Clucking and Candling!

Tuesday was day 7 of our hatching journey!

We learned that on the 7th day of growth, the comb begins to grow and the egg tooth starts to appear. The egg tooth is a small, hard cap on the tip of the beak that allows the chick to peck out of the egg. Isn't God amazing?

Earlier this week Mrs. Junck brought in a hen and a rooster! We compared and contrasted hens and roosters, and then we learned more about the life cycle of a chicken. We were even able to gently pet the hen and rooster! It was like Old MacDonald's farm in here!

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

Can you see the dark spot on the lower half of the egg?
That is a developing chick!

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!

We are so excited for day 21 to arrive! That is when we will eagerly watch for our eggs to begin hatching! Until then, we will continue to pray for our little ones and marvel at the miracle of new life. God is so good!

Candling and Bowling

Today is day 10 of our hatching journey. Remember when we began?

We learned that on the 10th day of growth, a chick's beak is hardening! Isn't God amazing?

Today we candled a few of the eggs in our incubator. Candling can tell us if the egg is developing into a chick. First we made our classroom very dark. 

Using a special bright light, we were able to see if there was a developing chick inside the egg or not. Dark, shadowy egg? Chick! Bright, lit up egg? No chick. 

We candled about 8 eggs, and most of them were dark! In another 11 days or so, the little ones growing inside the eggs will hatch. We can hardly wait!

Can your child describe the life cycle of the chicken?

Our student teacher is nearing the end of her time with us, but she is squeezing in another spectacular Coding Club challenge before she is gone! Bowling!

The learning (and fun) never stops!

It's hard to say goodbye ...

Today was our last day with our sweet fluffy babies. Our egg angel came to gather the chicks today, and the incubator tomorrow. Sniff ... sniff, sniff. We snuck in every opportunity we could today to love them up, cuddling and holding during every spare minute!

We have learned so much in a week! Before the chicks arrived, we made a list of things we wanted to learn. Look, our chart is filled with so many answers!

As the children discovered answers to our questions,
they added their answer on a post it

We spent time recording our learning on little posters! We included a labeled diagram and three facts. We are working so hard at writing complete sentences with a capital letter, period, and all word wall words spelled correctly. 

We will use this same template when we research animals of our own choosing!

Brother Joe dropped in today, and we always love his visits! His humor and wisdom brightened our morning, and he always finds a way to challenge our thinking. Brother Joe spent time with us reflecting on the meaning of Easter. He asked us, "Why do we get chocolate eggs at Easter?"

Brother Joe reminded us what just hatched from our eggs ... new life! The chocolate eggs we get in our baskets represent new life, which reminds us of Jesus' resurrection and how we are reborn each Easter!

Not only have we learned scientific facts about chicks, but we have learned greater life lessons; respecting all things living, treasuring the precious gift of the resurrection, and finding joy in God's creations. 

The chicks are gone ... but as Mrs. Beliveau shut down her computer and headed out of the classroom for the day, from the incubator she heard "cheep, cheep, cheep!". Seriously!

They're here! They're here!

Today our dozen eggs arrived! Our journey experiencing new life has begun! 

We reflected on what we knew about chicks already. Here are a few of the students' comments:

"They are yellow."

"They come out of eggs."

"Chicks are fluffy."

"They drink water."

"They live on a farm."

"They grow into a chicken."

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

This afternoon we examined the life cycle of a chicken by reading several books and making these little crafts (adapted from  I {heart} crafty things) :

Please listen to a student explain the life cycle of a chicken:

listen to ‘Life cycle of a chicken’ on Audioboo

As we eagerly awaited the arrival of our eggs, we prepared the incubator. We plugged it in so it would warm up and added a little water to make it humid. Once the dozen eggs arrived, children took turns gently placing them inside.

Below a student explains the purpose of our incubator:

listen to ‘Incubator ’ on Audioboo

We are only one day in and have already learned lots! Who knew a dozen eggs could be so exciting? Tomorrow the energy level is sure to be through the roof! Here are a few more facts we learned today:

listen to ‘Facts day 1’ on Audioboo