Afternoon at the Museum

Another great field trip. While my niece, Hannah, was visiting last week, she and I took the Little Nguyens to the Museum of Natural Sciences. My sister, Susan, gave the First Little Nguyen the perfect gift for Christmas...his own membership card to the museum! We have used it several times now, and he never tires of looking at the dinosaur bones. The fossils aren't on as large a scale as the fossils we saw at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC last summer, but they are nonetheless fascinating. The Second Little Nguyen is learning a lot from his older brother about identifying different dinosaurs and prehistoric animals. He can sometimes quote line and verse from certain dino texts as well as the First Little Nguyen. The Little Nguyens really had fun comparing how their own sizes measure up to certain dinosaurs.

What I found truly amazing, however, were the number of prehistoric sight words my older son has incorporated into his repertoire! Mesozoic, Pleistocene and epoch (I had to look that one up!) are as recognizable to him as other high frequency words, even out of context. It became apparent to me as he was reading signs and captions throughout the museum that I haven't just been imaging these things. He is reading really well. He is scheduled to attend a science camp at the museum this summer, and I think it will stimulate his interest and curiosity even more, if that is possible. Can you imagine how excited he must be at the prospect of spend every morning at the museum for an entire week!?