Over the past two weeks the Grade 1’s have been lucky to be part of the Living Eggs Chicken Hatching Program. We were provided with 10 Embryo eggs, a few days from hatching. The eggs were placed in an incubator which was specially designed for classroom hatching. An electronic thermostat ensured accurate temperature control for a high hatch rate. The large viewing windows allowed the children to see all stages of hatching.

Hooray- 10 eggs have hatched into healthy chicks. The chicks then moved to a brooder box complete with heat light, bedding, feed and waterer which allowed us easy observation and access to the chicks. Each day the children were at school, we wrote a diary about our experiences.

Day 1:

Today our incubator, brooding box and eggs will arrive (Rachel)

I think there will be 10 eggs (Jed)

Day 2:

Yesterday our eggs arrived at recess. I think number 3 will hatch first (Kayla)

I think egg number 5 will hatch first (Cody)

The temperature of the incubator is 37.7 degrees (Holly)

Day 3:

One of the eggs hatched yesterday. I was lucky I got to put one of the chicks into the brooding box (Chloe)

In the incubator last night the rest of the eggs hatched (Daisy)

I got to pour their water in the bowl for them (Amber)

Day 4:

They are all very healthy chicks (Wil)

There are yellow and brown spotty chicks. In my group holding a chick was Chase and Cameron (Tyler)

Day 5:

We noticed that some of the chicks are changing. The down is changing to feathers (Ava)

Some are getting a comb on their heads (William)

Weekend: Day 6 and 7

Allira loved playing, hugging, feeding and changing the straw in the brooder box (Mrs Hollands)

Sophie and Lachlan liked holding the chicks. The chicks were so relaxed they fell asleep on their laps (Mrs Dawson)

Day 8:

The chicks had a sleep over at Mrs Hollands house and Allira was annoying them (Taj)    She loved them very much

The chicks are asleep in the brooding box (Jack I)

Some people go to clean out the brooding box (Isabella)

Day 9:

Two of the chicks liked the food bowl and decided to sleep in there (Cameron)

The chicks are getting bigger (James)

Day 10:

Today we sat in a big circle to observe the chicks (Edie)

Our chick pooed then it stepped in its own poo. It was funny (Jack J)

Day 11:

If I was to name a chick, I would call it Cupid (Lola)

The chicks have changed and grown so much (Caitlin)

If I was to name a chick, I would call it Fluffy (Jackson)

Day 12:

The best thing about the chicks were holding them (Chase)

Tonight the chicks will go home to live with Ava, Kayla and Jackson (Billy)

 

 

 

 

 

Hello Grade 1A,

Yesterday I sent all your comments about Beauty and the Beast from the previous post to the Alpha Shows company and I received this email from them today:

 

What was the funniest part of Beauty and the Beast?

Amber – when Lumiere shook his bottom at us

Jack I. – when Gaston chased Jiggens

Lola – when Scooter wee’d on Gaston

Edie – Jiggens being silly

Cameron – when Gaston pushed Jiggens onto the ground

Caitlin – when Belle said to the Beast “You look lovely”

What did you like best about the show?

Ava – when Belle and the Beast danced together

Edie – Belle and the Beast kissing

Tyler – when the Beast was fighting with Gaston

Chase – when Jiggens ran away

Jackson – when the witch turned him into a Beast

William – when Gaston chased Jiggens around

Holly – when Belle got dressed in her dress

Jed – the Beast fighting with the wolf

Cody – looking at the rose go on and off

Jack J. when Gaston shook his butt

Chloe – when Belle danced with the Beast and we got to clap to the love song

Wil – when the Beast turned into a prince

Why do you think Belle didn’t like the Beast in the beginning?

Amber – because he scared Belle

Caitlin – he was mean, loud and shouting but most of all he…DIDN’T control his temper!!

