Holy Hens!!!

I always tell my kiddies that we're a bunch of crazy chickens here in grade one, so we were totally in our element this week when our very own batch of eggs were delivered! Over the next three weeks, we will learn all about chickens and watch our 42 precious chicks hatch. I cannot wait...they're gonna be so fluffy I'm gonna die!!!!

hahaha LOVE animated movies!

ANYWAYS, a lovely farmer visited all of the grade ones and taught us all about chickens and how chicks hatch in an incubator. The kids each got the opportunity to put an egg in the incubator:

We did a little recap activity after the presentation to reinforce the chicken lifecycle:

(The above activity is included in my Holy Hens pack available HERE)
*2016: THIS PACK HAS SINCE BEEN UPDATED!* 

Word Work Centre this week reviewed digraphs. The kiddies had to look at both pictures and words to determine the missing digraphs (ch, wh, th, ph, sh). I also added an "I'm done, now what?" crossword activity:

(Both activities also from my Holy Hens! pack)

Next up, we kept the poultry party (HA! I just thought of that one) going at Art Centre with a "dress the chicken" activity. Back in October my kiddies enjoyed the Disguising a Turkey activity so much that I thought I'd "reuse" the idea:

Above we have a lovely pirate chicken and "Willie's pet chicken from Duck Dynasty."

And here is a trendy surfer CHICKen (check out those flip flops) and a fairy chicken (lovin' the up-do).

During our writing block, we continued our learning of Opinion Writing by writing one fact and one opinion about....wait for it...chickens! And since it was "Fun Friday, " I made a craftivity out of it:

(This craftivity is also included in the updated version of Holy Hens!)

Throughout the week, we also ensured that we began used proper terminology when referring to the parts of a chicken. We labeled a hen to help us remember...to help me remember (I had to stop myself several times from calling the "wattle" a "hang-y thing")

("Label Miss Hen" worksheet available HERE)

In math, our 2D & 3D Geometry unit discusses positional and directional words, so one of my most favourite "oldie but goodie," Rosie's Walk, not only tied in with our math focus, but it also happened to work out perfectly for our chicken theme!

We read this adorable tale (I have never heard my kiddies howl with laughter more in my life! That book is always a hit) and made a list of all the positional and directional words. To reinforce our understanding of positional/directional words, we each made ourselves a Rosie, and "acted out" the story with our homemade hens.

(The kiddies line up for recess along this wall, so I threw together the basic story for them to retell as they wait for the bell to ring...gotta keep the learning going!)

Okay, I think that's enough poultry for one day! I'll leave you with the brilliant Mrs. Montgomery, holding a real emu egg (she's holding it so gracefully but that thing is flippin' HEAVY!)

Have a great weekend! :)