This week has been very exciting for the Ladybird class as we have had several new arrivals at our nursery. On Monday our chicken eggs arrived, they were all numbered then put into the incubator to keep warm as they were getting ready to hatch. The children were able to look at the eggs whilst an adult explained to them what was going to happen over the following few days.
The adult shared a book with the children about the life cycle of a chicken showing them the different stages of development with pictures. When we had finished looking at the book the children were asked which number egg they thought would hatch first. They then went back to the room to write their names and put it under the numbered egg they had chosen on our tally chart. Then the waiting began…
On Wednesday morning when Karen came into work she checked the eggs and to her surprise one had hatched, it was egg number ten. The children were greeted with the exciting news and shown a photo of the first chick. Later in the day the children had the opportunity to have a look at the chick, very quietly they went into the room and to our surprise another chick had hatched. We knew it had only just hatched because it was still wet and not moving much. We explained to the children it was very tired as it takes a long while to peck at the shell, but after watching and waiting for a while the little chick stood up and started moving around, the children were so pleased to see this and they were all very good at being quiet. Throughout the day another three chicks hatched, once their feathers had dried out they were transferred to another warm box so they had more room to move around. Then the waiting began again…
On Thursday morning when Karen came into work and checked on the chicks. The chicks were chirping away and all the other eggs had hatched, we now have ten fluffy chicks. The children were greeted with this news again and shown photos of them all. Later that day the children went to meet them all, the children were amazed, this has helped the children with their language, they have had the opportunity to learn some new words and their meanings for example, incubator, hatching and cycle. The children have used lots of new words when looking at the chicks e.g. fluffy, cute and cheep cheep. The children were all very good at listening to the adults when they explained they had to be quiet and sit on the chairs, they are also aware that if they were to hold the chicks they had to be very gentle, next week we hope the chicks are strong enough to be held by us. We cannot wait for next week!!
