c is for chickens

we had some chicks visit during c week.

really, there are a fantastic classroom pet!

some children have experience with these creatures already, and for some this was their “first time ever in my life seeing one of these not in a book.”

a little chicken movie:

then during e week, i brought an egg laying hen from my house.

and wonder of all wonders, she LAID AN EGG DURING THE AFTERNOON CLASS!

i noticed she was pacing in her cage and singing her “egg song,” so we covered her cage with blankets, added another block so she could make a nest and left her alone for the last part of the day.  during show and tell, i peeked in and there was an egg!  we passed it around and i hope i never forget the look of 13 sets of pudgy hands holding a warm egg.

then, just to verify that eggs don’t come out of the hen with a chick fully formed in it, we broke it (and cooked it the next day).

and then when the day was over, the chicken had a little free range classroom style:

thank you, john’s family for the classroom cage!