Hey Everyone,
Our eggs started hatching Monday night! The first chick got almost all the way through its egg then just stopped. It didn't seem to be able to finish the job. Over the next 12 hours other eggs started hatching but that first one just laid there. Finally, my mom reached into the incubator and helped pull it out. To be honest, I didn't think the chick would survive (they often don't when unable to get out of their egg on their own) but it did. For the first few hours it had a large piece of shell stuck to its head. One of my daughters named it Egg Head.
Ten of our twelye eggs have now hatched. The chicks were transferred from the incubator (where they hatch) to the brooder (where they live until they'll big enough and strong enough to survive outdoors). I've been taking videos so I can share them with you once we're able to return to school.
Here are a few pics...
If I'm being totally honest, these chicks are kind of mean to each other. They spend a good bit of time walking around and pecking at one another. They do this for a couple minutes which really wears them out. Exhausted, they drop to the ground and sleep for a few minutes only to get up and start fighting all over again. It's pretty funny to watch. I guess what they're doing could possibly be a form of play (or learning to use their beaks). More recently, they've discovered how to eat and drink so that's keeping them occupied as well.
I was thinking you all should do this embryology project again next year with your 4th grade teacher - but without the interruption of the coronavirus!
Today you're going to begin a "home school" packet our school district put together for you to do. You have to complete all parts of this packet to get credit for these missed school days. I have to tell you, these are not the sorts of engagements we would do together in the classroom. That said, you're a fantastically bright bunch of kids and will likely blow right through much of this work. Other parts of it will likely be a bit confusing just because the directions are sort of confusing or the language they use for some things is different than the words we use to describe the same thing. When you get confused be sure to get plenty of help from someone at home. And you can always email, call, or Face Time me if you'd like for me to help you with it. I'd LOVE that!
I'm going to provide updates to this blog most days so we can keep in touch. If you'd like, send me some photos of what you're doing at home and I'll include them here so we can all see one another. Your parents could email or text the photos to me. Here are two of my pics
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| Last night we played two board games together as a whole family. The first game (pictured here) is called Azul. I know a bunch of you who would really love this game. The rules are simple but there is a lot of logic involved. Ty and I were on a team. We are the two who usually win this game so we though teaming up would mean we'd destroy everyone else. Hmm...nope. We came in last. The second game we played was Clue. We mostly giggled through the game and drove my wife crazy because she wanted us to take it more seriously and keep track of when it was our turn. By the way, I came in last place in this game as well. |
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| Since I can't go to school this is now my work space for the next few weeks. The good part is I can look out into the woods in our front yard while I work. The bad part is that I get incredibly distracted by this. On Monday I watched a woodpecker for about twenty minutes when I should have been doing my work. I'll have to practice some self control!!! |
That's it for today. I'm off to begin working on your progress reports!
For the Parents...
Please refer to the email I sent yesterday for instructions on what the kids are supposed to complete today from the district provided packets. Please know we are not allowed to alter that content in any way. I say that because I suspect some aspects of that work is going to be a challenge. For one, we were just about to begin fractions this week but the packet calls on them to solve a number of problems they're unlikely to understand just yet. You'll have to support them with these. There are two videos here (Intro to Fractions and Cutting Shapes Into Equal Parts) that might help
https://www.khanacademy.org/math/cc-third-grade-math/imp-fractions
Please remember some learners are more fragile than others and that a negative experience can tank a child's confidence, attitude, and/or resilience. If you begin to reach a point of frustration (either your own or your child's) back off in one of two ways: (1) reduce the amount of stress or (2) simply take a break and come back to it later. This is what we often do in the classroom as well.
I asked the kids to send me any photos they'd like to share of them working at home - either on the district-provided work or the myriad of other things they do on a daily basis to enjoy life and learn about the world around them. Please email or text these to me and I'll add them to our blog. My plan is to get something on here each day so the class can stay connected.
Lastly, I know this is a strange transition. Please let me know if you need anything at all!
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