Eggs no more….

Agriculture in the classroom ended last Wednesday with a variety of workshops throughout the school. Students were able to hold baby chicks, learn about raising and caring for chickens, eat prepared egg dishes and listen to our 4Hers impart their knowledge.

Meanwhile back in the library, the incubator sat silent. Despite all our preparation, care, and data gathering, Mother Nature decided when the egg would hatch. Sadly, we had only one egg hatch on Thursday and we think it may be due to the fluctuation in temperature. "Thor," as he was named by a staff member, was introduced to every student in the school that afternoon. While it poured and thundered outside, Thor decided it was time to make his grand entrance. The kids loved it as many had never seen a newly hatched chick. He went to live with one of our 4Hers on a farm where he has his own flock.

The kids learned a lot during the past few weeks. We, in the library, are excited to learn what next years' topic will be so we can be involved again as a way to research, gather data, and read about agriculture.


One of our 4Hers proudly demonstrating to students how to hold a chick.

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The Noisy Librarian

Data, data, and more data

The students continued to candle the chicken eggs this week. Every group saw at least one moving chick inside an egg. We also viewed some infertile eggs which made for some interesting discussions! They continued to monitor the temperature, which appeared to level out finally, and we discontinued monitoring humidity as it stayed the same. However, we measured the weight of each egg and compared it to the weight of the egg at day seven. We were fortunate enough to have someone pre-record the original weight of each egg, and the predicted weight at days seven and fourteen. The kids recorded day fourteen's findings. Here is the data we have gathered thus far.
Key:
G=good egg
B=bad egg
?= we are unsure
G!= we saw a chick moving

Our findings showed that the "good" eggs seemed to be right on weight target while the eggs we marked with a "B" seemed to be farther off the predicted weight. We are hoping that there will be chicks when we return to school on Monday, and we can see if our data is accurate. 

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The Noisy Librarian

Egg check

After a tumultuous week of checking temperature and humidity, the kids were finally able to candle the eggs. We waited until today because of the fluctuation of the incubator and wanted the kids to at least see one veined egg.

Here are some second grade thoughts.

We went into the teacher's bathroom to candle the eggs, it was cramped with all of us in there. There is an automatic flushing toilet in that bathroom and it kept flushing while we were in there which was funny and annoying. This is the inside of an egg at day nine. We saw a chick moving and veins which means there is a chick inside the egg. Some of the eggs had some chicks and some of the eggs didn't. We will check them again next week.

A picture of a candled egg taken by a second grade student. The black at the bottom is the chick.

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Agriculture in the classroom

We are very lucky to be able to participate in Agriculture in the classroom. This year the theme is chickens and because of our 4-H kids and dedicated parents, we are hatching chicks in the library. Last week the 4H kids came in and placed 40 chicken eggs in an incubator. They informed me of the conditions needed to allow the eggs to hatch, and the posters they created were placed around the library showing the embryo development. We also have temperature and humidity charts students are tracking to gather data. This is quite the process and everyone is excited to see if all the eggs hatch.



More responses to the definition of "librarian"

Grades 3/4
"A helpful person who helps us find information."
"The one that owns the library."
"Someone who will help you through the wonderful world of literature."
"Teaches you about books and helps you when you need it."

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The Noisy Librarian