Official Kids Mag

august is back to school Month! ARGHHHH! Is it that time already? Yep, time to trade your beach bag for a backpack and get ready for a great school year! Don't worry, there's still plenty of summer fun to be had this month (see our list on page 40-41). Read on for some things worth celebrating! In the northern hemisphere, August is considered to be the last month of summer. In the southern hemisphere, it's the last of the winter months! Back in the days of the Anglo-Saxons, August was called Weod Monath, which translates to "weed month" since it's that month that weeds and other plants grow the fastest in the northern hemisphere. birth flowers: the colorful gladiolus and the deep red poppy August leo (before august 22) Virgo (after august 23) August 1 national friendship day Where would you be without your friends? This is the day to be thankful for your pals. It's not a new holiday, in fact, it was in 1935 that U.S. Congress decided that the first Sunday of August would be National Friendship Day. In 1998 the United Nations even named Winnie the Pooh as the world's Ambassador of Friendship. As Winnie the Pooh would say: "A day without a friend is like a pot without a single drop of honey left inside." August 3 national Watermelon day Tasty, juicy watermelon! Why is it so refreshing on a hot summer's day? It's probably because it's 92 percent water!! People have been enjoying this fruit (or is it a vegetable?) for thousands of years. Watermelon is, in fact, both a fruit and a vegetable… actually it's a berry! It contains seeds to produce more plants (making it a fruit), but it's also a vegetable because it's planted from seeds and harvested. Watermelons are actually members of the gourd family, meaning they're related to squash, cucumbers and pumpkins. It's believed that watermelons were first grown in the Nile Valley in Ancient Egypt as early 2000 B.C. Watermelon seeds were even found in King Tut's tomb! Paintings of different types of watermelon have also been found in ancient Egyptian inscriptions. Watermelon seeds were sold to traders passing through the trade routes in the Kalahari Desert in Africa. By the end of the ninth century, watermelon cultivation became common in China and the rest of Asia. The word 'watermelon' first appeared in the English dictionary in 1615. The Guinness World Record for the heaviest watermelon ever was grown by a man in Tennessee named Chris Kent in 2013 and it weighed 350.5 pounds! august is sandwich Month That's right! In August 1762 the sandwich, as we know it, was created when the Earl of Sandwich requested meat between two pieces of bread. birthstone: peridot Peridots come in shades of green, from grass-green to olive. They're rare and can only be found from two very different sources – they are formed deep in the earth and expelled to the surface along with lava, OR they can be found in meteorites! the many faces of august: In the original Roman calendar the month of August was called Sextilis. This was because it was the sixth month of the year. Later, after January and February were added to the calendar, it became the eighth month of the year. At the time it had 29 days. When Julius Caesar created the Julian calendar in 45 BC, two days were added, to give the month 31 days. Finally, the month was renamed Augustus in honor of the first emperor of Rome, Caesar Augustus. 6 • august 2021 • www.of f icialKidsMag.com

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