It's Chick Week in the OC! - Teacher Christine

Nineteen baby chicks hatched this week and we couldn't be happier! The kids arrived on Monday to find four newly hatched chicks in the incubator and by Wednesday, they had all hatched out, fluffed up, and were ready for life outside of the incubator.

By Wednesday, we had 19 chicks hatched and they were ready to be moved to a larger enclosure. The kids loved observing the little fluffy chicks. :)

The kids were so calm and careful as they held the sweet little chicks on Friday. Many of them came back for a second turn.

We made astro-blast chicken art on Monday! The kids dipped rock filled socks into yellow and gold paint and sent them blasting into a box to create yellow splatters. Then they added beaks, feathers, and eyes (some of these chicks have a lot of eyes!). These turned out beautifully and are hanging in the classroom. Come see!

Our second activity on Monday was a fun baby and mama duck game. Each player had to get their mama duck to her babies. Once she picked them up, they made their way along the lily pads to a pond! These simple board games give the kids wonderful practice with turn taking, patience, and counting.

On Wednesday each child drew another self portrait. These are part of their art book that will be sent home at the end of the school year. It's always so fun to see how much these change over the school year.

The kids filled their memory boxes and sticker books with fun memories of our space, ocean, and baby chicken units.

On Friday the kids had a wonderful time making egg carton collages. They used paints, googly eyes, straws, puff balls, and gems to create a fabulous sculptures. These open ended art projects are a great way to play with different colors and materials.

We had watercolors out at our art table on Friday and they  LOVED painting all sorts of beautiful pictures. 

The caterpillars grew a ton this week and most of them have journeyed to the top of their enclosure to form a chrysalis! 

This group of artists is always hard at work.

The kids had fun playing with eggs and gems in the water tub.

Play dough is always fun and relaxing.

The light table was decorated with sticky balls and eggs of various shapes and sizes.

We had bears and blocks at the building table. Some of the kids had fun building mazes with the blocks!

Many of the kids spend time reading books in the book nook.

The kids love to play in the loft and to try on fun new costumes at school.

More friends had a great time taking care of Panda!

We celebrated a special birthday. :) 

We had fun reading books about spring!

We learned a fun song called "Mrs. Gooney Bird Had Seven Chicks" and pretended to be chicks hatching out of their eggs. 

We returned to the Garden Home Library this week for a sweet spring story time.

Warm spring weather makes recess even more fun!

Next week we shift gears from baby chicks and begin watching our caterpillars go through metamorphosis to become butterflies! We will also begin preparing for Mother's Day!

Warmly,
Christine and Meghan