Chicks hatching, Farms and Lifecycles

Ohmiword!!!  It's been an exciting day in my classroom.  We had our first chick hatch and to be honest...I was surrrrprised about it!!!! We put the eggs in our incubator on April 10th late in the afternoon.  So, technically tomorrow afternoon will be 21 days.  The thing that surprised me the most about this little chick is that he was in my white, Styrofoam incubator.  This is an incubator that gets the chicks that are "questionable".  In other words, I am one step away from throwing them out because when I candled them I really didn't think they would make it.  They stay here until the other ones hatch and then I get rid of all the extra eggs.  Last night I was in my room working late and I heard some chirping.  I thought it was just the birds outside singing.  I checked my clear incubator and saw nothing.  So, I left school and never thought of it again.  This morning I heard more chirping.  I looked in the incubator and saw nothing.  I went to the white foam one and TWO eggs had pips in them.  I was shocked!  Lucky little chicks were spared.  I moved the eggs to the clear incubators so that we could watch them hatch. (This post has LOTS of pics...sorry!)

My boys came with me to school this morning and they sat and watched the pip.

This is what we saw from early morning until lunch time.  There was NO change ALL morning.

During the end of my math lesson I spotted some movement in the egg.  I told the kids to put everything away and this is what we saw.  We watched for 15 minutes. I had my document camera on the incubator so we got to watch it all on the smart board. 

 

This little Chicky hatched RIGHT before we had to go to specialist!  We were EXCITED!!! 

We came back to the room and filled out a birth announcement and filled out a graphic organizer and then wrote about the chicks.

We also sang "Happy Birthday to the chick and had a birthday treat!

It was a great day!!! :)  Some of my first graders said that this was their best day in first grade. 

After school my boys and hubby helped me decorate our first grade cluster for our upcoming SPAC (academic night).  We decorated it in a farm scene because we will have our chicks on display.  Each class chose an animal from my TLC Lessons book that I bought.  My boys and hubby helped make the barn and hang everything.  This is what our cluster looks like now...

 My husband helping out...

 

It turned out really cute!!

 

We have been doing lots of things from my Chicks Unit that can be found here...Life cycles-Chicks-Math-and-Literacy-Unit-2-Common-Core-Aligned and Chicks-Math-and-Literacy-Centers.

 Dollar Store Puzzles

 Lakeshore Learning Puzzles

Puzzles with insects

 Eggs.  You crack each one open and they have a picture of what the chicks look like inside it on that day.

 Fact of Opinion cards and sentence writing.

 Sorting attributes game

 Past, Present and Future sentences.

 Money:  Matching coins with amounts.

 Determining if equations are true or not true.

 Looking at insects.

 Life Cycle stamps.

 Dollar Tree puzzle.

 Microscope with bug slides.

 Syllable sorting

 

My Doc Camera is set up on the incubator.  We can watch it on our Smart Board. 

 

I think that's about it for tonight!  Hope you are having a great week!

Sara

Five for Friday Linky Party 4/26/13

I can't believe it's Friday already!  I am linking up with Doodle Bugs to share 5 random things about week. 

 

 

1.     Right now my son is complaining because he says it's way too hot out.  It's 69 degrees and beautiful!   I had to remind him that on Monday it snowed 6 inches and looked like this.

 

To make things better we made our first DQ run for the season and I'm enjoying a  Peanut Butter Blast!  Life is good right now!



 

 

2.  I got a new pencil sharpener and it is amazing!!!  It works so well and I can't imagine life without it!  It's smooth and I can't believe how sharp our pencils get!

Check out out this blog.  Art Of Possibility For Teachers.  The review of this pencil sharpener is what sold me!!!  And I LOVE IT!!!!



 

3.  Every year our local Rotary holds a big event for our First Graders. All first graders in our 7 schools get to choose from 1 of 6 books that they would like to have.  The local fire department, police station, Valleyfair & Rotary are there greeting our kids as they enter the high school. (The Rotary pays for busing).  One of the Rotary members tells the 700+ first graders jokes to get the even started.  Jack Pearson then sings songs about reading and plays different instruments, including the spoons.  He gets the kids excited about reading.  After the program is over, the kids line up at different tables and get to pick up the book that they selected.  As they are leaving the school, a police officer hands them a backpack filled with lots of goodies.  They get pencils, stickers, wrist bands and coupons.  It's a great event that the kids love!    On Tuesday we got to go on this field trip.

 

4.  We have our SPAC night next week.  It's our Academic Night where students art work is displayed.  Some kids do academic projects (similar to science fair projects).  Because we talk about poetry in first grade, I do my Lovey project.  This week we started and completed the projects.  I got some pictures (but didn't get the finished one...and will share it next week). 

 

Prior to our activity,  I had the kids bring in something that they are attached to.  It could be a blanket or stuffed animal. 

 

We started by filling out a graphic organizer on our Lovey.  They described their Lovey, said who they got it from and when they used it.  They then wrote a poetry piece about their Lovey.  After they finished, I edited it with them and had them write it on white paper.  They traced it with black markers.

 









They then took 2 colors of chalk and colored over their papers with it.  They then took a Kleenex and smeared the chalk. 

This year I added another step and had them punch out the letters of their names in black paper.  We put this above their pictures.

I will post the pictures after our SPAC night next week.  I don't want to ruin the surprise for any parents that may be reading this.  :)  You can check out last years projects here --->   Lovey Projects.

 

5.  This week I became the proud owner of a duck egg.  A child in our school found a duck egg at the end of their driveway.  The momma duck was sitting on the egg in the morning but then she left it.  This child's mom emailed her last years teacher who contacted me (because she knows I have an incubator in my room).  She ended up bringing the duck egg to school.  I candled it and we saw some movement inside.  Soooo, now along with all my chick eggs, we have a duck egg.   If it hatches, it will be the day before our trip to the zoo.  The kids asked if we could bring it to the zoo with us?  I am not really sure if they allow that!?!  Anyway, I hope it hatches.

 

6.  (Okay...I have one more!)  On Wednesday I entered a content to win tickets to the Metrodome for the MN Vikings Draft party.  On Thursday morning I got a call saying that I won tickets!  Right after school my husband and I took the kids to the dome.  It was a lot of fun!  There were tons of kids activities and food!  We stayed for awhile but left before MN picked.  We had the 23rd pick and 25th pick.  It was a school night and we didn't want to keep the boys out late.  It was fun being there for awhile.

 

We got to see the new style of our jerseys. 

Tons of Vikings fans packed the dome!! 

 

I hope you have a great weekend!  I am off to enjoy the nice weather outside.

Sara