A Zoo?

“OMG!!! Is that a cow? Look a giraffe…a horse…an alligator!” These are the types of conversations that wake me up every single weekend. No, I’m not at a zoo. No, I’m not watching a movie. Nor, is it some sort of crazy dream! I live near two diners and my house has gradually become a sort of a tourist attraction. My house is unlike any other house.

We have a collection of animals on our front yard. They’re not real, just a mix of ceramic and plastic statues that has grown over the years. Our collection includes a life size cow, an 8-foot tall giraffe, alligators, chickens, dogs, and a dolphin. We even have a giant toad with dreadlocks. My grandmother started collecting these statues years ago and as time went on the collection grew and grew.

Vocabulary
OMG – an abbreviation for the phrase, “Oh my God!”, used to express shock, excitement, or disbelief
Tourist attraction (noun)- a place of interest where tourists visit
Gradually (adverb) – happening in a slow manner
Collection (noun) – a group of objects or an amount of material that has been accumulated in one location
Dreadlocks (noun) -- a hairstyle in which the hair is washed but not combed and twisted while wet into tight braids or ringlets hanging down on all sides
Conversation (noun) – the informal exchange of ideas by spoken words

Vocabulary Exercise
Directions: Write each vocabulary word on one side of an index card. You should have a total of six index cards, for your six vocabulary words. On the other side of each index card and write the definition of the corresponding word. Use these flashcards to quiz yourself and others!

Grammar Point: Coordinating Conjunctions
Coordinating conjunctions are words that connects part of a sentence by using words such as: and, but, or, yet, nor, so

Find two or more sentences in the writing and combine them by using coordinating conjunctions.