More Ducklings!

Yesterday when I arrived at Kaiser School, the first thing I noticed, no incubator.  All the little ducklings were in a cage. Last week we had three ducklings that had hatched.  From the ten eggs we now have five cute yellow ducklings that made it.

There really are five, the bright heat lamp washes out the duckling in the back.

I worked on reading with nearly everything child in the class.  Some it was a concentrated lesson, some just a chance for them to read aloud to an adult.  Our little ones have come a long long way.  They are reading, not just saying words.  They have good expression, good speed, and they are laughing at what they are reading.  The hardest part has happened.  Comprehension has been achieved!

To continue our science theme of eggs and ducks, I read Make Way for Ducklings.  My Grandmother read this to me when I was a little girl.  I read it to my students and to our son.  This book was published in 1941 and holds up with high tech children of the 21st century. 

The children counted the ducklings on every page to be sure none were lost on the trip.  They discussed the policeman helping the ducks, and the fact he used no radio or cell phone to get help. He used a landline. They didn’t think a policeman today would help baby ducks.  One child was upset the ducks were eating peanuts.  He said, “The ducks will choke on peanuts.  You can’t feed them peanuts.”  Never occurred to me peanuts were bad for ducks.  Today’s six year olds are way more aware of things like that than previous generations were.

The children were pulled into this book.  The art work and the story held up after 70 years.  Some times old is better.