Hatching Chicks

Our favorite first grade science unit is underway! Every May the first grade classes hatch chicks to continue their learning about life cycles (in Kindergarten they study the butterfly and frog life cycle). I have included some photos. The first few are of our class learning about cleaning the eggs and setting them up in the incubator as well as how to properly clean their hands when handling the eggs. Each day two students have the job of being egg turners, turning the eggs in the incubator the way a mother hen does when brooding, so I included a couple photos of kids doing that job as well.

Today we candled the eggs for the first time! We candle the eggs by shining a bright light through each one to see the embryo growing inside (like an egg ultrasound!). All students got a chance to candle eggs with me today so make sure to ask about this at home. So far all 13 eggs are looking good! We were able to see the air pocket (the chick breaks this with its beak the day before hatching to take its first breath of air), embryo, blood vessels, and each embryo's heart which shows up as a very dark spot in the center of the embryo! I am including a few photos of us candling eggs too. You will notice in the photos that my old overhead projector has been re-purposed as an "egg candling machine!" These kids are so used to all the new tech we use every day that when I pulled the overhead projector out of the closet I got the question, "what is that old thing?" Ha!