Tuesday was my day at Kaiser School. It was windy and rainy, and the kids were hyper. We did the usual phonics, math, and creative writing workshops. Then I worked one on one with several children. This is the group I help with reading. Most of them are really improving. One little girl still sounds out most of the words instead of smooth reading.
The rain stopped long enough to have outside recess. That really helps since they can run off all that energy.
When they came in I read a book to them. This time it wasn’t a storybook, it was a science lesson. The book is The Reasons for Seasons by Gail Gibbons. I couldn’t find a decent website. They sell it, but you can’t see any of the pictures. In a nutshell, the book is about the earth’s travels around the sun and how the tilt of our axis makes the different seasons. The kids seemed to take all that in and asked good questions.
Our big science lessons came from another teacher, Mr. R. Every year he brings an incubator to the classroom. He also provides fertile duck eggs and if all goes well, we hatch ducklings in 28 days.
He gave a lesson on all that must be done to be sure the eggs hatch. He has done this enough that he was prepared for the questions. How do the ducks get inside the egg? What is a fertile egg? How did it get fertile? What does the Daddy duck do? How do the eggs get inside the Mommy duck? He told them enough to satisfy them, and didn’t go technical on them.
One important thing he told them, sometimes all the ducks don’t make it. If there is a power failure, none will make it. He even used the die word. There have been years when no ducks hatched. You have to prepare the kids for real life.
I like this story. Every child should be prepared for life and death. My son liked dolls when he was a little boy. Friends thought that it was not what a little boy should play with, however I allowed it and he grew into a wonderful young father. He learned with his doll how to care and nurture the baby, just like your students are preparing to learn to care for the life of the chicks.......
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