They're Hatching!

The children also learned the parts of the egg and the difference between a fertilized egg and the eggs we buy at the grocery store.

 

When the fertilized eggs arrived, the students became “eggsperts.” They made entries into a Chick Journal, helped turn the eggs, used posters to report on the chicks’ stages of development, and made tally marks to keep track of how many days the eggs had been in the incubator. We candled the eggs to see what was happening inside. The children were able to see the air cell, eyes, and tubes that carry food to the growing chick. On the eighteenth day we set up the brooder box and on day 20 our eggs started to peep and move! Each chick hatched slowly using its egg tooth to make a tiny hole. It’s hard work to break out of the egg and it took hours!

 

The chicks are now dry and fluffy and running around the brooder box! The students love them and are so excited. This also brings out a gentle, nurturing side and sense of responsibility in the children. Kindergarteners are so used to being taken care of; this gives them the opportunity to care for something.

 

The cutest story a parent told me was that on the day the chicks hatched, her daughter woke her up at 4:30 a.m. She was fully dressed and asking if they could go to School a little early!

– Nicole Levy, Kindergarten teacher

Kindergaraten teachers Nicole Levy and Nicole Putorti both shared the excitement of hatching chicks in their classrooms this spring.