Imagine your beach fi lled

with nesting pterosaurs

Even though something happened millions of years ago, that doesn’t mean you can’t learn new things about it. Chinese paleontologists have just made an important fi nd that proves something entirely

new about the ancient fl ying reptiles known as pterosaurs.The researchers found a site where a strong storm apparently wiped out

hundreds of pterosaurs, but allowed them, and their eggs, to be fossilized.Part of the excitement was that many of the eggs were not completely

fl attened, which will allow them to be examined in greater detail than before. But the main piece of news was the number of pterosaurs in that one place: It is the fi rst proof that they lived in social groups.

A fl ock of pterosaurs had built nests on the shore of a lake where they could swoop over the water fi shing. Illustration/Chuang Zhao

2013

ColoradoKids CK ReporterReese Hitztaler,

Littleton

ART shoW bY And FoR The PeoPLe

The annual Denver Chalk Art Festival over the last weekend of May was a

great chance to view art and to compete.

The 200 participating artists had two days to work and spec-tators were able to walk around and watch their designs come to life on the streets of Larimer Square.

Some of the artists mentioned that chalk was a new medium for them.

Cindy Vo said “I had never touched chalk in my life!”

There were 20 areas set up for school groups and other teens to participate in the Youth

Challenge and the winners were given money for their schools to purchase art supplies with.

Festival categories included Best of Show, Best 3-D, Most Whimsical, Best Reproduction of a Master’s Work and Best Use of Color.

The artists used a grid tech-nique to keep their designs in proportion and most of them had a photo or sketch to use as a reference.

Young Kids also had the op-portunity to create chalk art in the Kid’s Corner.

Rio Zamora, 10, said “This inspired me to do more chalk art and get a chalk set.”

The Chalk Art Festival had many creative, unique designs such as the octopus with eye-balls for tentacles created by Cierra and Raelena Archuleta.

Along with the talent from chalk artists were many talented musicians, whose music provid-ed a special touch to the artsy atmosphere.

Whether you were there to compete or observe, it was a memorable experience.

Old satellites sometimes crash to Earth, while

some others may be drawn by gravity into the Sun.

But others simply drift through space in their orbits, and one particular satellite, ISEE-3, had been moving along with nothing to do since 1999.

ISEE-3 had been a busy and useful worker up until then: Launched in 1978, it had stud-ied solar winds, then helped to examine Halley’s Comet and a second comet, and then, fi nally, done more solar study, this time of solar storms.

Or maybe not “fi nally.”Some astronomers and other

space fans realized that ISEE-3 was coming back our way on its long orbit and asked NASA if they would be allowed to take control of the satellite, if they raised the needed money.

NASA agreed, and, last week, the group was able to steer the satellite towards an orbit where they can use it in their own studies. Image/NASA

sPAce FAns geT ToTAKe conTRoL oF

oLd sATeLLiTe

Starting point The Kid’s Corner let young artists try their hands at the art form. photo by Sierra Zizzo

By Sierra Zizzo,14, a CK Reporter from Highlands Ranch

Colorful Coloradoan Raelena Archuleta works on a tentacle of her chalk octopus in the bright sunshine at Larimer Square. photo by Sierra Zizzo

A fl ock of pterosaurs had built nests on the shore of a lake where they could swoop over the water fi shing.

June 10, 2014

What made poor Ralph so rotten?

Tale fails, but might be okay for little kids

“The Never Girls: Wedding Wings” is the 5th and most recent book in the Never

Girls series.

It is about four girls – Gabby, Mia, Lainey, and Kate – who are going to their babysitter’s wedding.

As the flower girl, Gabby gets so ex-

cited that she tells all the Disney fairies about the wedding. She tells them that they can come, but her older sister Mia tells her that they cannot.

Fortunately for Gabby, Bess, the art-talent fairy, tags along in her flower basket.

But with the fairy’s presence, and Gabby’s curiosity, trouble is brought to the wedding.

I did not like this book that much; it is very short and not very entertaining.

However, it would be a great gift for a friend or sibling 8 and under, or any child who really enjoys fairies.

Being kind is an appreci-ated gesture. When Rotten Ralph wonders why he is

the rotten cat he is and has been his whole life, he visits his fam-ily to find out.

Jack Gantos and Nicole Rubel’s “Rotten Ralph’s Rotten Family” is a short and sweet book that truly shows how fam-ily can affect one’s personality as a child.

It’s a great book for early readers with its funny story, and would be a good book for a

bedtime read. Rotten Ralph and his owner,

Sarah, are well thought out charac-ters and make the book slightly realistic despite the book’s cartoon-like features.

Rotten Ralph is a reddish orange cat owned by a young girl named Sarah.

Ralph loves to cause mischief, but his owner is tired of it.

