to include your parent's or legal guardian's signature. Mail your completed entry form along with your essay and photograph to: NG Kids Hands-On Explorer Challenge, National Geographic Kids magazine/CDH, 1145 17th St., NW, Washington, D.C. 20036. Entry form must be complete for entry to be valid.

Good luck explorers!

Way to go jumpers! With your help, National Geographic Kids has broken the Guinness World Record for the most people doing jumping jacks in a 24-hour period! Between 3 p.m. on October 11 and 3 p.m. on October 12, 300,265 jumpers all over the world took part in the event--far surpassing the existing record of 20,425!




Breaking the record is a huge accomplishment. But the First Lady and her organization, Let's Move, still have a lot of work to do to meet an even bigger goal: ending childhood obesity within a generation so that all children have a chance to grow up healthy and strong. To reach that goal, Let's Move is working to make sure all kids get the nutrition they need, have a chance to be active each day, and receive support from their schools, families and communities. (Let's Move Blog) For more resources to educate your classroom about healthy living, refer to our National Geographic Education article on health at every size.

Photograph by Aloha!, NG Kids My Shot
--Julia from My Wonderful World

Big Cat Week is finally here and National Geographic Education, in collaboration with the National Geographic Channel, has created a fantastic new educational collection in celebration of this special occasion.

As part of National Geographic Society's Big Cats Initiative, National Geographic Education has worked with our explorers and grantees to help teachers like you educate students about the importance of big cats and conservation efforts to protect these large predators. From lions in Kenya to snow leopards in the Himalaya, the big cats of the world need help. Lions, tigers, cheetahs, leopards, jaguars, and other top felines are quickly disappearing, all falling victims to habitat loss and degradation and conflicts with humans. Education is at the heart of our conversation efforts; we need your help to bring our message to the classroom.

Check out the activity list below for just a few ideas on how to get a big cats conversation started in your classroom (all activities are in accordance with National Standards):

• Cats and Their Coats Grades K-2
• Lion Crittercam Grades 3-5
• African Savanna Community Web Grades 5-8
• Captive Breeding and Species Survival Grades 9-12
  

Or, if educational videos are your preferred form of information dissemination, share the Big Cat Initiative with your classroom through one of our fantastic content videos and question guides:

• Swamp Lion defeated by Swamp
• Lions vs. Cheetahs: Hunting Techniques
• Threats to Big Cats: Poachers
• Kicked out of the Pride
  

During the question and answer period the children asked many thought provoking questions. One more surprisingly complex than the other:

• Why are National Geographic maps revised so often? Because features on the Earth, such as place-names, countries, and boundaries, change frequently.
• Why do you make so many different types of maps? Because maps are the best way to graphically tell stories about our Earth and the people who live on it.
• Have you used the Robinson Projection? Yes, the Robinson Projection, a map projection that minimizes size and shape distortion of all areas except for the polar regions, was the Society's flagship projection from 1988-1998.
  

Very interesting questions, coming from a group of fifth graders--none older than 10. I learned much from Mrs. Blythe's class that day. I learned, that a map, as some ten-year-olds see it, consist of more than colors, lines, and labels on a globe or on a flat sheet of paper. By that age, some have already developed good map reading skills while others have just begun to discover the inherent and wonderful intricacies of the art and science of cartography.

The 112th Congress needs to know that you support the Teaching Geography is Fundamanental Act. For more information go to: SpeakUpForGeography.org

Juan José Valdés
The Geographer
Director of Editorial and Research
National Geographic Maps

National Geographic Education is excited to introduce our first interactive on the new website! Our breakout theme is a tribute to the 70 year anniversary of the Japanese attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  The interactive map, which had existed previously on NationalGeographic.com and has been resurrected due to popular request from users, brings the past to life with streaming video and sound.  The interactive attack map, perfect for history and geography classrooms, engages students by taking them through the actual timeline of events, each of which is supplemented with photographs, biographies, and map images.  In addition to the interactive map, our extensive Pearl Harbor Collection includes:

We invite you to experience history through interactive learning with this new Pearl Harbor collection. Discover the the stories behind the U.S.S. Arizona, the hero Dorrie Miller, and the reactions of millions of Americans to war. You too can honor this important event in American history by sharing it with your 5-12th grade classroom!

