Dino-Race by Tate Armstrong

Below is Tate's Dino story. He spent weeks writing this, adding a bit every day. He and Zane liked the stories, Dino-Baseball and Dino-Soccer (by Lisa Wheeler and Barry Gott), so he was inspired to write his own story. For a kindergartener, he did a great job!

Dino-Race

by Tate Armstrong

 

The Red Smackers were playing against the Dino Hearts. The cars won't start!

 

Chapter 1 – The Starting

Oviraptor, the workman, helped fix the cars. The cars started!

But where were the Dino Hearts?

Oviraptor called the Dino Hearts and said, "Where are you?"

They said we are on our way.

The Red Smackers got ready for the race.

Then the Dino Hearts were there. 

But where was Plateosaurus?

Chapter 2 – The Plateosaurus

The meat eaters helped the leaf eaters find Plateosaurus. 

Plateosaurus said, "Thank you."

Then the race started.

The cars were ready for the race.

Triceratops was the finish line person.

He waved the green flag.

Zoom! The cars raced very fast.

Triceratops waved the yellow flag because there was a crash.

Oviraptor got in his tow truck.

He hooked the chain up to the car.

Chapter 3 – The Ending

Oviraptor was serving food to all the meat eaters.

The plant eaters were eating leaves.

The Dino Hearts were on the track.

T-Rex made his car go faster.

Triceratops waved the checkered flag.

T-Rex's car wins the race!

The meat eaters win the trophy! 

But wait and see…

Buy your tickets,

Don't be late,

Dino-Basketball at Eight!

Family and Friends

We were once again blessed to have family and friends join us for Easter. Auntie Amber (a dear friend of mine... We think we've known each other for 32 years now?) flew up from California. Her parents (Uncle Ron and Auntie Grandma) and Amber's friend, Megan, drove down from Bellingham. Auntie Marjie (my sister) joined us too! We enjoyed a big Easter dinner on Saturday, church together on Sunday, Easter brunch, finding eggs, watching the Duke game (Amber's favorite basketball team), plus games, conversation, a trip to the Nike Employee store (for Amber and us). What a wonderful time with family and friends!

 Uncle Ron and Kezia

 Auntie Grandma and Tate reading the verse from the Resurrection Eggs. Auntie Grandma was impressed with Tate's reading (and that says a lot as she was a kindergarten teacher and continues to substitute teach to this day)!

 

Auntie Marjie reads one of the verses from the Resurrection Eggs with Zane.

Hunting for Eggs

After Easter brunch, Uncle Ron, Auntie Marjie and Daddy hid the eggs while the kids, Mama, Auntie Amber and Megan stay inside... waiting.

What fun to go search for eggs filled with coins, stickers and some yummy treats. Kezia got to start first, but she figured out this "game" quickly. Zane then was allowed a head start. I can guarantee you that there will be no such deal next  year. He plundered the goods... getting about 15 more eggs than both his older brother and sister found. Katiree and Tate quickly  joined the fun... searching for the eggs hidden in all sorts of places (even Uncle Ron's pocket, behind Auntie Grandma, on water bottles, in the play house, in trees...) oh what fun!

Finding eggs....

And more eggs!

And more eggs!

 

Counting the goods - Megan (Amber's friend) helped Zane count his eggs (we had to make sure we hadn't lost any out there)

 Uncle Ron and Tate counted his eggs together.

 Auntie Amber and Auntie Grandma helped Kezia count her eggs.

 

Katiree counted her own!

Easter Morning

The flower on Kezia's dress. (Thanks, Lillian Stuart, for this beautiful hand-me-down!) The dress, the "baby" skin, the "baby" arm... sigh - these days are flying by and I just want to appreciate these fleeting days as they dance across our paths.

 Our children in their Easter finest... ready for church and remembering Christ's death and resurrection! 

 

Happy Easter!

Decorating Easter Eggs

The kids all enjoyed drawing on boiled eggs and dying the eggs. Kezia got to experience this for the first time! Since she loves coloring, she was happy to color on the eggs and then dye them with Auntie Amber!

Kezia, Tate, Zane and Katiree enjoyed dying the eggs and trying to make different colors. They "double dipped" some and ended up with some neat effects.

 

 I love Kezia's expression as Amber brings the egg out of the dye for her to see! And below - you can see some of what the kids tried with the dyes on the eggs. Fun times!

Wombats

 

After studying about wombats, Katiree and Tate (and Kezia) made wombat origami. Kezia's "origami" was to wrinkle the paper as best as she could, throw it across the room and then want her picture taken with her "wombat". Such a funny girl. Katiree and Tate's wombat's turned out wonderfully. Zane was outside playing and didn't want to make a wombat. Since he's a couple of years from being technically kindergarten, I don't force "school" with him. He joins a lot, especially for listening to books and for science, so I'm happy to let him play for other aspects of school!

I found the directions for making this wombat at: http://www.moocowfanclub.com/Activities/Crafts/origami/wombat

Katiree and Tate's Koala Report

Koalas

Researched and Written by

Katiree and Tate Armstrong

4-8-13 

          Do you want to learn about koalas?

