‘One of the best projects our school has ever done!’….quote from one of the admiring parents as she viewed the newly hatched chicks recently at St. Joseph’s Primary School in Helensburgh. 11 fertilised eggs had been purchased by the school in the middle of March to bring alive the learning in P3 and P6 as they studied ‘The Owl Who was Afraid of The Dark’ and ‘Animals around the World’ respectively.
But no-one could have predicted the excitement the project would generate for everyone from children in Pre-5 to P7, staff and parents alike as 10 of the 11 eggs hatched. People just fell in love with the lovely brown and yellow chicks with Mrs Cameron (classroom assistant) falling into the role of ‘Mother Hen’, even taking the chicks home for the weekend!
The learning involved for everyone was excellent with the children experiencing first-hand the life cycle of chicks. However, at the end of the two week project, the company was always going to return to take the chicks and re-home them. That was hardly necessary though, as a number of kind-hearted parents of St. Joseph’s came forward and re-homed most of the chicks in purpose built hen runs at home.
This of course means that photographs of the birds can be taken as they grow and the children can go on learning how their chicks grow up.
An excellent project which really brought learning alive!
I was so sad when the chicks left the school to be rehomed even though I knew they were getting too big to stay in school. Everyone got so much out of the project, staff and children and I would definitely recommend it to any school.
I’m glad you all enjoyed the experience as much as we did! I kept two of our chicks and brought them back in each week, the children loved seeing them grow from fluffy little chicks to chickens with feathers 🙂
I heard you talking very confidently on the Your Radio News yesterday. It was obvious how much you enjoyed raising the chicks.