Duckling Joy

Over the past few days, we’ve had the joy of caring for five sweet little ducklings. What a gift it has been. Each day has held quiet moments of wonder, bursts of unbridled joy, and everything in between.

We're enjoying watching our ducklings grow so quickly. These babies have taught us about the beauty of new life and the goodness in God's creation. We've experienced patience, gentleness, and how something small can bring such deep joy.

The children were surprised to learn that the ducklings are born knowing how to swim - no swim lessons needed!  God's design is so incredible. 

The ducklings are off to the Beliveau Family Resort for the weekend and will return for a few more days next week. This experience has been rich in Science learning, but even more meaningful in growing our faith. We’ve noticed God in unexpected places. The ducklings have shown us just how awe-inspiring God's creation truly is. 

Hatching and Harvesting

Hatching

Our duck eggs are halfway through their growth! Our friendly farmer, Mrs. Junck, visits once a week to guide our learning. 

Mrs. Junck is always full of surprises and brought two grown ducks from her farm. We compared the drake (male) to the hen (female), noticing that the female is brown and camouflages well. This is because she has to sit on the eggs for 28 days and stay hidden from predators. 

We candled a few eggs from our incubator. Candling shows us if the egg is developing into a duckling. We made our classroom very dark. Using a bright light, we were able to see if something was growing inside by noticing the air sack, dark shadows, and even movement. Bright, lit up egg? No duck (bottom right). Dark, shadowy egg? Duck! (top right)

Ducks take 28 days to grow and we candled on day 14. Our growth is right on track. Isn't God's plan incredible?

Harvesting

The seeds we planted in our grow towers have thrived! Today we sampled the fruits (or veggies?) of our labour! Each student was treated to a fresh salad. What a wonderful experience!

Our class is bursting with new life, signs of spring, and lots of joy!

Happy Hatching

Spring fever has hit Grade 1 and ducklings are on the horizon! Our hatching journey has begun!

This morning we reflected on what we already know about ducklings. Here are a few of the students' comments:

"They come from an egg."

"They like to swim."

"Ducks have webbed feet."

"They can fly."

"They grow into a duck."

We also generated a list of what we wanted to find out about ducklings:

Our local farmer, Mrs. Junck, brought us 13 duck eggs and an incubator from her farm. She will be visiting us weekly to teach us about new life, rural communities, needs of living things, and so much more!

Our eggs don't come with a mama duck, so the incubator will act in her place. It will keep the eggs warm and moist, and will turn them twice a day. Our job is to carefully monitor the incubator's temperature and humidity.

Near the end of April and into May, we will be welcoming our ducklings! We are about to experience God's new life, right before our very eyes!

Duckling Joy!

Over the past few days, we've been blessed with the presence of seven adorable ducklings. Caring for them has been a delightful experience, filled with moments of wonder and gratitude.

Witnessing their rapid growth and observing their curious nature has been a testament to the beauty of new life. These little ducklings have taught us invaluable lessons in patience, compassion, and God's awe-inspiring work of creation!

We are thankful for this joyful experience and the cherished memories it has brought into our lives. Indeed, God's creations are truly marvellous.

Farewell, ducklings! 

Reading, Creating, Discovering and Hatching!

We've begun exploring the parts of a story and together we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle:

After enjoying the book, we closely examined Mr. Carle's illustrations. He has a unique method for making designed paper and then cutting it into the pieces for his pictures. 

We followed Mr. Carle's paper-making technique. First, we painted our paper. We added drips, drops, stripes and spots in every colour!

No shortage of creativity in our class!

Once our paint dried, we cut shapes to make butterflies!

Our week ended with tremendous joy and wonder as new life filled our incubator! We were thrilled to welcome several ducklings into the world. Once they’re fully dry, they’ll move into a cozy little “barn” right in our classroom. What a beautiful reminder of God’s goodness!

EGG-citement in Grade 1!

Our week was filled with EGG-cellent learning!

Today Mrs. Junck visited us. We compared the eggs and feathers of a turkey and a duck, learned how an egg forms inside a mama, and examined the development of ducklings inside the egg. 

Today marks day 14 in our incubation journey. We are halfway through incubating our duck eggs, and in two weeks our ducklings should be hatching. We were able to candle a few eggs and saw the growth of the ducklings inside. We could even see movement!

Eggs are a symbol of new life, which is why eggs are a symbol at Easter. We spent the afternoon making Pysanky, traditional Ukrainian Easter eggs. This took lots of patience and creativity, and we did have lots of fun! We kept reminding each other that "everything new is hard at first". 

So much EGG-citement this past week! Have a blessed Easter!

Hatching & Harvesting

Hatching

Our duck eggs are a quarter of the way in their growth! Mrs. Junck visits once a week to guide our learning.

Mrs. Junck is always full of surprises and she brought two grown ducks from her farm. We compared the drake (male) and the hen (female), noticing that the female is brown and camouflages well. This is because she has to sit on the eggs for 28 days and stay safe from predators. 

We candled a few eggs in our incubator. Candling shows us if the egg is developing into a duck. We made our classroom very dark. Using a bright light, we were able to see if there was a developing duck inside the egg or not. Bright, lit up egg? No duck (bottom R). Dark, shadowy egg? Duck (top R)! 

Harvesting

The seeds we planted in our tower gardens a few months ago have thrived! Today we sampled the fruits (or veggies?) of our labour and had a little salad! What a wonderful treat!

Our classroom is bursting with new life, signs of spring, and lots of joy!

Ducklings & Butterflies

Ducklings

THEY'RE SO FLUFFY!

And so our week began, with a classroom full of little "Agneses", thrilled to meet our fluffy little ducklings! (thankfully minus the extra tight "Agnes squeeze"). 

We are participating in a duckling-raising program through Glenwood Memorial Gardens! We're in charge of naming and caring for our ducklings for 2 weeks. It has been lovely meeting and snuggling with our new little miracles. 

We even gave them a little swim this afternoon!

Butterflies

We've all read The Very Hungry Caterpillar, by Eric Carle, but have you ever really examined the illustrations? Mr. Carle has a unique method for making designed, textured paper and then cutting it into the pieces for his pictures. 

We followed Mr. Carle's paper-making technique to make butterflies! First we painted our paper. We added drips and drops in every colour!

Once our paper had dried, we used tracers to cut out the shapes to make a butterfly.  A little glue, and ta da! Colourful, Carle-inspired butterflies!