          First, you need to know what they look like. Koalas have fur on them. Koalas have fluffy ears. They have a big nose. Koalas have five fingers on their front paws. Two of these fingers are thumbs. That was what koalas look like.

          Do you know what they eat? Koalas eat eucalyptus leaves. Eucalyptus leaves are poisonous to other animals but not to koalas. They eat eucalyptus leaves with their mouths. Now you know what koalas eat.

          Let's see what their enemies are and how koalas protect themselves. The enemies are dingoes, wild dogs and foxes. People are enemies to koalas by killing their homes and making roads and houses. Fires can kill koalas and their homes. When koalas see their enemies on the ground, they go to the closest tree. Now you know about their enemies.

          Koalas live in Australia. Koalas live in trees. Koalas live on the eastern side of Queensland and New South Wales and Victoria. Now we know where they live.

          Let's learn about the young. Baby koalas are called joeys. When baby koalas are born, they are the size of a jelly bean. They baby weighs less than a penny. They crawl into their mother's pouch. The baby drinks its mother's milk. I like the baby koalas.

          Let's learn some interesting facts. Koalas are not bears at all. When the boy koalas rub their belly on the tree, their scent comes on the tree. When there are no leaves on a eucalyptus tree the koala will go to another tree. There are some interesting facts on koalas.

          You learned a lot on koalas!

Kangaroos are loved by all

Kezia and Zane also made kangaroo crafts, but Zane did not want to take time to get his photo taken. He was too busy playing Legos by the time I got the camera out. Kezia, on the other hand, is always saying, "My turn. Me." She wants to join in on the fun!

Tate's Kangaroo Report

Kangaroos

Researched and Written (some) and 

Dictated to Mom by

Tate Armstrong

3-19-13

          Kangaroos are cool.

          Do you know what they look like? They have fur. Kangaroo mommies have pouches to hold their babies. They have strong legs and big feet. Kangaroos have long tails to help them balance.

          I am going to tell you what kangaroos eat. They eat grass and plants. Kangaroos do not need to drink much water, but they do drink some water.

          Do you know that kangaroos have enemies? The eagles and the dingoes are their enemies. Kangaroos jump to get away from the dingoes and the eagles. Sometimes kangaroos jump into water to protect themselves.

          Kangaroos live in Australia. Their habitat is warm and dry. They live where there is lots of grass.

          Kangaroos have babies. The newborn crawls into its mom's pouch on its own. The joey stays in its mom's pouch. The young-at-heel stays near its mom until it is almost two. Baby kangaroos drink milk from their mommies.

          There are some interesting facts about kangaroos. A group of kangaroos is called a mob. Also, the tail of a kangaroo does not touch the ground when kangaroos jump.

          Now you know about kangaroos!

Katiree's Kangaroo Report

Kangaroos

Researched and Written by

Katiree Armstrong

3-19-13

          Do you want to learn about kangaroos?

          Kangaroos look cool. Kangaroos have lots of fur. They have pouches to hold their babies. Kangaroos have small front arms to help them eat. They also have strong legs and big feet to help them hop. Kangaroos have long tails to help them balance. These are all the reasons kangaroos look cool.

          Kangaroos need food and water. Kangaroos eat grasses and plants. They are nocturnal eaters because it is hot in the day. Now you know how they eat.

          Kangaroos have enemies. The enemies are dingoes and eagles, but the eagle only eats the young kangaroos. Kangaroos can swim away from enemies. They can also hop away from enemies. Kangaroo adult moms can protect their young by keeping them in their pouches. Now you know how they protect themselves and you know their enemies.

          Kangaroos live mostly in Australia. They live in warm and dry areas. Red kangaroos live on plains. The gray kangaroos live in damp forests and woodlands. Now you know where they live.

          Do you want to know about the baby kangaroos? A newborn kangaroo doesn't have fur.  When a baby kangaroo is born, it climbs into its mother's pouch and goes in and drinks milk from a teat. When the baby is four to seven months old, it is called a joey. Then it gets bigger and soon it is a young-at-heel, but it still drinks from its mother's milk. Then it is an adult and it starts all over again. Now you know about the babies.

          Here are some interesting facts. Kangaroos live in groups called a mob. They use their tails for balance. Kangaroos dig holes to keep cool. So now you know some facts on kangaroos.

          If you like or don't like kangaroos, you just learned a lot about them.

Research for School

For school, Katiree and Tate have been studying the continent and country of Australia. After time spent studying the geography, they continued on to learning about Australia's unique animals. For a few of the animals, we worked on learning to research and write reports. They researched (listened to Mom read books, watched DVDs, looked on the internet) together, but picked their own facts for the kangaroo. For koalas, they researched together and wrote a report together (Tate writing a sentence, Katiree writing a sentence). Katiree added a beginning and ending to their koala report as one of her goals is working on organization of writing. It has been so fun to study together... and I wanted to keep a copy of their work somewhere, so I'm including it on the blog. We also did kangaroo, koala and wombat crafts so far. They didn't have to write a report on wombats, but I'll put their craft pictures up in another post. So... for the sake of Mama wanting to remember their excitement of this - the next posts will all have to do with school work we've done!