When he is asked why he is the way he is, he starts to ponder himself and pays a visit to his family to find out why he is so rotten.

When he gets there, he finds a

nasty surprise.“Rotten Ralph’s Rotten Fam-

ily” is good for under-standing how people can influence how others act.

It is also a good book for learning about how you can make a difference in people’s lives by being mischievous or very respectful, as well as how people should be respected.

This story is also an amusing read that can easily cheer someone up after a bad day.

How can you affect others by being kind and generous?

ck Kids and adults can find live links to information about stories in Colorado Kids at www.ColoradoNIE.com

Health experts and educators worry that using names like “Thin Mints” or “Tootsie Roll” for vape flavors encourages kids to try e-cigarettes.

Look through today’s paper for ads. Who do you think the advertiser is trying to attract? Tell what pictures, phrases and other things they use that show who they expect to try their product or service.

Beyond these four pages

A B

CD

Summer reading is about independenceSummertime includes hik-

ing and swimming and sports and lots of other

things, but it also includes read-ing, and, for CK readers, sum-mer reading is a time to make their own choices.

At least, that’s what you told us when we asked.

Only a handful of you have as-signed reading, and, while some are looking to try new types of books, nearly everyone said the

choices are up to them.Here’s what we asked, and

what you told us:What kind of reading will be at

the top of your summer list?A. I’ve got a list from school.

9%B. Something different, maybe a

type of book I haven’t tried. 6%C. I’ve got several books I’ll

finally have time to get to. 40%D. Who knows? That’s part of

the fun of unassigned reading. 45%

Now, here’s our next question:It’s camping season! How do

you like the Great Outdoors?A. I’d live in a tent in the

woods all summer!B. One or two nights in a

sleeping bag is about right.C. Campsite, yes, but I want

a cabin or an RV.D. You know, people live in

houses for a reason.To answer this question, go to

www.nextgen.yourhub.com

we asked, you answered

Kid stuff

By Jasmine Douglas,10, a CK Reporter from Thornton

By Reid Strieker,11, a CK Reporter from Antonito

Colorado Kidsis produced by

Denver Post Educational ServicesExecutive Editor: Dana Plewka

dplewka@denverpost.comCK Editor: Mike Peterson

coloradokidseditor@gmail.comWe welcome your comments.

For tools to extend the learning in this feature, look under“eEdition lessons” at:

www.ColoradoNIE.com

eEditions of the Post arefree of charge for classroom use.Contact us for information on all

our programs.

Denver Post Educational Services101 W. Colfax Ave.Denver CO 80202

(303) 954-3974(800) 336-7678

Back in the 1990’s, when the RJ Reynolds company was using a cartoon character

named “Joe Camel” to sell Cam-el cigarettes, a survey showed that as many six-year-olds could recognize Joe Camel as knew who Mickey Mouse was.

Health experts and educators demanded RJR stop using the cartoon, but the company said it was just a way to advertise their product to adults, not kids.

Then proof was found that proved the company wanted to get teens as young as 14 to start smoking.

Joe Camel disappeared, and, a few years later, tobacco companies were stopped from advertising at all in magazines that kids were apt to read.

Now health experts are concerned that com-panies are trying to get children to start using e-cigarettes by naming the flavors of nicotine vapor after popular kids’ treats.

One problem is that vap-ing is a new enough thing that health experts are not sure how much of a health hazard it is.

Does taking nicotine in that form harm people as much as smoking tobacco?

Does vaping help smokers stop smoking?

They do know that having kids become ad-dicted to nicotine will not do them any good, but they’re still trying to establish the health hazards of vaping.

Meanwhile, however, the makers of flavored nicotine vapor are being

attacked from another direc-tion: The companies that make those innocent treats are telling them to stop misusing their

brand names.The Girl

Scouts of America were furious to see the name of their famous Thin Mint cookies being used as a vap-ing flavor.“Using the

Thin Mint name — which is synonymous with Girl Scouts and everything we do to enrich the lives of girls — to market e-cigarettes to youth is deceitful and shameless,” they told the press, right after their lawyers told the vapers to stop doing it.

General Mills, maker of Cinnamon Toast Crunch, and Tootsie Roll were also angered and had their lawyers send letters de-manding that their brand names not be misused.

They were upset because, if anyone thought the vapers had their permission to use the names, it would hurt their image.

But all companies need to protect their trademarks from misuse. If they let people use

their brand names, they can lose the right to keep them as some-thing that truly identi-fies their products.

That’s why the Xerox company wants people to say “I’m photocopy-ing this,” instead of “I’m xeroxing this,” and why Kleenex would rather you said “Hand me a Kleenex brand tissue,”

instead of just “a kleenex.”But nobody wants their brand

name misused to get kids to become addicted to nicotine.

