Dinosaur Day Field Trip

Field Trip Friday! 

This Friday I took the kids all to an interactive dinosaur museum.  We all had so much fun. 

We started out at the robotic dinosaurs, which was pretty scary for the little ones.  They just weren’t sure what to think.  Katey even asked me if they were real, and she knows dinosaurs are extinct. 


We then went through the rock exhibit and saw many types of rocks and crystals.  It was really fascinating since we just finished learning about the rock cycle. 

We then moved to the dinosaur exhibit.  There were many dinosaur bone exhibits.  One of our favorites was the Allosauraus legs, it had all the legs from baby to adult, to show you just how much they grow.  (Dang, I should have taken a picture of that.)

We then moved outside, where you walk amongst the dinosaurs complete with sound effects and everything. 




Tommy even dared put his hand in a Triceratops mouth.

We compared our feet to various dinosaur foot prints. 

We took some fun pictures.

Katey and Tyler were almost a dinosaurs dinner!  YIKES!

Tommy dared ride a wild one.

Emily hatched.

I saw some of the “Worlds Most Scariest Creatures.”

We played on the dino playground.



We used our paleontology skills to uncover a dinosaur. 

The kids had been waiting the entire time at the museum to go into the

JACKPOT MINE

They got 10 minutes to dig and find as many jewels as they could.
 

They all got a lot of jewels.  Afterword we took the time to see which kind they were.  Then they made trades of course. 
 
After the Jackpot Mine we got to see a real Paleontologist at  work. 

The entire ride home the kids were talking about how much fun they had and how it was so neat to see the rocks.    They unanimously agreed that the Jackpot mine was their favorite part.  Tyler loves his little dinosaur toys he got from the gift shop too.  He carries them around saying “Raaarrrr” and then he laughs. 

To see other fun field trips check out Live The Adventure

Tyler’s Broken Arm ~ Update

 

On Monday afternoon Tyler had an appointment with an Orthopedic doctor.  The pediatrician just put a splint with a wrap on Tyler’s arm, and he most likely needed a plaster cast.

Waiting patiently for the doctor.

The doctor looked at his X-rays and determined that both his Ulna and Radius were broken and bowing out.  They are supposed to be lined up and his had a decent size gap in them.  

 

 

The doctor said they would not have to be reset as he is young enough that they would grow back normally 99% of the time. 

 

He did put pressure on Tyler’s arm as he was wrapping it with the plaster cast material. 

 

 

Then he sent us back over for X-rays.  These ones came back and showed that the bone is already healing and they were lining back up.

 

This cast goes up past his elbow, so his arm stays bent.  He does seem to be more comfortable using his arm in this cast.  He still favors his left arm for now. 

 

Now we will go back every 2 weeks for a checkup and X-rays, I suspect. 

The kids signed his cast when we got home.  They all thought that was pretty cool. 

 

This also opened up opportunities to talk about bones and which bones are where.  The doctor printed out Tyler’s X-rays for us to bring home and show Emily and Katey, since they did not go to the doctor with us.

Sight Word Stairs

 

 

Katey is rapidly learning sight words.  She still needs plenty of drills to keep up on the ones she already knows plus adding in the new ones. 

 

Sure we have card games; matching, pile up, go fish, bingo and the like. 

 

We were really in the mood for something to switch it up. 

 

We came up with Sight Word Stairs. 

 

Katey made the flashcards. 

We lined them up the stairs.

   

She has to read them as she came up and down the stairs.    (We moved them to the edge so they were out of the way for the rest of the family.)  

Some of our rules.

• She does NOT have to read them each and every time she uses the stairs, but she does need to do them 3-4 times a day. 
• New words are added in with more repetition, older words dwindle down to once.
• Right now I do not time her, but to make it more of a race in the future we may incorporate this into it.  (She loves races)
• Sometimes I will put a prize at the top or bottom, it will not be every time and she is not to expect it.  (some prizes are a read aloud book, apple slices with peanut butter, educational computer time, a small candy,  a sticker, well you get the idea.)

 

We have really been enjoying this activity in our house and I hope you will as well. 

Menu Plan Monday

 

We will be doing a little bit of traveling both Thursday and Friday so I am going to wing it those nights, if we are home in time, I will cook something quick, if not we will stop for something somewhere.

 

Monday~ Chicken broccoli and brown rice casserole

 

Tuesday~ Leftover ham (from Sunday) breakfast casserole.  Made in the morning.

 

Wednesday~  Sweet and Tangy Sausage, hash browns done cowboy style.  Recipe below. 

 

Thursday~  Not sure, I will figure it out then.  So most likely fast food.

 

Friday~ Again not sure yet. 

 

Well it sounds pretty good to me.  All the meals are really easy with little prep work and little cleanup work.  LOVE IT!

 

Sweet and Tangy Sausage

2 packs Hillshire Farm Little Smokies.

1 jar grape jelly

1 jar chili sauce

 

Heat jelly and chili sauce in a sauce pan until incorporated, add Smokies and heat until cooked. 

 

If you don’t like Smokies you can substitute link breakfast sausage.

 

Cowboy Hashbrowns. 

Add any veggies you have into hashbrowns as they are cooking. 

