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Yawn! Here in Wonderopolis, it's just about time for a nap. Don't worry, though, sweet dreams lie ahead!

Good dreams are sure to come along if you hang a above your bed. In Native American , catchers are handmade crafts that consist of a round (often made of wood) with a loose web of yarn and decorated with beads and feathers hanging below the .

catchers got their start in the Ojibwa (Chippewa) Nation. Over time, though, they caught on with most other Native American peoples. Today, they often serve as a of Native American in general.

catchers were hung above the beds of sleeping children to protect them from bad dreams and evil spirits. Legends held that the spider web design of the would allow good dreams to pass through and float down the hanging beads and feathers to sleeping children.

Bad dreams, however, would be caught in the web. As the first rays of the morning light hit the , the bad dreams would disappear. Children sleeping under a would thus be protected from nightmares.

Others interpret the 's function in a different way. Some believe instead that bad dreams pass through the holes in the web and exit out the nearest window. The good dreams, on the other hand, get caught in the web and slide down the beads and feathers to the sleeping child below.

However catchers are believed to work, their underlying meaning and symbolism remains the same. They serve a protective purpose. Those who believe in them think that they act as a for dreams, directing the good dreams to the sleeper and deflecting the bad dreams away.

Traditional catchers are made with eight points where the web attaches to the . These eight points represent the eight legs of a spider. The spider symbolizes energy, wisdom and learning.

For some Native Americans, catchers have a broader meaning than just the legends related to dreams. For these people, catchers are totems that represent good energy and help to neutralize bad energy - whether you're awake or asleep!

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Yawn! Here in Wonderopolis, it's just about time for a nap. Don't worry, though, sweet dreams lie ahead! Good dreams are sure to come along if you hang a above your bed. In Native American , catchers are handmade crafts that consist of a round (often made of wood) with a loose web of yarn and decorated with beads and feathers hanging below the .

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Do you love to visit different areas of the United States? Did you realize that you can learn a lot about other areas without ever leaving home or school? It's true! Today, Wonderopolis will take you on a virtual to Appalachia!

So exactly where is Appalachia? It's a geographical and region in the eastern United States. Named after the Appalachian Mountains, which help define the , Appalachia stretches from southern New York to the northern parts of Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia.

The Appalachian Mountains themselves stretch all the way from Canada to Alabama, but the region we call Appalachia traditionally only includes the central and southern portions of the range. Appalachia encompasses about 205,000 square miles of land, including all of West Virginia and parts of 12 other states: Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia.

Appalachia is home to over 25 million people, almost half of which live in areas. In the past, Appalachia relied heavily on mining, , agriculture , and heavy , and as many as one-third of its residents lived in .

Today, much of Appalachia has diversified into new manufacturing and industries. As a result, the overall level is much lower, but there are still differences between areas that have diversified and those that haven't. Some areas have become successful, while others remain in a state of widespread .

The people of Appalachia have often been as backward, uneducated "mountain men" given to and violence. These stereotypes have been popularized by the media over time, but they don't bear any resemblance to today's residents of Appalachia, who live in and enjoy one of the most beautiful areas of the U.S.

In fact, Appalachian culture is known for its literature and music. Traditional Appalachian music developed from Irish and Scottish fiddle music. African-American blues musicians introduced the banjo in the late 1700s, and the instrument has become a symbol of the music of the region. Appalachian music played an important role in the development of modern country and bluegrass music.

Another popular feature of Appalachian culture is its folklore. Created from a mixture of European, Native American, and Biblical influences, Appalachian folklore often features regional heroes such as railroad worker John Henry and frontiersman Davy Crockett.

Today, Appalachia is a popular tourist destination. Its mountain terrain, beautiful scenery, and outdoor recreational opportunities bring millions of visitors and billions of dollars to the area each year. Perhaps the most famous attraction in the region is the Appalachian National Scenic Trail, a hiking trail that extends between Springer Mountain in Georgia and Mount Katahdin in Maine. Generally known as the Appalachian Trail, it is almost 2,200 miles long and part of the Triple Crown of long distance hiking in the U.S.

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Do you love to visit different areas of the United States? Did you realize that you can learn a lot about other areas without ever leaving home or school? It's true! Today, Wonderopolis will take you on a virtual to Appalachia! So exactly where is Appalachia?

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Have you ever WONDERed what life was like for Native Americans long, long ago? When you've studied Native Americans in school, you've probably seen pictures of some of the structures they used as houses. In fact, you're probably quite familiar with the . But did you also know that some Native Americans made structures called wigwams?

Wigwams are round, huts that were used by many different Native American cultures. Tribes in the Northeastern United States usually called these structures wigwams, while tribes in the Southwestern United States often called them wickiups. The Wampanoag tribe used the word wetu for these structures.

