Classroom Chicken Hatching Final Report

The hatching of chick eggs provided students with a valuable and memorable learning experience. We began this experiment in early April. The process took about 21 days. For many students this was their first exposure to farming life. It also gave students an opportunity to observe the miracle of life. Through this project the students had an opportunity to learn about the incubation process, embryonic development, practice animal care and handling, develop a greater appreciation and understanding of agriculture and specifically the poultry industry, and learn to perform specific skills such as reading a thermometer and candling an egg. Before undertaking this project, we made arrangements for the chicks that were going to hatch. Some parents volunteered to take one or two. The remaining chicks are heading to a local farm. We had a total of eight out of the 24 eggs hatch. In my classroom, I believe children learn best when involved in hands-on, real life experiences. The life cycle of the chicken was made real through the student’s participation in this chick hatching experiment. We were able to integrate several subjects into this project. Besides the obvious relationship in science we were able to tie into ELA, Math, and Social Studies. In ELA, our connection was through the use of stories and poems. We read “One Duck Stuck” by Phyllis Root and several other stories and poems that involved chickens and ducks. In Math, we graphed our predictions of the hatch rate. In Social Studies, we focused on the responsibility of taking care of living things/animals. We also learned about the communities that would normally have chickens and other farm animals. This is an experiment I hope to repeat in the future due to the high level of rigor that was produced throughout the process.

Our Original Hatch Date!

Today was our original hatch date for the chickens in the incubator. We have had 7 chickens hatch to this point!! The students and I are so excited about the progress of our hands on chicken experiment. We have held them and nurtured the baby chickens as they enter life and join our classroom. Below are some of the pictures of us enjoying the babies that have been before our very eyes! It's an incredible process that we've had the opportunity to witness!! We hope that you enjoy viewing our pictures as much as we've enjoyed having the experience.

Crazy Alabama Weather & Chick Time

Today and yesterday have been very weather hectic. Bessemer and other surrounding areas have been heavily affected by the severe storms and tornadoes. For the second day in row, we are getting out of school early due to the threat of tornadoes in the area. I am praying for those affected and for everyone to stay safe.

In brighter news, we have had some new visitors in our classroom. Three of our baby chicks have hatched and we are really enjoying seeing the whole experience. I really think it's something that the students and I are not soon to forget.

Candling Day 6 ~ Our chicken eggs!

Candling - 6 Day Mark

We counted 14 eggs that looked like they had babies in them. We put an O on eggs that we thought would hatch and an X on eggs that we thought would not hatch. Below is a picture of what our eggs looked like at 6 days:

Animals, Eggs, Incubators

We are starting our last science unit for the year ~ animals. We will be hatching eggs within the classroom. We are learning about several types of animals and insects. We are going to hatch chicken eggs, watch the change from caterpillar to butterfly, and learn about several other smaller insects and animals.  Below is a picture of our incubator and a chart we made comparing living and nonliving things. We hope to get the eggs early this week...