Spring is one of my favorite times of the year because there is new life that emerges from everywhere.  The wonder of life is so amazing to watch and it is fascinating for the children to witness as well.

Every year Mrs. Vaage brings in eggs from a farm.  The eggs are farm eggs of different shapes and sizes.  We are never quite sure which ones are fertilized and will develop and which ones will not develop.  This year we had about 15 eggs in the incubator.  There were about 8 chicken eggs,  4 duck eggs and 3 goose eggs.  Once the temperature was set on the incubator we started to count down 21 days for the chicks to  hatch and 28 days for ducklings and goslings. 

Each day the children are observing the eggs and checking the calendar anticipating the new arrivals.  Every week each class brought their classes down to the open area to see the new developments in the eggs.  We had an overhead projector beside the incubator to show the children the development inside the egg.  When we held the egg up to the light the children were able to observe the air sac and the tubes that carry food to the chick.  The children were also able to observe which eggs were fertilized and which ones were not.

After 21 days the first of the chicks started to emerge...

The children were so excited and all wanted to take a closer look.  To accommodate 210 curious children we had one teacher hold the egg in her hands and a parent video the hatching.  The video was then broadcasted live on all of the TVs in the school.  All the children were able to see up close the miracle of life! 

After the chicks had hatched then we also had 2 ducklings and 1 gosling hatch, 7 days later.  This was great for the children to observe because they were able to see similarities in the chicks, ducklings and gosling as well as differences. 

Every few days we would bring into the classroom, a chick, duckling and gosling to let them get their exercise.  On the carpet we would lay a big piece of plastic for the  messes and the children would form a circle to make a fence.  The chick, ducking and gosling would flap their wings and run around the circle.  The children loved this and we would make observations as they were exercising.  We would look at their feet, color, size and beaks and we would talk about why the different birds have the different features. 

After we returned the birds to their friends we would document in our journals the observations that we made. 

One of the most memorable moments for me was when we put the ducklings and gosling into the water table to have a swim.  The children would slide under the see through water table and would watch the ducklings and goslings little feet swimming along. 

I believe that children are able to internalize the life cycle if they are able to observe and have the experience of witnessing the miracle of life.  The students wrote in their journal about what they had learned about the life cycle.  We had posters displayed to help them visualize the process.

This was an experience that the children will never forget!