Diary of a Chick

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Agrilife Texas provided our second grade classes with all of the supplies necessary to experience the life cycle of a chick. We began by setting up our incubators and learning about the appropriate environment for a developing chick. We then added our fertilized eggs and studied the eggs and development that happened within the eggs. The eggs then hatched and we were able to experience the birth of a live animal. The students focused on the body adaptations, environments and life cycle. We were able to keep the chicks for a few weeks so that we could watch their bodies grow and change into adults. We used this experience in a non-fiction writing activity in which the students published their peices and will have the book for later reference. We had over 90 students purchase their non-fiction piece. They are able to reference the published piece for living and non-living references. The data from our end of unit exams regarding living organisms, habitat, life cycle, and adaptations show tremendous growth compared to years without this experience. Most students passed the end of unit.