These last 3 weeks, we celebrated farm life.
Going back to the beginning of the unit, we first farmed out the classroom...
and, in honor of Mother's Day, created our door display as we learned about mamas and babies.
But, truly kicking off our farm lessons, we had a special delivery. We received 6 fertilized eggs from a chicken farm in Chula Vista.
We voted on each egg's name and then carefully placed each one into our incubator. This would be their home for the next 21 days.
Then, we waited.
As we waited, we tended to our crops...
we studied farm vocabulary words...
and we performed farm math.
We never forgot about our babies, though. We made sure to consistently turn the eggs...
and add water to the humidifier.
Then, we waited some more.
As we waited, we learned our favorite farm animal's name en español...
and painted them, too.
We learned about the chick's development within the egg...
and, using an egg candler, we got to see glimpses of our developing chicks.
Still, we waited.
While we waited, we played farm animal math games...
we played farm animal finger puppets...
and we shared all our farm knowledge with our Pioneer Day School friends...
by showing them how farm animals move.
Finally, finally... the day was here!
It all started with Chick Chick. First, there was a hole...
then there was chirping from inside the egg...
and, before long, we opened the incubator to find Chick Chick!
The next morning, we came to school to find Rose and Chipmunk had hatched, too!
Finally, poor William. It took him twice as long as his siblings to hatch from his shell and, once he came out, he was very weak. After a day or two, however, he rallied and made a full recovery!
They went to their nursery home under a heat lamp so that they could rest and grow strong.
Meanwhile, we got to investigate their shells...
read The Little Red Hen sentence strips...
and baked Little Red Hen loaves of bread...
and letter "P" pizza pretzels (see what I did there?) for our May Stand Up For Kids meal.
Thank you
so much for everyone's continued support of feeding the children of the Stand Up For Kids homeless shelter. This simple act is so very meaningful and not only feeds hungry adolescents, but also lets them know we care. To top it all off, they're so entertained knowing preschool students make their dinner each month.
Ending our unit, we presented on our favorite farm animals to the class.
Drawing, painting, selecting our own photos, and dictating our own words, we each made an introduction...
discussed our animal's job on the farm...
taught our friends what our animal's name is in Spanish...
and talked about each animal as a baby.
Our farm unit ended this weekend, so it was time to say goodbye to our chicks as we sent them to live at their new forever home with Ms. Corinna.
They're so happy in their new coop!
But, since they're with Ms. Corinna, we'll be sure to get lots and lots of updates!
It was a good month!
