Mother's Day

It was fun to mix science with Mother's Day this year. The students planted chives or basil depending on their preference. They've loved watching them grow. For a while, we kept track of the growth in our plant science journals. They turned out so cute! Today, the students took their plants home, yay! 

Chick Friends

They're so cute! These two are actually the other teachers (mine other two didn't make it - two of hers didn't make it either). Mine was wandering just a little bit out of range. Now they all get to be together. I think mine is happier having some friends. He was getting so mad at the kids when they weren't paying attention to him today! He got so upset during math class when he could see them, but they weren't talking to him that I picked him up and held him while teaching! He was much calmer after that. Thanks to my sister and family for keeping them all company this weekend.

Fluffy

His new house! It's so much nicer, and he loves having a window to look out.

Meet Fluffy!

the First Grade chick! We love him/her. :) The other two died right before coming completely out of their shells. It was sad.

Last night, two chicks seemed to be on their way, but sometime during the night, they died. We are all so sad! We do have one very cute chick that has been named fluffy.

When the students arrived this morning, before I said anything about the chicks, Fluffy let everyone know that (s)he had hatched. They all ran over to see our baby!

Back to the safety and warmth of the heating light.

Our chick house had some difficulty staying warm enough, so Fluffy stayed with Mrs. Smith's chicks during reading, but now we're all good! The incubator is turned upside down to provide heat for our chick house, but it wasn't warm enough, so with some teacher supplies (transparency sheets, a sheet protector, and a small garbage bag) all taped together with some of our paint shirts on top for insulation, we were finally at the required temp of 100* F.

We voted on a name after lunch.

The Impending Arrival

The babies are coming! :)  I decided to hatch baby chicks with my first graders! This afternoon, another teacher and I picked up the eggs at Thanksgiving Point. Two of them are already pecking at their shells (middle and right side)! Their ETA is Wednesday.

We bought them through an agriculture program at Thanksgiving Point. Once they're ready for pickup, the eggs are thought to hatch in three days! That's a great way to hatch chicks. When I was in elementary school, only one of our eggs actually had a baby chick, and the teacher took that one out early so we could see the development. It was so sad. :( No more chicks after that, although the other class had several that hatched.