Moving Right Along...

Well, first the chicks didn't hatch, and now it looks like a field trip to Mapeline Farms won't really work out in the near future, but...

Good things are happening!!! On the playground...

...the little corner plot of wheat that we planted as part of the Little Red Hen Project has sprouted...

...and the irises in our garden are finally blooming!

Inside the classroom, we are beginning to see our curriculum veer in a new direction. Last week, a child picked up a plastic cone from the block shelf, stuck a filmy scarf in the top, placed the whole thing on her head and announced, "Now, I am a princess!" This Tuesday, a different child came to school dresses as Dorothy from 'The Wizard of Oz'. Later, we found this little guy in a corner of the classroom;

...Hmmm, all signs point to "Dress Up Time" as our next curriculum exploration!

DIY Crowns made out of felt, Mylar and foam stickers.

Chick Watch '09' - Better Luck Next Time...

No chicks...Oh well.
We aren't sure what happened, but it seems like at some point, the embryos stopped developing and that was that. Definitely disappointing, but, as usual, the kids were much better at taking the news in stride than the grown ups were.
Francine and I carefully took the eggs out of the incubator first thing this morning. As you can imagine, eggs that have been sitting in a warm place like an incubator can get very rotten, very fast. We wanted to avoid the chance of the eggs exploding inside the incubator, so we felt that we couldn't wait for all of the children to arrive before we moved them. We put them in a carton, wrapped it in paper, and brought the whole package outside to the dumpster. When the kids arrived, we told them all individually that the eggs were gone. We tried to explain in simple terms what had happened. We said that the chicks did not hatch when they were supposed to, and that if chicks had not come out of their eggs by now, they were not coming out. We also said that we had to take the eggs out of the incubator before they became rotten.
During circle time, we had a more in depth conversation about what happened with the chicks inside the eggs. The kids had a chance to think about it and ask us questions. The main thing on everyone's mind was, "Why didn't the chickens hatch?" We said we did not know exactly why, but for some reason, the chicks had stopped growing inside the eggs and had died. We explained that the chicks were dead, and that when something is dead, it can't move by itself.
The whole concept of death is simple and complex at the same time. We could have gone on and on with this part of the discussion, but it was pretty clear that The Frogs were willing to accept our simple explanation of what "dead" means. Last week, we spent some time looking at dead bees and ladybugs with magnifying glasses. At the time, the children were able to explain to me that the bees and bugs would not fly away or sting them because they were "dead bugs".
The next thing the kids wanted to know was why we put the eggs in the dumpster. We explained that now, the contents of the eggs were turning into compost. When things turn into compost, they make gas- smelly gas! We explained that eventually, the smelly gas inside the eggs wouldn't have anywhere to go and the eggs would pop, just like a balloon- a very smelly balloon! We told them that, if the eggs were going to pop, we wanted them to do it in the dumpster!
We acknowledged that it was disappointing that the eggs didn't hatch when we wanted them to. We asked the kids if we should try again, and they were unanimous; YES!!! We said we'd give it a little time, then we'd get some more eggs for round two.
The overall tone of our circle time was a nice combination of serious, inquisitive, lighthearted and hopeful. On the one hand, we teachers wish things had turned out differently so we could watch the children's reaction to an incubator full of fluffy chicks. On the other hand, we all learned so much from this experience, even if it didn't go exactly as we wanted it to.

Chick Watch '09' - Holding Out Hope For The Weekend...

....Still nothing.
Francine checked in with a friend who used to raise chickens commercially and was told not to give up until the weekend was done. Considering that we started incubating the eggs on a Wednesday very deliberately so that the hatch would fall in the middle of the week, it would be very ironic if the chicks waited for the long weekend to make their appearance. Let's hope we have ironic chickens!!!

Chick Watch '09'- WWTID*

(*What Would The Internet Do?)

Still nothing. The kids are being very patient. The grown ups, however are antsy!
We checked the calendar and double checked our counting to confirm that yesterday was indeed our chick's estimated delivery date. While it is not uncommon for it to take a bit longer than 21 days for chicks to hatch, we figured it wouldn't hurt to do ask the Internet for bright ideas on how to coax little chickens out of their eggs...
After a little research, we raised the humidity level in the incubator by adding more water to the water channels in the bottom and by putting a couple of damp sponges in the corners. We removed the eggs that were clearly chick-less to prevent them from going bad and possibly exploding (ewwwww!) And, we let the kids help us out with one suggestion. Several blogs and extension service web sites recommended 'peeping' at the eggs to tell the chickens that it's time to come out already. Seriously. Well, as you can imagine, the children were more than happy to follow this advice, 'peeping' collectively throughout the day in hopes of inspiring the chicks to hatch.
We grown ups also checked how long we should leave the eggs in before accepting that they weren't viable. According to most sources, 26-28 days is the maximum, but realistically, the chances of a successful hatch starting after day 23 are slim. Day 23 would be tomorrow, so let's keep our fingers crossed!
As we've been telling the kids all along, the only ones who get to decide if and when the chicks are going to come out are the chicks. We're still hoping strongly for a successful hatch, but however things turn out, we will still learn an important lesson.

