Chicks! Maps! Ducks!

The past week has been a blur! Benchmark testing... report cards... CHICKS HATCHING! We have been celebrating Chick Success in our life cycle studies! Seven of our eleven Rhode Island Red chicken eggs hatched! The children (and their teacher) are beyond excited! Unfortunately, the children didn't get to experience the hatching live, but thanks to technology, I was able to capture one of the chicks hatching. I tossed the footage into Movie Maker and had a video to share with the kiddos and their families. Expect to see duckling footage in about six days! That is, if Mother Nature favors us with precious, baby ducks!

Take a look:

I took advantage of Chick Fever to create a resource to use in math. Great Chirping Chickens focuses on CCSS NBT standards -- numbers to 1000, and comparing numbers. These will go into action tomorrow. I also wrapped up a skip counting kit that focuses on NBT skip counting to 1000 by 5's, 10's and 100's. You can take a look at them here:

Finally, we've begun our study of maps. I love/hate teaching map skills. I love it because children are so into maps. I hate it because it seems there are never enough grade-appropriate resources to teach skills like scale and grid coordinates. So, as I have said many times recently, necessity is the mother of invention! I put together a set of map materials to use to teach map skills this week and next. I am looking forward to using this one! More on this one later!

It's bedtime! Have a great Thursday. I like to think of Thursday as the new Friday. :)

Susan

Fertile Myrtle, I Am!

Our classroom has transformed into a mini-zoo, and we all love it! Our science curriculum focuses on life cycles, this quarter, and we have lots of critters to help us learn about life cycles. We have at least two dozen butterflies, which we have observed through the caterpillar and pupa stages. They will be released in a few days. 

Thanks to Petco's Kids 'n' Pets grant program, we have two fire belly toads in a terrific terrarium. If you're interested in Petco's Kids 'n' Pets program, the information is here. You'll need your principal's approval. It's an easy way to get a wonderful pet for your classroom without having to spend a ton of money. Thanks, Petco!

Sunset and Bubbles, our goldfish, are swimmingly happy in their aquarium. Our daily stars (helpers) get to feed them. Of course, Sunset and Bubbles beg for food every time someone walks by their tank. 

A student moved, and couldn't take his hermit crabs with him. So, we are the proud keepers of Adventurer and Hider. Hider is a terrific hider, too! He's been MIA for two days. I think he took to the depths of the moss and coconut mulch when Adventurer moved into his house.

The most exciting pets to me are the eggs that we have in our incubator. We have nine hen eggs and fourteen assorted duck eggs. They just went into the incubator yesterday, so we are getting to practice our patience for these pets. Twenty-one days from yesterday, we should have chicks, and a week later, we should have ducklings. Excitement!

Here's a picture of the duck eggs that came all the way from California.

Practicing patience...

Susan