They hatched!

Our chicks hatched last week and BOY was there EXCITEMENT in our classroom!  We watched the WHOLE process.  We came into our room in the morning and noticed that 9 eggs had pips in them.  We observed the first chick breaking through right before we went to lunch!  Some of the kids said it was their best day ever in first grade! I used my Document Camera for the whole thing.  I focused it on the incubator and the kids got to see everything on my Smart Board. I was also about to record the whole thing with my Doc Camera.  I had a first grade miss the entire week...so we were able to show it to her. 

 12 chicks hatched...

 They each got to hold one...

First egg...first chick...

Almost all the way through...

On Smart Board...

Hello little one...

Watching in the dark....

Doc Camera set up on incubator...

My son and sister came with me at night to check on the chicks.  We got to observe two more hatching.

My first graders set up some chicken books by the incubator for the chicks to look at. We found this little chick "reading" the book during the day.

Hello...little one!

I came in the morning and the incubator was full!!!

Poetry...Oh Lovey

This week our school is having our SPAC night.  It's an academic night where every student in the school has art work and projects displayed for their parents to come and look at.  Every child has at least two pieces of work displayed.  First grade always does poetry projects.  For the past few years I have had my kids bring in their LOVEY to school.  A Lovey is something they have a special attachment to.  It could be something they have had since they were a baby or toddler.  It is something they feel a connection to.  I send a note home to my parents and have them send them to school (reassuring them that we will only take the item out for a picture).  Some parents fear that their child my lose their item...and it would be tramatic...because they can't go without their special blanket or stuffed animal.  The first thing we do is take pictures with our Lovey.  We then brainstorm adjectives and feelings that we have towards our Lovey.  The children then write about their Lovey...why it is special, how long they have had it, when they use it, ect.  After writing about it, we edit their writing together.  I then have them copy the poem on a big sheet of white paper.  I attach lines behind the paper so they have guide lines to write on.  When they are finished writing their poem, they trace the words with Sharpie markers.  They then pick two colors of chalk and use the sides of it to color their paper.  When done, they take a tissue and blend the colors together.  I then look at the colors they selected and mat their pictures on paper of the same color and attach to their poem!  This project is a lot of work...but SO worth it and parents love it!!!

 First step...take pictures of kids with their Lovey.  I develop the pictures in Sepia.

 Next brainstorm words to describe Lovies.  Have them write about their Lovey.

 Transfer to big white sheet of construction paper.

 Use two colors of chalk to color paper.  Color over words after they have been traced with Sharpie markers.

Finished projects.

Here is a copy of the note that I send home to parents.

You can get it by clicking here:

Lovey Note to Parents

Chicks

Whew!!!  Today was a busy day!  It was an exciting day in our classroom.  The chicken eggs arrived and we put them in the incubator.  We are now counting down 21 days for their arrival.  They can hardly contain themselves.  Today we read the story Chicken Chuck.  It was about a chicken who ate a blue seed and sprouted a blue feather at the top of his head.  He thought he was special and became quite bossy.  We talked about the CH blend and listened for CH words in the story.  We then pretended that we sprouted a blue feather and made a self portrait.  They turned out super cute.  After making our self portraits we wrote about why we were special. They turned out super cute.  When my sister (who is an art teacher) came to drop off the chicken eggs she saw them and said they were pretty cool.  She asked if they made them in art class...and they said, "NO!"  If you can't tell...I am pretty impressed with myself...I have no artist talent what-so-ever.  Here is how they turned out.

Tomorrow we will read Chicky, Chicky, Chook, Chook and do the following activities. 

Worksheet 1

Worksheet 2

We also started our Chick Math and Literacy Centers today.  The kids worked on the H blends one today.    You can get that here.

Chicks Math and Literacy Centers

Chicks

I can't believe that spring break is coming to an end.  I am excited that summer will soon be here.  I am also excited to get back to school this week.  This is my favorite time of the year.  We start our life cycle unit and will be getting our chick eggs on Tuesday.  My kids and I absolutely love waiting the 21 days for them to arrive.  As we are waiting we will be doing some fun math and literacy centers.  I am posting them here.  I will also post the fun art projects that we will be doing during the next couple weeks. 

You can find all these center activties here...
Chick Math and Literacy Center Activities