(Of course, there's nothing preventing us from trying again...)

Chick Watch '09'- Still Nothing....

Patience....

Chick Watch '09'- Waiting...

We've been checking the eggs periodically. No cracks, no peeps, all is quiet in the incubator. We'll post updates here as events warrant.

Chick Watch '09' Begins!!!

Today during circle time, we talked about how this should be the last full day that the chickens spend inside their eggs. If everything goes as we had hoped, they should start hatching tomorrow or the next day! We have been candling the eggs regularly to get a glimpse of what was going on inside. At last count, we had four eggs that looked like they clearly had embryo's developing, five eggs that clearly didn't have any chicks in them, and seven eggs that had shells that were too thick to show us anything when we held them up to the candler. We'll see how many hatch!
The children have been really enjoying pretending to be baby chicks who are getting ready to hatch. We told them the whole story of how previous hatches have played out, and the children act out every single step with such reverence for the whole process! The first thing they do is scrunch up into a ball and pretend that they are crowded inside an egg. Then they use their 'egg tooth' to break a tiny hole in the shell. The "chicks" start 'peeping' to each other to let the other chicks know it's time to hatch. Hatching is hard work, so they take a nap to rest up, then they make the crack in the egg bigger, then they take another nap, then they crack the egg some more...this goes on for a looooong time until the 'chicks'/children are ready for the final push out of the egg. Once they are all hatched, the Frog/chicks fluff up their feathers, and take another nap! If you're looking for a good time, try asking your child if they will do their dramatic interpretation of a hatching chicken... It's very entertaining!
We are hoping that all of this pretending will prepare the children for how long it takes for the chickens to hatch. They have certainly been very patient up until this point! We will update here with any new chicken information. In the meantime, here are a few more 'hatching' videos from you tube to tide you over!

Chickens;


Snakes;


More snakes (long!);


Monarch Caterpillar;


Enjoy, and keep your fingers crossed for our eggs!

Sugar Shack Field Trip Redux!

We interrupt our poultry mania to bring you some almost forgotten photos from our recent field trip to a local Maple Sugar Shack!

The North Hadley Sugar Shack is owned an operated by the Boisvert family. In addition to harvesting sap from all over the Pioneer Valley, they also operate a breakfast restaurant/country store that features products produced on local farms.

We started our field trip out with a guided tour of the farm given by Joe Boisvert, one of the brothers who owns the farm. Joe showed us several different types of maple taps and buckets in action. He also showed us the giant storage tanks where the sap waits to be boiled down into Maple Syrup.

We learned that once the trees start to produce buds, the sugaring season is over. The trees need the sap to produce leaves, and the sap takes on a bitter flavor once the buds appear. Since our field trip coincided with a batch of unseasonably warm weather, we just missed seeing the sap being boiled down in the Sugar Shack's wood fired evaporator. Of course, the advantage of this was that we could get a good close look at the evaporator without having to contend with fire, steam, and boiling syrup!

After we toured the evaporator room, Joe asked if anyone would like a little cup of maple syrup to taste. Now take a moment to imagine the response one might get if they asked a group of three year olds if they wanted to drink maple syrup...

...Lets just say, they were into the idea!

After our tour, we said goodbye to Joe and headed over to the restaurant for a pancake snack. We have no photos from this portion of the trip, as the grown ups were busy cutting up pancakes and fulfilling the many requests for "more syrup!"

Now that the kids were all jacked up on Maple Syrup, we headed out to the "Animal Village" portion of the farm. The Boisverts keep a small flock of extremely friendly goats and sheep on hand to entertain small guests. The Frogs were more than happy to feed them large handfuls of hay and to groom them with brushes. We did, however, draw the line at kissing the goats. (yes, someone tried....)

Overall, the consensus was that this was a great field trip. We are so fortunate to live in a part of the country that produces so many agricultural products. Curriculum that shows children in a direct, hands on kind of way where their food comes from is a powerful way to plant the seeds of environmental stewardship. Next, we hope to plan a field trip to Mapeline Farms to see where the milk we drink at snack time comes from. Stay tuned for details!

More Chickens!

We are all wrapped up in our life science curriculum. Lately we have been focusing on Oviparous animals, ie. animals that hatch from eggs. Of course, our incubating chicken eggs are the main attraction. They have been incubating for six days so far. Later this week, we will be candling the eggs to see if we can spot the outlines of our chicken embryos. It's going to be hard to wait the 10-12 days until they are ready to come out. Today during circle, we watched this video to tide us over. Enjoy!



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