Jackson – the Beast was growling

Lola – the Beast locked Belle’s father in the dungeon

Rachel – because the Beast was yelling at Belle

Billy – he was loud

Chase – the Beast was frustrated

Kayla – he was yelling too much

Holly – he was being mean

What happened that made Belle start to like the Beast and fall in love with him?

Chloe – she finally realised he was kind and gentle to her

Wil – because he trusted his heart

Taj – he started not to yell at her

Billy – he gave her books

Ava – the Beast invited her to dinner

Kayla – he was caring now

Cameron – he was thinking of her

Jack J. – he saved her

Daisy – the Beast was nice

Cody – he was being nice and kind

James – the Beast saved Belle’s life

Gaston was a bit of a bully. What happened to Gaston in the end because he was not nice?

Taj – he went to the dungeon

Tyler – he got locked up

Who was your favourite character and why?

Daisy – Belle because her dress was pretty

Jack I. – the Beast because he was brave

Rachel – Belle because she was beautiful in her dress

William – Jiggens because he was funny

Jed – Belle because she was beautiful

James – Gaston because he was funny

What did you learn from the performance?

Chloe – believe in yourself

Caitlin – to care about others

William – think about all the good things you can do

Jack I. – to love others

Edie – be brave

Today we had a visit from Martin Stockdale who is the dad of Julia in Grade 1C. Martin owns a chicken farm  and brought along some 3 days old chicks for the students to hold and cuddle. We learnt that there are 2 types of chickens. Those that are bred for eggs and some for meat. Martin raises his chicks for meat. He also described the process of preparing for the delivery of 3 hour old chicks and growing them for the next 6 weeks before they are sold for supermarkets and KFC.

Observing, holding and cuddling the chicks today is preparing us for us our own chicks when they hatch this week.

What did you observe about the chicks today?

We had a visit from Bob the lamb last Monday morning. He was not even one week old and was incredibly cute (even if he did wee on the carpet 4 times). We were able to give him a bottle of warm milk and he was very thirsty.

Thanks to Mrs Stevens who brought Bob to visit the Grade 1 students.

We all had a wonderful day at the Diggers Rest Animal Land farm on Tuesday 21st July. It was a cold day but we were well rugged up in coats and beanies. It was with great excitement that we travelled to and from the farm in a double decker bus. What great views from the upstairs front seats!!

Our guide for the day was Caroline and our first experience was a horse ride. Afterwards we took a tractor ride around the farm and fed the goats and sheep. We also saw some cows, smelly pigs and geese. The goats were climbing up the fence to get the food from our hands.

Next we stopped in the horse paddock to do some “poopa scooping”. We had a competition between the boys and girls to see who could fill their wheelbarrow first. We used rakes and shovels to collect the poo which is used to fertilise the vegie garden. Oh, by the way, the boys won the competition…just!! It was very close.

We then visited the chook yard where we saw hens, roosters and turkeys. We saw the hens in the roosting boxes and got to hold some chickens. After that we made our way to the nursery where we held baby rabbits, guinea pigs, ducks and chicks. They were all very cute.

Our final activity for the day was milking Maggie the cow. We squirted the teats and the milk went into the tin bucket. We could also turn the handle of the butter churn to make the milk into butter. The best thing was tasting the butter on a biscuit at the end of the day. It was yummy.

Many thanks to all the parents who attended the excursion. We hope you enjoyed your day as much as we did.

Can you remember why we needed to take the horse poo out of their paddock?

