First grade students at George Washington Elementary were recently able to participate in following the lifecycle of chicks from eggs to hatching to handling in class.
Each month this school year, Lee County Extension and Outreach with Iowa State University (ISU), visited first grade classes at GW to teach agriculture lessons and in March the lessons became weekly to cover the life cycle in real time of a chicken from eggs to live chicks. Each class received an incubator, supplies for the chicks once they hatched and seven chicken eggs. Students learned about how the chicks developed inside of the eggs and were able to “candle the eggs,” which means to hold a lit candle up to the egg to see the outline of the developing chick inside. After 21 days, on about April 30-May 1, the GW chicks began to hatch in front of the students.
Once the lesson is fully complete, the chicks will go home with GW first grade teacher Paige Martin, where she plans to raise the chicks on her family farm.
Lee County Extension from ISU, which is based in Donnellson, Iowa, provides “research-based learning opportunities” in the following programs: Agriculture and Natural Resources, Health and Human Sciences, 4-H Youth Development and Community Economic Development, according to extension.iastate.edu.
