Earth Materials unit gets rolling!

Our first graders will be learning all about earth materials in the next few weeks as part of an integrated science and writing unit.  Students will be practicing writing "All About Books" using introduction sentences, facts, and conclusions as they learn about the many different kinds of earth materials and their uses.

To continue the learning at home and satisfy those excellent questions the first graders ask, check out the links I've gathered on our class webpage:

First Grade Rocks!

These links have a range of informative text, videos, and games to help students explore earth materials further.

Many students have asked to share their own personal rock collections in class, so I'd love to get the students involved in creating a Earth Materials Exhibit!  The Earth Materials Exhibit will be a hands-on table of samples that students can use to investigate the wide range of characteristics of earth materials.  If your family has a rock, mineral, or other earth material that you'd be willing to loan with the class, please do the following:

1.  Put a small label identifying the earth material with its name, your child's name and where its from (if known).  This label could be written on a piece of masking tape and stuck to the earth material itself, or could be written on a small rectangle of cardboard (cut from a recycled cereal or tissue box), to sit underneath the sample.

2. Send the earth material to school with your child.  If the earth material is sentimentally valuable, please let us know so we can take extra precautions.  If the earth material is monetarily valuable, please consider sending a picture of it or a video of your child holding and describing it.

Let's Rock and Roll!

Saturday morning in the chick house

The chicks seem to have grown a ton overnight! Hopper and Skinny, who both spent Friday in our chick hospital, are back in good health and socializing with their siblings. As the chicks grow older, they're getting mischievous! 3 more chicks have earned names:
Fearless, who frequently runs at the window of the chick house at full speed (perhaps hoping to escape)
Pecky, who bravely defends the food trough by pecking everything that comes close (fingers, cups, extra food, etc.)
and Trouble, who needs a little extra help learning CHOMP - I caught him dragging another chick around by the toe! Hopefully our kindergartners will be a good influence on Trouble!

Nighttime in the Chick House

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Welcome Battle, Chick number 10!

Ms. Gondek caught our tenth chick on video just as he hatched. We've named him after Mr. Battle, our fantastic custodian and superhero extraordinaire for all of his help with the chicks!

Rise and shine!

 Seven more chicks hatched overnight! These pictures are from 7 am on 5/9. One chick is clearly older - look for the chick who looks more fluffy and dry. Norbert and Laoda look so grown up compared to their siblings!

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All mail correspondence to and from the Chapel Hill- Carrboro City Schools
is subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law, which may result in
monitoring and disclosure to third parties, including law enforcement.

Noisy eggs?!

Just listen to Laoda's and Norbert's siblings...I think they want to come out of those shells!


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All mail correspondence to and from the Chapel Hill- Carrboro City Schools
is subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law, which may result in
monitoring and disclosure to third parties, including law enforcement.

Norbert joins Laoda in the chick house

Norbert's gotten big and dry enough to move to the chick house with Laoda!


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All mail correspondence to and from the Chapel Hill- Carrboro City Schools
is subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law, which may result in
monitoring and disclosure to third parties, including law enforcement.

Laoda moves to the chick house

What will Laoda do when he's moved out of the incubator into the chick house? Let's find out!


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All mail correspondence to and from the Chapel Hill- Carrboro City Schools
is subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law, which may result in
monitoring and disclosure to third parties, including law enforcement.

Hatching time at last!

Our chicks began hatching today, right on time (unlike most babies)! Students have been learning all about oviparous animals and what they need to hatch and survive - and now we get to put that knowledge to work! Students are also learning about growth and change, relating how the chicks grow to how other animals, including people, grow. Ask your child to share with you about our chicks a little each day, and stay tuned for more updates as our "new students" continue hatching and growing!

Laoda, our oldest chick, hatched around 9:30 am 5/8. This is what Laoda looked like at 3 hours old.

Here's our second chick, Norbert, when he was just 1 minute out of the shell.  He hatched around 3:30 pm on 5/8.

Here's Laoda at 9 hours out of the shell.  Look how fuzzy he looks now!

Laoda at 9.5 hours old on the left, and Norbert at 4.5 hours old on the right, just after they moved from the cramped incubator to the chick house.  We transfer the chicks to the chick house when they are fully dried, but before they get too big for the incubator.  Laoda was so ready to get out of the incubator that he was climbing on and kicking the other eggs!

Eight more chicks are trying to hatch!  Can you find all the eggs in these picture that show signs of hatching?