Bring Learning to Life with Chicks in the Classroom!
The cost of an egg incubator, incubator automatic egg turner, and thermometer from Nasco and Carolina Biological Supply Co. is $315, including shipping and <a target="new" href="http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm" onclick="g_openWindow('http://www.donorschoose.org/html/fulfillment.htm', 300, 800, 'fulfillwindow');return false;">fulfillment</a>.
I am a first grade teacher at Passages, a Chicago charter school serving recent immigrant students. Ninety-two percent of our Pre-Kindergarten to fifth grade students receive free lunch. About 74% of our students are first- or just barely second-generation immigrant (Indian, Pakistani, Ghanian, Congolese, Ethiopian, Mexican, Guatamalan, Bosnian, Albanian, Chinese, Korean, Phillipino, etc.).
I am very excited about the coming year. The other first grade teacher is coming up from kindergarten with her class, and we have had all summer to plan out our year, including social studies and science topics and field trips. The most exciting plan is that we would like to hatch chicks with our classes as part of our science unit on life cycles. Although a large percentage of our students' families come from rural backgrounds in their own countries, all are living a very urban life here in Chicago. The timeless primary school experience of watching embryos develop and then actually seeing the chicks peck their way out of the eggs is an invaluable lesson for all children. It is especially important for those who do not have the opportunity to watch life cycles in nature on a regular basis. This kind of hand-on science is also ideally suited for teaching English as a Second Language, as vocabulary acquisition and discussion skills grow naturally out of the children's curiosity about what is happening. In addition, this science unit is an integral part of our planned year-long character education, which will include a partnership with a animal shelter and regular animal visits to the classroom to discuss and demonstrate kindness and caring for all creatures -- which will hopefully carry over into cooperative play and positive support between kids in the classroom!
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