 

The positives

Chloe – kneading the dough

Wil – working with the parents

Cameron – making the scones

Isabella – mum came to help

Holly – going around to all the tables and tasting the different scones

Jack I. – tasting other peoples scones

Lola- eating the scones

Kayla – having mummy here to help

Jackson – eating the scones

Edie – seeing mum in the classroom

Daisy – making scones

Taj – not getting dirty

Caitlin – tasting the different scones

Ava – whipping the cream

William – kneading the dough

Billy – making the scones

Amber – eating the scones with the cream

James – getting covered in flour

Rachel – eating the scones

Jed – having my mum coming to help

Tyler – touching the butter

Cody – feeling the dough

The negatives

Holly – when I was whipping the cream some of it flew out of the bowl

Cameron – tasting the dough

Jack I. – we had to stop eating scones

Ava – getting flour on my clothes

James – waiting for the scones to cook

Wil – when the parents had to leave

Jed – getting dirty

Taj – some food scraps got on the ground

Billy – getting flour on me

Daisy – when mum left

Chloe – getting flour on myself

Tyler – getting flour on me

Edie – mum leaving

Lola – not getting to eat the scones straight away

Isabella – getting floury

William – we couldn’t eat all the scones

Jackson – getting dirty

Rachel – getting my jumper covered in flour

Caitlin – mum leaving and not getting a chance to say goodbye to my brother

Kayla – getting all dirty with the flour

Cody – waiting for the scones to cook

The interesting

Holly – the dough felt gooey

William – tasting the scones at the different tables

Ava – doing the worksheets

Billy – putting the lemonade into the scones

James – making different sorts of scones

Jed – eating the scones

Taj – tasting the different scones

Wil – tasting the scones

Cody – working as a team

Lola – how to make the recipe

Jackson – tasting the cream

Daisy – mixing the cream with the olden days beater

Chloe – seeing how to make scones because I’ve never made them before

Cameron – trying the different scones that we made

Rachel – tasting the whipped cream

Tyler – taking the scones to the canteen

Caitlin – Getting to taste the scones with jam and cream

Kayla – rolling the dough

Isabella – tasting other peoples scones

Edie – touching the dough

Jack I. – feeling the butter

Thank you to our wonderful band of mums and dads who helped Grade 1A make scones yesterday. As part of our Past and Present theme we made 3 varieties of scones to show the difference between traditional scone making of the past and the easier method of the lemonade and cream scone varieties of present day. We also whipped cream to eat with our scones. We used an electric beater and also a hand beater. We had scones of all shapes, sizes and tastes but it was a unanimous decision that they all tasted yummy with jam and cream.

What was your favourite scone?

On the weekend of the 13th and 14th of June, the Willy Lit Fest will take place in the stunning surrounds of the Williamstown Town Hall and Williamstown Library. This year’s theme is “Swimming in Words” and organisers are presenting a jam packed programme with more than 70 authors and 50 events covering poetry, politics, crime, wartime memoirs, family life and comedy.

Some of the guest highlights include children’s authors Leigh Hobbs, Andy Griffiths, John Marsden and Sally Rippin.

This might be a great opportunity to meet your child’s favourite author and buy signed copies of their books.

 

WOW!! What a turnout. Today was Grandparent’s Day in Grade 1 and I was so impressed with the confidence of our students as they introduced Grandma, Grandpa, Nanny, Nan, Pa, Poppy, Granny and Nanna and told us where they came from. We had a 90 year old great grandpa and 3 sets of grandparents who travelled from interstate (Adelaide, Sydney and Deniliquin) especially for today. A great effort. The grandparents shared objects from “the olden days” ranging from egg beaters, box brownie camera, sepia photographs, money, mincer, dolls and teddies, chamber pot, fur wrap, irons, sewing machine, lanterns, clock, stamp album, metronome and school books. For many it was a trip down memory lane and a new learning experience for the students. It was thought that the chamber pot was a large teacup!!! After working together on a past and present survey and discussing how life has changed the grandparents joined the students in some games from the past. It was fun to watch everyone playing knuckles/jacks, elastics, hopscotch, marbles, making daisy chains, and even trying to solve the Rubics cube. The grandparents then enjoyed sharing morning tea with their grandchildren. A wonderful morning which was the topic of conversation for the rest of the day.

Please keep a look out for some more photos of our special day and some thoughts from the children.

What did you enjoy most about Grandparents Day?

Of the objects that were shared by the grandparents what did you think was the most interesting and why?