The surfaces of the made them an ideal shelter in many different types of climates and even the worst of weather conditions. To build a , Native Americans normally started with a frame of arched poles that were usually made of wood.

Male tribe members were responsible for creating the frame. They would need to find many young tree saplings that were between 10-15 feet long. A large (10-15 feet in ) would be drawn on the ground, and the saplings would be spaced an equal distance apart. bent toward the middle and tied together to form the arched frame.

The female members of the tribe would then cover the frame with roofing material that varied by region. Different materials were available in different locations, so some wigwams might be made of birchbark while others were made of grass, , rushes, mats, reeds, animal hides, or even cloth. The finished made a small home that was 8-10 feet tall.

The term is sometimes used interchangeably with the term . However, wigwams and teepees (sometimes spelled tipis) were very different structures with different uses and different methods of construction.

Teepees were dwellings used by tribes and hunting parties of the Great Plains Native Americans. Unlike wigwams, teepees were not meant to be used for extended periods of time. Instead, they were easy and simple to construct, since they were intended to be portable.

Teepees were usually made with a few wooden poles and animal skins as coverings. Wigwams often took days to build, whereas teepees could often be disassembled and reassembled elsewhere in a matter of a few hours.

Teepees also differed from wigwams in their use of smoke flaps and an opening at the top. These features allowed users to cook inside and control the amount of smoke. It also helped to keep users warmer, since teepees featured less cover and insulation compared to the more- .

Wigwams would usually be used for months at a time. For example, a Native American tribe might build wigwams to be used throughout the entire course of the farming season. When winter would come, they would move to a hunting . Their wigwams were not portable, so they simply left them. If they survived the winter, they might reuse them. If not, they would simply build new wigwams the following season.

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Have you ever WONDERed what life was like for Native Americans long, long ago? When you've studied Native Americans in school, you've probably seen pictures of some of the structures they used as houses. In fact, you're probably quite familiar with the .

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America...the land of the ...the of the ...these are phrases Americans sing frequently . The President of the United States is often referred to as the leader of the world. Americans often quote the Declaration of Independence when discussing their freedoms.

But the freedoms Americans were not . They came with the high of war. What started out as a small collection of British colonies did not become the United States of America until a band of revolutionaries fought for their independence.

In 1775, a between colonial militia members and British troops at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts signaled the start of the Revolutionary War. Also known as the American Revolution and the United States War of Independence, the conflict would quickly grow from a small civil war to a full-blown international conflict.

By the time the British surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781, the Americans had basically won their independence. Fighting would finally come to a formal end in 1783.

American history courses teach us much about why the Americans wanted their independence from Great Britain, and we know the important dates and facts about their ultimate . But exactly how did they ever succeed in their mission with the stacked against them in every way?

The British military was the best in the world. It had conquered much of the world and prevailed in war after war over the past century. It was well-trained, fully-equipped, and 50,000 troops strong. If you add in the 30,000 Hessian (German) mercenaries hired to fight the colonists, the British forces outnumbered the colonial forces four to one, as George Washington never commanded a force of more than 20,000 troops at one time.

Moreover, the colonial troops were mostly inexperienced , unskilled, poor, unprepared, and undisciplined . They were also often divided by competing loyalties, as there remained a significant group of colonists, known as Loyalists, who were loyal to Great Britain.

Despite these disadvantages, the colonists prevailed due to a number of factors, great and small. For example, the sheer size of the colonies made them almost impossible to conquer. Although the British were able to maintain control of a few of the large cities for a while, they did not have the manpower to control the vast areas of countryside where the patriots were able to regroup and focus their efforts.

The British also failed to take advantage of the Loyalists throughout the colonies. They didn't fully trust them and preferred to rely instead on their own army. This allowed the patriots to diminish Loyalist efforts to help the British.

The colonists under George Washington also fought a different type of war that British forces were not used to. They avoided large-scale confrontations and instead struck quickly in -style attacks that they had learned and developed during recent wars with Native Americans.

None of these things would have likely brought , however. The key factor that turned the tide for the Americans was the intervention of other nations into the conflict. Without the help of Spain, the Netherlands, and especially France, it's unlikely the colonists would have prevailed.

Ultimately, the Americans prevailed due to their spirit and the fact that they were fighting for something they believed in. Popular support for the Revolutionary War was overwhelming. In the end, the British desire to maintain economic control over the colonies could not match the intense desire of the colonists to be independent and .

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How Did the Americans Win the Revolutionary War?

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America...the land of the ...the of the ...these are phrases Americans sing frequently . The President of the United States is often referred to as the leader of the world. Americans often quote the Declaration of Independence when discussing their freedoms. But the freedoms Americans were not .

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What Does It Mean To Be a Native American?

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Today’s Wonder of the Day pays tribute to those Americans who have the deepest roots of all.