Last week, we continued our year long study of life cycles. Over the kindergarten year, students learn about how both animals and plants change over time. We have focused on the life cycle of a variety of things - beginning with butterflies, apples, and pumpkins in the fall, then to seasons, frogs, and now we will be looking closely at the life cycle of a chicken and its cycle from egg to chicken. On Wednesday, students made observations of the over two dozen eggs being housed in an incubator in the library. As they learn about how to best care for the embryo and to help it develop into a chick, they have important jobs - watching the temperature of the incubator, turning the eggs, and making sure other students do not disrupt the growing process in the library nursery. Students decided to make signs to hang around the library to ensure all members of UES are careful around the eggs. Students are thus acting like a mother hen - caring each day for the chicks.
For calendar this month, we are using it as documentation and a way to watch the growing chick. The calendar markers describe with either words or cross sections of the inside of an egg, what is happening inside. This is allowing children to have a visualization of the growing embryo - without having to crack open the egg. Below you will also see an observation journal that is being kept next to the incubator to help students record their observations and results each day. Students are using the scientific process as they ask questions, make hypothesis, make observations, and record their results in an ongoing journal. INQUIRE with your child how long the process will take? How are they like a mother hen? What questions does your child have about the life cycle of a chick?
