We are Becoming Egg-Heads!

As you may have heard, the Harlan 1st Graders are hatching chicks!  As part of our life cycle science unit, we are currently learning about eggs and chickens, including using an incubator to hatch real chicks!  The chicks are due to hatch on June 1 - exactly 21 days after being placed in the incubator!  The children(and school!) are so excited about this project as we monitor, care for and learn about eggs!

Today the children completed 3 egg science lessons - one in each classroom as we rotated through the rooms.  In our classroom we learned about the parts of the incubator (dome/heater, humidifier, automatic turner) and what chicks need to in order to develop successfully.

Our incubator:

We learned that chicken eggs need heat (100 degrees), humidity (86 degrees) and have to be turned several times a day.  The classes have been calling the automatic turner "Mama" (the small black box) since it is gently turning the eggs every hour just like a mother hen rocking her chicks to sleep!

Introducing our newest first graders:

Benedict, Poachy, Scrambles, Omelette, Shelly, Huevo (Spanish for "egg"), Yoko, Meringue, Rolly (as in eggroll), Sunny SU (as in side-up), and our twins Foo Yung and Les Oeufs (French for "egg" and pronouced Laz Ooof)...we have been calling them "Fooy and Zooy).

The children also read the book Chickens Aren't the Only Ones by Ruth Heller.  This is a beautiful informational book about egg-laying animals.  The children then sorted pictures of animals between oviparous (egg-laying) or not.

Finally, the first graders learned just how strong an egg really is!  They found out that the dome shape of an egg helps to protect the developing embryo, and that is can hold a lot of weight if is distributed evenly over the eggs.  They even saw a video of a person walking on raw eggs that didn't break! Here is their experiment which demonstrated how many books and binders can be placed on top of eggs.

We can't wait until Monday when we get to candle the eggs to see how many are fertilized and developing!  Stay tuned to hear more on Chick Watch 2016!  In the mean time, we have a growing bulletin board display at the start of our hallway as we document all of or experiments!