Hatch day came early! We were counting down the days to Wednesday's "due date", but were surprised when we arrived Monday morning and found a baby chick in the incubator! Since then, two more chicks emerged from their shells. "Sir Valiant", "Minuit", and "Fluffball" are all enjoying their new home in our class bathtub. They have many adoring fans. But it gets better... Farmer Crystal was wanting more chicks for her farm and it just so happened that a new shipment arrived at Bruce's Market this week. Since we have temporarily stolen her heat lamp for our classroom, she brought the new babies in to share in the bathtub love. Allow us to introduce: - Bolt - Donkey - Fluff - Poofy - Icy Pop - Wally - Hawes - Marty It has, naturally, been a chicken- and egg-themed week in class. We did some egg investigations involving measurement, weight, and would an egg float in water? How about salt water? We had fun making hypotheses, testing our theories, and adapting our tools based on different challenges that arose. We also did a directed draw of a mother hen and her chick, and are using it as a title page for the little stories we have begun writing about chicks. This week's STEM challenge was also brought to you by eggs...and birds... Can you build a nest out of materials in the forest, just like a bird? We started out by watching a video on different types of bird nests, then examined some real nests and discussed the types of materials that could work well. We decided we would need stuff that is "souple" (bendy/pliable), and "dou" (soft). Madame also told us about how Indigenous people used to use cedar bark to weave baskets, blankets, nets, etc. because it's so soft and pliable. With the help of our big buddies, we then went to the forest and attempted to construct nests of our own. The main challenge was the construction, itself, which we found out was surprisingly difficult, even with opposable thumbs! Imagine doing this with just a beak! The bonus challenge was: can your nest hold a raw egg for the entire walk back to school from the forest? Our constructions were actually pretty solid and most of the eggs made it back unscathed! Extra photos...
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