Very Hungry Caterpillars!!!

They hatched!!! Well, that was fast! Only 11 days from egg to caterpillar! Now we get to see how long it takes for our silkworms to turn into moths...
Does anybody have a mulberry tree in their yard that they would be willing to share? These little guys only eat mulberry leaves, and it's becoming clear that they want LOTS of them!!!

The Next Big Thing...

...is actually quite little.

Last Monday, Hannah (One of the Possum Room teachers) gave us a Ziploc bag full of what appeared to be dirty paper towels. upon closer examination, we could see that the paper towels were covered with tiny grey spots. "They're silkworm eggs!" Hannah told us. "Just cut out a piece of paper towel with a lot of little dots, stick them in a petri dish on top of a damp towel and cover them with an upside down bowl. They should hatch right around when you think they probably aren't going to hatch anymore!"

OK, Done!


They've been incubating since last Monday. The batch of eggs in the Possum Room started hatching this morning. We'll see if ours follow suit...

Monthly Mural: April- Eggs and Chicks

Whoops! With all of the excitement over the chicks, I almost forgot to post about the April installment of out monthly mural project! Fortunately, We remembered to add to the mural before April wrapped up...

Can you tell what this is?

Here's a hint...

This month, we took our inspiration from our chicken hatching project and decided to paint with "eggs" and "chicks"!

(While it was a tiny bit tempting to dip the actual chick's feet in the paint and let them contribute, we figured this could set a bad precedent for family pets...)

It's looking very full!

Adios, Pollitos!!!

Our little chicks aren't so little anymore;

One day old...

Three days old...

Six days old...

Time to go!!!

They're still adorable, but also...aromatic. They are also getting quite large. We moved them to a larger brood box last Friday, but they are already outgrowing that. Their wing and tail feathers are starting to fill out, and you can see them trying to stretch those wings and test their abilities (not unlike the children in the Frog room!) Clearly, these little chickies need a bigger home. That is why we sent them along to their new home at Francine's Farm this morning. In parting, here is a video that I took last Friday while the kids were dancing along with Elena, our awesome Spanish teacher. After singing "Camina, Camina ", Elana and the Frogs sang a lullaby to the baby chickies; 'Los Pollitos Dicen'

Adios, baby chickies! We will miss you (but not your smell)!

As Promised...

...Here is the video footage of one of our chicks hatching!!!

Which Came First?

As soon as we wrapped up our springtime maple sugaring project, the focus of the curriculum in the Frog room shifted to oviparity, or animals that hatch out of eggs.

The book Chickens Aren't The Only Ones by Ruth Heller was an excellent introduction to the wide variety of animals that hatch out of eggs. We used the illustrations of fowl, fish, insects, reptiles, and amphibians to inform which toys made it onto our free-play shelves.

One morning, a particularly organized member of the Frog class laid out an impressive display of our plastic oviparous animals. There were ants, beetles, snakes and dinosaurs...


...lots...

...and lots of Dinosaurs!

We also had a few birds...

...with nests...

... and eggs.

We continued our March tradition of incubating chicken eggs. After last year's failed hatches, we were a little wary, but it's such a great project that we decided to cross our fingers and try again. We placed the eggs in the incubator on April 6th. Then we settled in to wait the 21 days that it takes for a tiny clump of cells to grow into a living, breathing chicken!

Did you know that 21 days is a loooooooong time for a three-year-old to wait?

We made a paper chain with 21 links. Each day, we tore one off to help us keep track of how many days were left.

We also set up a 'practice egg' in a pillow nest on top of our classroom loft;

This egg was BIG. Large enough for a child or two to sit on! The kids were very intrigued with the egg, especially with guessing what kind of animal could possibly hatch out it. They were very careful around the egg, covering it with blankets to keep it warm and speaking with quiet voices when they were close by.

After about a week and a half (conveniently right at the mid-point of the incubation cycle for our real chicken eggs...) the Frogs came looked in the pillow "nest" to find these;

"Chickies!!!!!"

They were delighted, but not quite as delighted as they were yesterday, when we peeked in the incubator to see this;

Aaaaaaaghhh!!!!!! It actually worked!!!!!!!

One tiny, gooey chick, plus four eggs with tiny cracks in them. Hooray!!!!

Want to hear something even more exciting? This morning when we checked the incubator, we counted eight chicks total, plus one more egg with a big crack in it. Then, we saw a miracle;

ONE OF THE CHICKS HATCHED RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!!!!!

Truly. Amazing.

(P.S. I caught our hatching chick on video! It needs a little editing, but I'll post it as soon as it's done, along with more photos of our nine baby chicks!!!)

Life Science: From Sap to Syrup

When all was said and done, we collected about 8 gallons of maple sap. The Frogs had ample opportunity to witness liquid changing to gas, as we sloooooowly boiled off the water, a little at a time. Our classroom smelled delicious!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Syrup!!!

It was worth the wait. Yum!!!