Tag Archive | Arizona

Texas Dinosaurs

In my research about Texas I came across a great book that had a story about the life of dinosaurs in Texas. So of course we had to research some of the listed ones. We did this a little differently than Emanuel and I usually do it when we solo learn. Instead I read them the information and one of the twins wrote the main points. The other and Emanuel then coloured our picture. These are all going to go into our Texas binder when we finish our unit in the end of May. Our original source of our list was from the book Dinosaur Hunt by Karen Carr. You can get to our resource page HERE.

Our first dinosaur was the slower moving carnivore from the Cretaceous period the Acrocanthosaurus also known as Acro. This therapod was found in Texas, Oklahoma and Arizona. Potentially one of the smarter predators it went after slower moving dinosaurs mainly. Its front legs/arms were longer than a T-Rex’s and much more useful. Definitely a dinosaur to watch out for. For our links we used some old favourites and some new ones as well…

  • Jurassic Park Wikia HERE
  • EnchantedLearning HERE
  • Dinosaurs.About.com HERE
  • KidsDinos.com HERE
  • Age of Dinosaurs HERE
  • NaturalSciences.org has a great resource that we did not get to using for an activity guide. A little more in depth  than we wanted to go with a light overview with multiple dinosaurs. HERE
  • National Geographic Kids book page HERE
  • Wikipedia HERE
  • Our colouring page is from Education.com HERE

Dinosaur #2 was the Pleurocelus… a 4 legged herbivore also from the Cretaceous period. Found in Texas, Maryland and Utah it had longer front legs than back and so mimics the appearance of a giraffe. In fact, it is believed it may have walked on its front toes! It was a fitting meal for our Acrocanthosaurus. Of course we have links to share.

  • Dinosaurs.about.com HERE
  • DinoDictionary HERE
  • EnchantedLearning (mid page) HERE
  • Texas Parks and Wildlife HERE. They also had our colouring page HERE.
  • Wikipedia has a discussion about the actual name determination and defining  that we did NOT cover but you can read more about that under the article titled Astrodon HERE

Our third dinosaur was one that Emanuel and I had already covered – the Hypsilophodon. So we did a brief overview and jumped list on our backlogged dino posts to put up the one we covered you can read about that HERE. This plant eater was included in our dinosaurs of Texas book but I do admit to finding it placed mostly in Europe.

Our fourth and final dinosaur was the Coloborhynchus. This dinosaur was a flyer and amazingly enough has given us a NEW term for what it eats – a PISCIVORE… fish eater! Emanuel is PUMPED! A new term to hunt under. There is some rather contradictory information about it as apparently there is some dispute as to whether it is its own dinosaur or falls under another name. We did enjoy our rather limited information and of course seeing it in our dinosaur book. Our links…

  • Dinosaurs.about.com HERE
  • Prehistoric Wildlife.com HERE
  • Science Direct HERE
  • Wiki HERE and HERE
  • Many and varied images on my Google search HERE
  • Our colouring page thanks to deviantArt titled Coloborhynchus Attack by HondariNundu HERE.9780060297039
This entry was posted on 07/07/2014, in Uncategorized. 1 Comment

Home Sweet Home… A Love Inspired Romance

Another lucky library find. I am really starting to enjoy these Love Inspired Romances. They are a light and happy weekend read with a nice romance and a Christian theme. Home Sweet Home by Kim Watters is another in a wonderful series of contemporary Christian romances. Orphaned Abby Bancroft has inherited what she hopes will become her forever home Bed and Breakfast in Dynamite Creek, Arizona. Her dreams of supporting herself in a grand Victorian home are dashed when she arrives only to find out that the house is in horrible need of TLC.

What is interesting about this story is that there are multiple issues to iron out. Not only does the house need help, but the man to do so – Cole – is tied closely, not only to fixing it but to the reason behind the neglect. Abby is also dealing with the death of her mother, lack of a father and the fact that until this inheritance she was not even aware of the existence of her now deceased grandparents.

Faith, love and forgiveness are all common themes for Abby and Cole as they attempt to find their place in a small town that may be less than receptive and the heart of another still hurting from their past. Abby and Cole’s pasts are examined as are those of Abby’s family. I love that this all takes time, and work. Kim Watters does an amazing job of creating characters you can’t hope but with the best for while sharing some wonderful and important Christian values.

So if you are looking for a light read with a lovely romance this could be the book for you! Home Sweet Home is truly a “Heartwarming Inspirational Romance.”RTC-HSH-Front-189x300