Worthington St. Michael’s pre-kindergarten program ended the school year with an egg hatching project that included chicks and ducklings.
Lead teacher Peggy Jamieson attended ChickQuest training and received five eggs, an incubator, egg turner and supplies to support teachers with the project. In the classroom, the 33 pre-K students learned about the life cycle of a chicken, watched the chicks develop in the eggs through a candling process and learned about how chicks grow.
One of the chicks named Ella was trapped inside a little blue egg for 36 hours but was saved when Sister Teresa Paul, OP, one of the teachers at St. Michael School, came in and spent 45 minutes helping extract the fledgling chick from the egg shell.
Laura Wells, pre-K director and lead teacher, purchased nine additional chicks and three ducklings to expand the hatching project and allow students to compare different kinds of poultry.
Throughout May, students in each pre-K classroom studied chicks in all parts of their curriculum.
The children were introduced to a Scripture verse from Psalm 91:4 that says, “He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings.” They learned about a duck’s webbed feet, the oil that helps them stay afloat in the water and other information during daily duck swimming lessons.
Older students at St. Michael School also visited chicks during their Atrium religion classes.
St. Michael pre-K plans to participate in the hatching project again during the 2023-24 school year.