The morning Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten class children were mother hens for two weeks as they took care of 12 baby chicks.
Farmer Larry from Quiver Farms delivered 12 eggs, taught us how to take care of them, and also brought Henry and Henrietta, a hen and rooster, for a visit to our room.
For the first week the students carefully checked the temperature on the incubator several times a day to make sure it was a constant 99.5 degrees, they gently rolled the eggs in the incubator three times a day, and added a little bit of water to make sure the environment for the eggs was moist.
SUCCESS!! We had a perfect hatch with 12 beautiful chicks born mostly during class time! The children were so excited and immediately began caring for the baby chicks in their new environment, the brooder box. They filled their food dish twice a day with chick food they thought looked a lot like crushed Cheerios and gave them fresh water morning and afternoon. The day before the chicks returned to the farm, we got them out of the brooder box, put them on a blanket in the middle of our circle, and watched them run around and explore. We gently petted them with one finger and said good-bye when Farmer Kyle picked them up to take them back to their farm.
In addition to the academics, learning opportunities about other cultures and celebrations is part of the curriculum at Brookeside Montessori. We are now taking enrollment for the 2015-2016 school year.