Vapers warned: ‘Leave our names out of it!’

BrainteaserDenver East High graduate and Oscar-winning actress Hattie McDaniel (Best Supporting Actress, 1939) was born on this day in 1895, so our answers will all begin with the letter “H.”

1. Budapest is the capital of this European country.

2. Shakespeare play set in Denmark and named for a prince.

3. Author of YA novels “Rumble Fish” and “The Outsiders.”

4. Track event that requires jumping over barriers.

5. Type of melon with a white rind and light green flesh.

6. Old-style instrument very similar to a piano.

7. Balto and White Fang were both this type of dog.

8. Kids really dig this Louis Sachar novel about Stanley Yelnats.

9. Language spoken by 180 million people, mostly in India.

10. Native American people whose homeland is in Arizona.

(answers on Page Four)

CK Reporters serve from July 1, 2014 to September 7, 2015. Questions? E-mail dplewka@denverpost.com

Apply to be a Colorado Kids Reporter! It’s fun and there are cool perks

Get all the details at ColoradoNIE.com today!

Love to Write?

Product photos from Wikimedia Commons

“Welcome to Dog Beach,” by Lisa Greenwald, is

about relationships with both animals and humans.

Eleven-year-old Remy is dealing with the recent death of her dog and trying to forget the loss, but having a rough time, because memo-ries of him are all around her.

At the begin-ning of the sum-mer, she is asked to babysit for her neighbor every Monday and Wednesday.

Her neighbor has a dog also, and Remy finds herself watch-ing the dog more than her neigh-bor’s toddler.

Meanwhile, her two best friends, Bennett and Michaela, are act-ing strange.

Michaela seems to be hiding something, and Bennett isn’t around as much as he used to be.

Remy is trying to figure out why.

During the course of the summer, Remy spends lots of time with dogs and learns many

things about her friends. Remy is so good with dogs

that people start noticing and asking her to dog sit.

She decides to let Bennett and Michaela in on the dog sit-ting business, thinking it will fix their friendships.

Rather than fixing their friendships, the dogs seem to make the situation worse.

Remy gets into a fight with Michaela and finds out the secret she’s been hiding.

Remy feels almost in love with Bennett, but he doesn’t

seem to be in love with her.

Instead, he is spending more time with the twins that moved in next door.

I would recom-mend this book for girls in 5th grade and older, or others who like tween ro-mance stories.

Younger chil-dren might not understand the romance.

There was a lot of interesting drama in this book, but I felt it was very repetitive.

I would rate this book a 3.5 to 4 (out of 5) because of the slow but steady start.

“Welcome to Dog Beach,” by Lisa Greenwald, is a romantic book for girls 10 and up who are animal lovers.

“Maleficent,” directed by Robert Strom-berg, is the story

of the evil queen from Sleeping Beauty with a new twist.

Maleficent (Angelina Jolie) is a young girl living in the peace-loving moors with her fantasy fairy friends.

One day the border guards catch a human thief named Stefan (Sharlto Cop-ley).

Maleficent finds that Stefan is very friendly and they fall in love, though she is a fairy and he is hu-man.

The king of the hu-man world, King Henry (Kenneth Cranham), starts having suspicions about the moor and declares war, but Maleficent defeats him.

King Henry promises to get revenge as he is dying. He would decide who would be his successor by seeing who could kill Maleficent. Whoever avenges him will become king

and marry his beautiful daugh-ter, Aurora (Elle Fanning).

But on her birthday, Malefi-cent makes a surprise visit to Aurora.

This is a family movie that will interest all age groups.

I really liked it. The special effects were the best part be-cause they looked as though it really existed in the world, and the 3D effect made them even better, like it was right within your reach.

There were some scary and loud scenes, but all in all it was

a great movie, packed with action and adventure as well as a hint of humor.

There was some more ad-vanced humor that younger kids might not understand, and they also won’t under-stand some things through the accents, but kids will still find this movie one of their favorites.

I would recommend

“Maleficent” (PG) for ages 8+ because of the scary scenes.

In fact, during the casting of Aurora as a child, the direc-tors found it difficult to find a young girl who was not afraid of Jolie’s makeup, so they cast her daughter, Vivienne, as the young princess.

AcTion WiTh A TWisT

BrainteaserSolution

(see Page Three)10 right - Wow! 7 right - Great! 5 right - Good

3 right - See you next time!

1. Hungary 2. Hamlet 3. S.E. Hinton 4. hurdles 5. honeydew 6. harpsichord 7. husky 8. Holes

9. Hindi 10. Hopi

By Saera Chung,11, a CK Reporter from Aurora

noVeL combines dogs WiTh TWeen RomAnce

By Kylene Santoro,12, a CK Reporter from Morrison

Youth-written stories that appear here also appear on

C , !