First-grade classrooms at Edison Elementary are carrying on a three-year tradition at the school that gives students a great lesson in kindness, respect, and patience!
A total of six classrooms have spent the last few weeks experiencing and understanding the process of hatching chicks. Each classroom received six eggs to incubate, all graciously provided by art teacher Wendy Yengst’s sister-in-law, who owns a farm on Grand Island. The Edison PTA also bought incubators and hatching equipment for the five classrooms who needed supplies.
Throughout the hatching process, the students learned about the life cycle and development of a chicken, respect for living creatures, animal care, and seeing the chicks hatch before their very eyes! They kept a hatching calendar, a journal to document each day’s activity, and fully immersed themselves in learning about the chicks.
“We time out the hatch so that hopefully the students can experience a chick hatching,” Edison 1st grade teacher Karen Kull said. “This year my class actually saw one of the chicks ‘pip’, crack, and be born during the school day. It was such an amazing experience.”
Following the hatching, the classrooms will keep the chicks for about 1 ½ weeks and will spend that time monitoring their temperature and caring for them. That process includes the students holding the chicks, reading to them, and even singing them songs!
“They are excited to come in each day and see their new babies, call them by their name, and take care of the life they helped to grow,” Kull said. “The parents have sent messages that this experience is one that they will always treasure.”
Once they reach the age of 1 ½ weeks, they are brought back to a free-range farm where they can begin to fly and adjust to living in their true habitat.
