Kindergarten Observes Caterpillars!

We have been watching the very, very small caterpillars eat and eat and then grow and grow!

Little caterpillars in little containers.

This is a cocoon from a silkworm. Some of the classes
wondered how a cocoon is different from a chrysalis. 

It's eating!

It's got hairs on it!

It's eating upside down.

Mine is walking on the top of the container and it's not falling.

Look at it move!

2nd Grade Explores the world of Plants!

2nd graders have started their new unit on plants by making detailed observations on 5 different plants!  They used their senses to help them describe the plants.  They also remembered that properties are a way to sort and categorize different objects including plants!

The leaves feel rubbery and watery comes out when you squeeze it.

Would a fruit fly get trapped in the venus fly trap?

The tallest plant we looked at.

The leaves are almost furry!  And it smells good!

Can it bite my finger?

It's lavender!

So prickly. We were surprised to find
out the spikes are the cactus's leaves!

This plant is the only one that has a hairy stem.

One of the pitcher plant leaves has
 a fly dangling right in front of it!

The Duck Eggs Are Half Way There!

It's hard to believe that our duck eggs will hatch in just 13 more days - around June 2nd!  So far, everything looks good.  We have all 8 eggs still growing.  This week we checked their growth by "candling" the eggs.  This is done by putting a bright light on the egg and seeing how the egg looks inside!

Carefully an egg is chosen to see how it is growing.

The flashlight is placed right on the egg.

Right under the light is the air sac.  The lines are veins.
All good signs for this egg!

In this egg you can see the embryo at the bottom of the egg!

This egg I'm not too sure about.  No veins.
We'll have to wait and see!

Nurse Jessica came by to see if she could hear the duck's heart beat, but she couldn't.  She said she would need a different type of stethoscope.

Whenever we get a chance, we take a quick peak at the incubator to see if anything is happening!

Our counting calendar!  The blue star is when the eggs come out of the egg turner.
The black egg is the hatch date!

This is what our ducklings will look like!

1st Grade and Temperature!

1st grade has started the last unit of the year: air and weather.  The have been practicing reading the temperature of water.  We wondered why most of the world reads degrees in Celsius while America reads temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. 

The cup is so warm!

Look at how fast the red is moving up!

This water is colder than the water in the other cup.

The Duck Eggs Have Arrived!!

I am very excited to let everyone know that the duck eggs have arrived!  The eggs arrived from a farm in California on Tuesday.  We were supposed to have three different types of duck eggs, but thanks to a mix up at the airport, we have six different types of duck eggs: Crested, Runner, Cayuga, Welsh Harlequin, Grimaud and Duclair.

The eggs are safe and warm in the incubator with a constant temperature of 100 degrees.  Stay tuned for more exciting news about our eggs!

Kindergarten Wonders What Our Tree Looks Like Now!

It has been a while since we have looked at our tree in Lorianne's Garden.  The last time we looked at the tree, all the leaves had changed from green to yellow and brown and most of the leaves had fallen off the tree!  But now....beautiful pink flowers covered the tree!  We think it's a cherry tree!

We had lovely weather to observe and draw our tree!  We noticed that there were small green leaves hidden in with all the pink flowers!

We wonder what the tree will look like next time we visit!!