Some examples

Onions, peppers, zucchini, spinach, celery, mushrooms.  You can add eggs as well if you wanted. 

 

I have linked this to Menu Plan Monday at OrgJunkie.com.  Check it out for tons of ideas!

Tot School 21.5 months

 

 

We have been so busy this past week with Tot School.  Last week when I said kick it up a notch with him, I had no idea how much he would love this.  It honestly has helped me out so much too.  With him having the activity buckets to go to, he stays away from coloring on Katey’s schoolwork, and whining in general. 

 

He loves to clean the bench that goes to our table.  This keeps him entertained for 15 minutes or so.  He knows the process, he scrubs for a while and then comes and asks for a towel to dry it. 

 

He must have gotten my camera one day as well, because these are just a few of the 50 or so similar pictures I found on it.  I will have to tell him that if he wants to remain anonymous, he needs to NOT take a picture of himself right in the middle of them.  LOL. 

 

He spent some time playing with our Math blocks with Katey.  I had this table in a closet for a while.  What a great little school table this is for Tyler.  He loves to sit at it and do anything.  

He spent some time on my iPod playing First Words Deluxe.  (They also have a free version)

He loved making playing with these rabbit racers from Family Fun.  We used our table bench with a blanket on it for our race track.  Along with doing these other Easter activities.

We decorated eggs, he got to put stickers on some. 

 

He made a cereal bracelet using a pipe cleaner chenille stem and some cereal.  His very favorite part was eating it.  He would put one on and then eat it off.

 

I put a bunch on to try to and show him. 

He just got more excited about there being more on to eat. 

 

We got brave and spent some time with paint. 

 

 

And then………

 

He broke his arm.   See his sad red cast. 

 

This will definitely affect how our tot school goes next week.    I will have to figure out some ways to incorporate some one  handed activities or something.    Also this put a dent in my time, so I will explain next week how I incorporated a new schoolish time routine with Tyler.    He loves it!

 

 

To see what other tots are doing for Tot School check out 1+1+1=1. 

Broken Arms. Broken Hearts.

 

 Waiting in line to see the Easter Bunny with the cookie he decorated.

Tyler broke his arm, and it breaks my heart to see him like this. 

 

Don’t get me wrong he is adapting very well, in fact he didn’t even cry very much when it happened, but I just knew something was wrong.    I can’t help but think I wish I could have prevented it.  I should have been next to him the entire time, etc, etc, etc. 

Watching MonkiSee MonkiDoo. Review coming May 9th.

The details…..

 

We had just gotten done eating lunch on Friday.  Tyler went upstairs to play.   He was up their for about 15 minutes while I was cleaning up lunch.  Emily had decided to go upstairs and get a book to read.  She saw Tyler coming down the stairs.  He was doing fine, so she continued to her room.  The next thing I heard Tyler scream and the thudding of him down the stairs.    I ran from the kitchen up the stairs as fast as I could.  I made it to the landing in the stairs about the same time as he did.  Everybody came running from their various places throughout the house to help him.

He decorated a cupcake with us. The one on the right. 

I got him and hugged him.  I gave him a quick look over where I didn’t notice anything wrong.  I gave his arms and legs a quick check as well.  I began holding him sitting on the couch, and checking for a concussion.  He did not have one.  He continued to cry for about 10 minutes.  He is not usually this inconsolable.  I also noticed he kept on grabbing his right arm.  I decided to call the doctor and let them know I was coming and that I wanted him checked out. 

Decorating cookies for Easter 

We got to the doctors office about 10 minutes after I called. (that’s the beauty of a small town, everything is so close)   They took us right back and the doctor came in and looked at him.  We decided it would be best to do X-rays.  We went over to the hospital and got them.  When we got back to the doctors office they took us right back to a different room, one with a computer for viewing x-rays and all the casting stuff. 

 Easter Egg hunting eating candy.

We  viewed the x-rays with the doctor and there is a clean brake right though his Ulna, the shorter bone in your arm.  We are very lucky that the bone did NOT get displaced, so it does not have to be reset.  They put a quick temporary cast on him made out of Ortho glass and some wrap.  He will wear this cast until we go see an orthopedic specialist on Monday.  

 

He occasionally comes to me and holds his arm out and says owie.  I give him pain medicine when he says that.  He still cannot put any pressure or hold anything heavy with his right arm.

 Visiting the Easter Bunny

I feel terrible that this happened to him, and blessed that it is not worse. 

 

Stay tuned for what the Orthopedic says. 

 

The pictures spread though out this post are all things that he has done since getting the cast.

Kindergarten Corner

This week has been a slow take it easy kind of school week for us. 

We spent lots of time playing with our math blocks.  We counted with them, added and subtracted with them and built with them too of course. 

We had some Easter craft fun, and made these Rabbit Racers from Family Fun. 

She finished Get Ready for the Code.  These are fairly easy for her and we use them as more of a busy review type work. 

She wore herself out spelling with these 3 letter word cards. 

And we painted while listening to poems. 


We have spent lots and lots of time using Hooked On Phonics.  She loves it so much. 

We spent some time with a new social studies and science curriculum that we are reviewing for TOS Crew as well. 

We have also been doing many Easter and Jesus themed activities this week as well. 

To see how much fun others are having in their PreK or K this week check out Homeschool Creations.