Science Month - biodiversity and interdependence

March is science month at Renton and we have been busy exploring and experimenting. We are learning about living things, what they need to survive and how they are dependent on other living things [ an introduction to the food chain].

We started the month by welcoming our living eggs to class. The children were very excited to watch the chicks hatch from their eggs.

The birds have a special egg tooth on the end of their beak which they use to break through the shell. This is called pipping. We watched as all 10 of our chicks emerged then had a long rest - hatching is hard work!

We used our chromebook webcam to share the experience so everyone in the school had the opportunity to watch them hatching.

Amelia was very interested to see the chicks on the chromebook screen and to see other classes watching us through a google hangout.

Can you see the little egg tooth on the end of this chicks beak? [below]

 

Cole counts our chicks.

We set up the brooder box, talking about what the chicks would need.  Just like us they need water, food and warmth.  The children were very interested to see the chicks poop too!

The water fountain gives them a supply of fresh water.

We played Amelia's favourite game of head, shoulders knees and toes, talking about our body parts and comparing ourselves with the chicks.  Alfie was curious to find out if the birds have ears so we experimented by using percussion instruments to play sounds and watch the chicks react.

We looked at the food for the chicks and found little bits of corn and oats. Then we measured out the food for the chicks so they had enough but not too much.

We had to be careful not to overfeed the chicks as they would just keep eating if there was food available.

 Each day while the adults cleaned out the brooder the children had an opportunity to hold the chicks and feed them by hand. Cole and Amelia were keen to hold them but Alfie and Callum were happy to just stroke their soft downy feathers.

Amelia was happy to hold and feed the chicks and giggled when they pecked at her fingers.

 Alfie liked their soft bodies but wasn't so keen on their hard sharp claws.

Callum stroked the birds and liked to touch their little beaks.  The birds seemed happy to be held for the first few days but as they got bigger they weren't quite as keen so we observed them through the glass of the brooder box instead.

Alfie, Cole and Amelia have all pretended to be chicks by dressing up and flapping their wings. They were interested to see that the costumes had a tail too.

The birds feathers changed as they grew

We had grown / bought watercress for the chicks to have as a treat.  When the chicks didn't seem interested Cole decided to show them what to do with the beak from his costume!

We took the chicks to Ardardan Farm as we can't look after them as they get bigger.  We visited them with more cress the following week to see how they were getting on.  They had changed a lot in a week and their white wing feathers had grown in.  For now they are in a special brooder with a lamp to keep them warm but they will soon move to the hen coop.  They will be very happy in their hen coop where they are free to roam in the field.

Fairyland

We have been busy for the last few weeks with our Fairyland topic.  We had a visit from a baby dragon who asked us to read more books.  We have loved reading and rereading Jack and the Beanstalk, Goldilocks, The Billy Goats Gruff and Little Red Riding Hood.

Callum has been using magnetic letters to copy book titles.

Clockwise from top- Dragon arrives; painting the castle, using bricks when
 measuring. making our on dragons; self portraits for our diaries; play with puppets.

Our dragon has brought us messages from Fairyland and even Little Red Riding Hood's costume and basket of goodies for Granny.  We used the illustrations from the books to help us as we made pictures of the giants castle.
The children have also been busy learning about 2D shapes, some measuring and making front covers for our new diaries.

The children are all enjoying using our chromebooks to access our google classroom and view favourite stories and songs.  The phonics video below is a current favourite of them all. We are all looking forward to our new smartboard which will make our learning even more fun!

     

Our 'Egg'citing New Topic!

On Monday we take delivery of 10 chicken eggs and an incubator. This is part of our science topic for the month of March where we will be focusing on lifecycles of living things; caring for babies and also beginning to look at  food chains. By the end of the month the children will have had hands on experiences in looking after chicks and finding out about what they eat, how they move and grow and relating this to ourselves and our visiting babies.  We will also be growing some food for our chicks to eat too.