Our chicks hatched!

 

HERE THEY ARE! We have 9 healthy chicks! We had a great experience in library and STEAM watching our chicks in the incubator and then witnessing them hatch. 

Now that they hatched, our chicks have been moved into a sandbox with a warming plate, chick starter food, water, and shredded paper. They will stay with us for a couple of days before we return them to the farm. Returning them to the farm allows us to continue our program from year to year. The eggs we received this year to incubate may even be from chicks we hatched last year! Truly the circle of life! (Can't you hear the song?!)

If you are interested in hatching your own chicks, take a look at our earlier post HERE. We love teaching life cycles with our chick unit, virtual classroom, and google presentation. It has been a great month. 

Update on the HEN HOUSE

It is almost time! Sunday was DAY 18 for our eggs in the incubator, so we went into LOCKDOWN MODE! 

What does this mean? 

Step ONE: To get the eggs ready for hatching, we have to take out the egg turner, so the chicks have enough room to start zipping, pipping, moving and getting themselves out of their shells. 

Step TWO: Remove the red plug on side B of the water reservoir and fill up both sides (A and B), so the humidity increases to 80%. 

Step THREE: Open the vent on the front of the incubator lid ALL the way, so there is proper ventilation. 

Now we wait and see what happens over the next couple of days. Hopefully we will hear the chicks chirping in the next 24-48 hours, and then they will start using their egg tooth to zip and pip their way out of their shell. 

We will keep everyone posted! 

Here is a great presentation my colleague updated with pictures and information from different sources. We have been sharing this with our students: 

If you are looking for stories and videos, you can view the Hen House Bitmoji classroom HERE. If you would like to make copy and edit the links you can do so HERE. 

May Choice Board and an update on the HEN HOUSE!

I am not sure how it can be May already, but here we are! April and May in the library have been really exciting as we follow the development of our chicks. I created a simple interactive classroom for students to access while we are studying the life cycle of a chick.  Today is DAY 13, and our chicks are growing their down feathers. Their projected hatch date is May 10th. If you click on the image, it will take you to the website, and you can view the interactive hen house. 

You can make a copy HERE if you would like to use it and make changes. 

I have also updated the choice board for May. Some of the activities are repeats from previous months, but I did include the Star Wars board from Shannon McClintock Miller with links that should work with our firewall. 

The May choice board can be viewed on the website when you click the image: 

Feel free to make a copy HERE, so you can make changes!

Part of the choice board includes the Gordon Library research HUB. I started this to highlight different research topics I have curated for students over the years. Click on the image below to view it. 

You can make a copy HERE and make changes. 

I hope there are some resources here that you can use with your students to close out the school year. Happy May! 

We are hatching chicks...CANDLING!

 

Our library classes are candling the eggs for the students to locate the embryo and the veins. We captured some pretty great pictures!

Day 7: 

The heart and stomach are developing. The chick's body starts to catch up to its head. 

Day 8: 

Feather traces appear. This is where the feathers will grow. 

Day 9:

The chick's body continues to grow and catch up with the head. 

Day 9 is a great day to candle. The document camera is connected to a google meet, which is projected on the board. This allows the entire class to see the egg candling. It is quite the set up! 

May 10th is the projected hatch date!