Photo Credits: National Geographic Society, The National Park Service, The USS Arizona Memorial Photo Collection, and National Geographic Education.
--Julia from My Wonderful World

This blog-a-thon submission comes from a class of third graders who participated in Geography Awareness Week by making projects that depict their communities and local experiences. To view this video on Youtube, follow this link.

This blog-a-thon submission comes Stewart and Kristie of The Family Adventure Project who took our Geography Awareness Week theme, The Adventure in Your Community to a new and excitingly spooky place: a local graveyard. Read more about The Family Adventure Project by following this link.

It's National Geography Awareness Week this week and families around the world have been challenged by National Geographic Education to get out and have a geography related adventure in their own community.

Never one to turn down a challenge Stuart decided upon a life or death mission; to visit a place we'd never been to before (thankfully); a place so close and yet so far (hopefully); the local graveyard.

I didn't really want to go and didn't know quite what to expect, other than graves and flowers, but like all good mini adventures, after a bit of stumbling around we did find a message there for us. It wasn't exactly living geography, but in this peaceful place of the dead, in the middle of our thriving village, we did get a clear message from past and perhaps a macabre glimpse of the future.

"Wow. Domino Valley." says Matthew, his adolescent energy subdued, as we stand over a mossy grave in the diluted morning sunshine. Beneath us is a huge tablet of stone; the frontage of a substantial tomb. Within this tomb is a family. This family is the size of our own. We don't know their story and we never met them. All we know is they lived in our village, long before we were born, and died within a few years of each other. A whole family; completely erased, but for a grey slab tombstone in a village churchyard.

"Come and see what I've found Dad!" shouts Cameron, from the other side of the graveyard.

"In a minute," replies Stuart.

"Take off those roller skates. It's disrespectful." I snap at Cameron, who snaps off his wheels and ambles across the long grass to join us at the Coward family tomb.

Matthew, Stuart and I are silent and reflective. Wind chimes tinkle on a nearby grave, perhaps to remind us that this family once had a collective heartbeat. Almost two centuries ago the Coward kids left their childish footprints in the dust of this village the same way our children now leave trails in the dewy grass.

"Dad, there's something over there you really need to see," pleads Cameron.

But we are busy puzzling out one ancient family's journey from life to death. William and Eleanor Coward lost their son Matthew in 1777, taken from them just one year and two months into his short life. I feel a lump in my throat just reading that. Then in 1796 daughter Ann passed on, only 22. Then daughter Alice, age just 19. Imagine that; 3 kids, all dead before before their adult lives had really got going, all dead before their parents. Then, four years later, on 8th December 1801, Dad William passed away, followed by his wife Eleanor. Just 17 days later.

We stand in silence. I'm wearing a thin jumper and the light midday breeze makes me shiver.

"She died of a broken heart." I say.

"Do you think she died without opening her presents?" asks Cameron, pointing out the Christmas Day date, chiseled into the aging stone. "Maybe she got up early and did that first."

There's a similar story on another nearby tombstone, that of the Hawthorn family. Another tale of short lives and a domino of deaths. First son died 1832, then a few years later father Thomas, 53; not much older than  Stuart or I. Then two more sons, and eight days after the last son, the matriarch, Frances. Such family tragedy seems so alien to me, to my family, to this time yet here it is written in stone. It's part of this place, our village, local history. I'm shocked and intrigued. How come families collapsed like this? Is this the toll of loves lost?

This blog-a-thon submission is a spotlight on the ChildFund International Eco Scouts, a group of young people in the Philippines working to sustain the natural environment of their homes. To access more information on ChildFund International or to share this video follow this link.