05/28/2025
🐣 Throughout early May, anticipation grew as students in Kelly Kilts’ second grade classroom carefully monitored their incubator 🥚, learning patience while preparing for the arrival of their feathered friends. During this time, students actively studied proper chick care 📖, from temperature requirements 🌡️ to feeding routines, preparing them to become responsible caretakers.
The classroom expected three chicken breeds to emerge: lavender orpingtons 💜, barred rocks, and olive eggers.
On day 9 of incubation, students became young scientists, using a process called candling to peer inside the developing eggs 🔍. By carefully illuminating the eggs 💡, they could see the chicks forming inside their shells. The classroom was filled with excitement as students witnessed biology in action🧬!
After 21 days of careful observation, the moment everyone had been waiting for arrived. As the first chicks began breaking through their shells using their special egg tooth 🐣, students made a discovery: the newly hatched chicks would peep to their siblings still inside their eggs 🗣️, essentially telling them "it's time to hatch!" ⏰
Now that the chicks have successfully hatched, students are enjoying hands-on learning as they care for their classroom visitors 👩🎓👨🎓. Many students have already expressed interest in adopting chicks to take home 🏠, showing how this experience has fostered both scientific curiosity 🔬 and genuine care for living creatures 💚.
This immersive learning experience has given Ridgeview's second graders memories that will last a lifetime 🌟, while teaching valuable lessons about life cycles ♻️, responsibility 🤝, and the incredible processes that occur in nature every day 🌿.
Read more stories at ysd7.org/ysdstories 📖
