Baby Chicks

Dear Parents,

We began our week taking turns looking into our incubator to see five cracked eggs, but no baby chicks. We sat quietly to see if we could hear the baby chicks. Some of us barely heard them. 

We looked at pictures of other birds: owl, blue jay, hawk, falcon, woodpecker, chickadee, and ducks. Zoe and her grandmama made bird feeders for all the children. We went outside to hang up a couple of feeders, and sent the rest home. On the way out to the yard, we did a quick and quiet fire drill.

On Tuesday we arrived to see ten wet baby chicks in our incubator. We had to wait almost the entire day to let them fluff up. We moved them gently to our brooder box. We reviewed our Chick Rules before getting them out to pet: 

1. Sit crisscross applesauce.

2. Pet gently. 

3. Teachers only get chicks out/into brooder box. 

4. Wash hands after!

Everyone got to hold and pet baby chicks. One person whispered to a baby chick, “I love you, I love you”. Two friends wanted to pet the chicks but not hold them. One later decided they did want to hold a chick after all.  One person was nervous about holding them but wanted to kiss them. We had to make a new No Kissing Baby Chicks rule. 

We spent as much time as possible holding and petting baby chicks. On Thursday Farmer Tom came to pick them up and return them to the farm. After maybe five minutes someone said, “I miss them already.”

We read books about other earth animals: chipmunks, squirrels, and pigs. We learned that all three are omnivores. We also read in Amazing Animals about gorillas, chimpanzees, lions, and tigers. 

Have a calm weekend,

Therese

Baby Chicks Rule

Dear Parents,

Farmer Joe delivered our baby chick eggs and incubator this week. He told us that the rooster protects the baby chicks using his sharp claws. We counted the eggs. There are twelve. He asked us not to bump the table or yell too loudly or they might not hatch. The children agreed to take good care of the chicks.

While half the class was in gymnastics with Casey and Malik, the rest of us played a farm animal counting game. Casey brought a balance beam, among other things. One person cried, loudly, when Casey and Malik sang goodbye because she didn’t want them to leave. We assured her that they would return for six more weeks of tumbling. 

We made feather pictures, using lots of glue and colorful feathers. Some children added googly eyes too. 

We added the letter F to our alphabet wall. We brainstormed F words: feather, farmer, fox, food, fun, family, friends, fly, fawn, fuzzy, fluffy, and much more. We noticed many F words in our book Fox. Farmer Joe told us that foxes like to eat chickens. 

We read Lazy Fox And Red Hen, From Egg To Chick, and Farm Animals.

On Friday, we made our list of Baby Chick Rules. We talked about how tiny the chicks will be, and that we need to handle them gently. We have been turning the eggs three times a day. We turned them one last time Friday afternoon. Now we wait.

Have a fluffy, family, fun-filled weekend,

Therese