Classroom Incubator Kit

I am a fourth grade, homeroom teacher for emotionally troubled students. My students are severely limited in the amount of "outside classroom" exposure they receive, but for the first time this year, my class will be taking a class trip - to the Bronx Zoo. I was amazed at how excited my students were at the thought of feeding the animals at the petting zoo and seeing the new baby gorilla that they had been learning about. I realized how limited such environmental experiences are for my population of lower-class, urban children. I desperately want to make such awe-inspiring and thought provoking activities a regular part of my classroom atmosphere. Therefore, when I remembered the excitement I had as a student watching the process of an egg hatch in a classroom incubator and playing with the newly born chick, I knew that was the right activity for my students. When I mentioned it to my students, they eagerly confirmed my suspicions and have since been asking me when we will get to hatch the eggs. As I began investigating how to go about incubating and hatching chicken eggs, I was confronted by the high cost of such an activity. Many websites showed fully equipped classroom kits that included all of the necessary materials, such as the following: 1) Classroom Incubator (must have automatic rotation) - Because no one can have access to the school over weekends, the incubator has to be self rotating, because the eggs need to be rotated three times a day. 2) Brooder - Once the eggs hatch, we will need a place to keep them until we donate them to a farm 3) Feed Trough and drinker - For feeding the chicks after they hatch One reason why this activity is so wonderful is that it is not limited to the science arena; rather, it can cross all levels of the curriculum. In literacy, the students will be able to write down their observations during the incubation process, create imaginative dialogues between the chicks, and write other creative or observational pieces. In math, we can chart the chicks' growth, record temperature, and even do experiments with different food types. Even in social studies, such an experiment will open up discussions on farming. I have a classroom of 12 students. However, the experiment done in my classroom will be shared with the 6 other special education classrooms in my school (each with 12 students). Also, the materials for such an activity will be able to be used each year. I believe that the hands-on experience of seeing life being born and having a part in that will be both educationally and emotionally beneficial to my students. It is one thing to have the students read about an egg hatching, but it is completely different to enable them to become part of that experience. It is this kind of experience that will remain with them and allow them to grow as individuals.