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. 

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!

Chickie Love

Good news travels fast and we have heaps of good news in Grade 1! This week we experienced God's incredible new life first hand as we watched chicks hatch before our eyes!

A dozen tiny little babies arrived throughout this week!

We could not wait to give the chicks many gentle cuddles. The boys and girls learned they needed to sit while holding a chick, and to keep a hand under their feet as well as lightly on their back. 

While some students spent time taking in the new life, others tackled the illustrations for a rhyming booklet called "5 Little Chicks". The chicks in our illustrations are made from torn construction paper. 

Mrs. Beliveau and her brood are keeping careful watch this weekend over the new little life! As a class, we'll be caring for these beautiful chicks until Tuesday, when Mrs. Junck returns. 

It has been an AMAZING few weeks filled with loads of valuable science and language arts lessons. More importantly, however, are the lessons we have learned about new life, respect, patience, and compassion. God's work is truly amazing!

Thank you, God, for blessing us with this experience! We are in truly in awe of your amazing work and beautiful creations!

Our Egg-Citing Adventure!

Let the adventure begin!

This week we carefully placed 22 beautiful eggs into a warm, humid incubator. We can't keep a hen in our room, so the incubator acts as a mama hen, turning the eggs while keeping them warm and moist. Each day we monitor and record the temperature and humidity.

These eggs didn't come from the grocery store, they came from Mrs. Junck's family farm! Mrs. Junck is guiding our learning and hatching. Each Tuesday in April, we look forward to her visit!

We noticed that the eggs in our incubator are many beautiful colours. They don't all look the same. We cracked open a brown egg and a white egg from Mrs. Beliveau's fridge, and noticed they looked the same inside. Then we had a really powerful discussion about how WE all look different on the outside, but on the inside, we all have a heart, want to be loved, and are God's creations.

We are only a few days in and have already learned so much! Who knew a 22 eggs could be so exciting? This is sure to be a wonderful journey as we experience new life first hand!

Chickie Love

We've spent 21 days carefully monitoring our incubator!

This week, we were absolutely elated to experience hatching firsthand! We watched in awe as sweet little babies pecked out of their eggs, fluffed up in the incubator, and were moved to their home in the brooder box. God's new life is miraculous!

We wasted zero time and decided these little fluff balls needed some gentle cuddles. The boys and girls learned they needed to sit while holding a chick, and to keep a hand under their feet as well as lightly on their back. It was such a lovely experience snuggling with our new little miracles!

As a class, we'll be caring for these beautiful chicks until the end of the week. 

It has been an AMAZING few weeks filled with loads of valuable science and language arts lessons. More importantly, however, are the lessons we have learned about new life, respect, patience, and compassion. God's work is truly amazing!

Thank you, God, for blessing us with this experience! We are in truly in awe of your amazing work and beautiful creations!

Joyful Noise & Quiet Surprises

Joyful Noise

This week our room was filled with joyful noise! We welcomed several fresh baby chicks into the world!

The kids were absolutely in awe. We had waited and waited for 21 days, carefully monitoring the temperature and humidity in our incubator. Our eggs had actually become new life! What began as an egg has grown into new life! Isn't God AMAZING?

While some students spent time taking in the new life inside our incubator and brooder box, others tackled the illustrations for a rhyming booklet called "5 Little Chicks". The chicks in our illustrations are made from torn construction paper. The creative juices were flowing!

We made a visual to represent the lifecycle of a chick! But we're stumped ... what came first, the chicken or the egg?

What was extra special to see were the differences between the chicks! Some were yellow, others black, others brown with beautiful blond stripes. God made them all special and unique, just like He made us!

It has been an AMAZING few weeks filled with loads of valuable science and language arts lessons. More importantly, however, are the lessons we have learned about new life, respect, patience, and compassion. God's work is truly amazing! Thank you, God, for blessing us with this experience! We are in truly in awe of your amazing work and beautiful creations!

Quiet Surprises

The children have spent the past two weeks preparing a few very special surprises for Mother's Day! We have many wonderful people caring for us, but we are especially blessed to have our moms in our lives. Spoiler alert: If you haven't opened your child's gift yet, be sure to do that first!

We each took a beautiful photo and then painted a fancy frame!

Aren't these spectacular?!?

We put together very special cards for our lovely ladies, too. We worked for DAYS to get our ideas just right. Several pages of sweet and funny thoughts and pictures fill these little treasure books. Here are a few creative gems from the pages of the students' cards. 

May God bless you and your families this Mother's Day weekend!

THEY'RE SO FLUFFY!!!

And so Friday began, with a classroom full of little Agneses, thrilled to see our fluffy little chicks! (thankfully minus the extra tight "Agnes squeeze")

We wasted zero time and decided these little fluff balls needed some gentle cuddles! The boys and girls learned they needed to sit while holding a chick, and to keep a hand under their feet as well as lightly on their back. 

It was such a lovely day to snuggle with our new little miracles.

While some students spent time taking in the new life, others tackled the illustrations for a rhyming booklet called "5 Little Chicks". The chicks in our illustrations are made from torn construction paper. The creative juices were flowing! Chicks are a captive audience, and we jumped at the chance to read our booklets to them! Watch for these sweet booklets to come home next week.

In between cuddles, we welcomed in countless visitors!


Mr. Marshall came to read us one of his favourite stories, Too Many Chickens! It's about a class who is hatching chicks, but the farmer forgets to come pick up the chicks once they have arrived! We had lots of good laughs as he read! Thank you, Mr. Marshall! 

Mrs. Beliveau and her brood are keeping careful watch this weekend over the new little life! As a class, we'll be caring for these beautiful chicks until mid-next week. 

It has been an AMAZING few weeks filled with loads of valuable science and language arts lessons. More importantly, however, are the lessons we have learned about new life, respect, patience, and compassion. God's work is truly amazing!

Thank you, God, for blessing us with this experience! We are in truly in awe of your amazing work and beautiful creations!