The letter S is the 19th letter of the English alphabet.
S is the sound we say when we are making the sound of a snake “eSsssssssssssssssssss” – and we say the snake “hisses.” It is not surprising then that the letter S was given the Greek name of sigma, the name of the shape was influenced because of the Greek word σίζω – which means “to hiss.”
When Latin was written in the olden days, the letter was written with the Greek form “Σ.”
The letter S is the seventh most common letter in English; the third most-common consonant after T and N.
S comes at the beginning of a word, but when it ends a word, it means it is a plural; in other words, there are more than one of them. For instance, dog – dogs; stick – sticks; pig – pigs! But not all words use “s” at the end to mean there is more than one. English is so confusing – look at the word man – the plural is men; and child – the plural is children.
How many words can you think of that begin with S? Of course, S will be written as a capital if the word is at the beginning of a sentence, and it will be a capital if the word is a proper noun, like a girl or boy’s name or the name of a town, city, river or mountain.
“So how do you think Sophia is doing while she is in Singapore?”
“Sometimes she sits and thinks and sometimes she just sits!”
There is also that tongue twister that has every word beginning with s – “She sells sea shells on the sea shore.” Can you say that faster and faster without tumbling over the words?
Can you think of names of animals, birds and seafood that have a name that begins with an S?
Seafood – Snapper, Sole, Sardine, Swordfish, Squid, Shrimp, Starfish.
Animal/insects – Spider, Snake (serpent), Squirrel, Steer (man cow), Scorpion.
Birds – Sparrow, Starling, Seagull.
Scorpion
We have scorpions on the island. Do you know about them?
Scorpions are cousins to spiders, mites and ticks.
Scorpions have eight legs, a pair of pincers and a tail that is thinner than its body. The tail can curve over the scorpion’s back. The end of this tail has a nasty stinger on it; if it sticks its stinger into you, you will feel pain.
The scorpion uses the pincers to grab its prey (live food, other insects). As soon as it has the prey in its pincers, it whips the poisonous tail stinger right over his back and stings the prey, which then either kills the prey outright or makes it paralyzed. The stinger is used like a sword when it is fighting off other scorpions or predators.
Scorpions are not generally very big. Some of them can grow to being 20 cm long.
Scorpions live everywhere except the coldest country called Antarctica.
Scorpions moult, which means they shed their skin (called exoskeleton) up to seven times as they grow to full size. They become vulnerable to predators each time they have shed their skin. Only when their new skin hardens are they a little safer from predators.
Humans are frightened of scorpions, even though only about 25 out of 1750 known species actually have a sting poisonous enough to kill a human. No human wants to be stung by a scorpion – ever!
The scorpion usually hides during the day; it hides under rocks and in holes in the ground. At night, the scorpion ventures out looking for prey on which to feed. Scorpions can eat loads of food in one meal. If they are lucky and they can catch and kill and eat a lot in one sitting, they may not eat again for another six to 12 months.
Scorpions are prized food in China. A traditional dish has fried scorpions in it. The Chinese also make scorpion wine which is taken as Chinese medicine.
The scorpion is one of the 12 signs of the Zodiac.
