Spring has Sprung in Grade One!

With the Resurrection of Jesus and the arrival of Spring, we have been exploring new life in our class!

Planting

We welcomed in our Linking Generations grandparent, Grandma Theresa, to help us become gardeners! She read us "Tops and Bottoms", a clever little gardening story featuring a bear and a hare. 

Then we rolled up our sleeves and got dirty! Grandma Theresa helped us plant our very own bean seeds. We are hoping we have green thumbs!

Hatching

Genuine awe, amazement and excitement was written all over the faces of each and every student as we peeked in the incubator ... chicks! 

The chicks remain in the incubator until their feathers dry and they become fluffy, and then they are transferred to a box with dry shavings, food and water, all beneath a heat bulb. 

It has been amazing week of learning! More "chick fun" awaits next week!

EGG-citement in Grade 1!

We are nearing the end of our hatching journey! Next Thursday is day 21, when chicks should start hatching!

We've been busily preparing for our chicks arrival! To help guide our learning, we thought about what we already knew about chicks:

Then, we wondered together about what we wanted to find out:

We candled a few of the eggs in our incubator. Candling shows us if the egg is developing into a chick. We made our classroom very dark, and then, using a bright light, we were able to see if there was a developing chick inside the egg or not. Bright, lit up egg? No chick (left). Darker, shadowy egg? Chick (right)! 

In another week, when the eggs have been incubated for 21 days, the little ones growing inside the eggs will hatch. We can hardly wait!

We are learning about the miracle of life and have been exploring the life cycles. Ask your child to explain the life cycle of a chicken!

Lifecycle Craft-ivity adapted from I {heart} crafty things

EGG-cellent Learning!

Our week was filled with EGG-cellent learning!

We spent an afternoon making pysanky, traditional Ukrainian Easter eggs. This took lots of patience and creativity. It was wonderful to experience the beautiful Ukrainian culture.  Look at our hard work!

Good news travels fast! As I'm sure you've heard, we've begun our chick hatching journey. Each day we carefully monitor the incubator's temperature and humidity. Near the end of April, we hope it is full of sweet little chicks! 

We are so excited for day 21, also known as Hatch Day, to arrive! Until then, we will continue to pray for our little ones and marvel at the miracle of new life. God is so good!

So much EGG-citement this past week!