Thursday 27 April 2017

Never a dull moment

We have had a super week in Cherry class and what is always exciting is that we can never really predict all that we will learn each week.
Yesterday gave us some very exciting and unusual weather and we had to go out and explore the hail. What did it look like? What did it feel like? What did it sound like as it hit the canopy roof and the floor out side?? What was it ? 



Today we were lucky enough to watch some beautiful wild bird behaviour. As we came out to play in the outside area, we spotted a blackbird fledgling who was being fed worms and other Minibeasts by its Mummy. We watched as it hopped around and we kept still and quiet so that we didn't frighten it away.
Some of the children were so fascinated that they even got a chair and sat down some more to watch more carefully.
The little bird hopped and jumped and made a couple of small flights before it disappeared for a long spell.
Whilst it was gone, we noticed a nest in out cherry tree.

Later, I went to inspect the nest and the eggs inside it. There were 4 speckled beautiful eggs. I will have to watch and listen to when the eggs hatch.

Saturday 22 April 2017

Look who's back!

This week, we welcomed back the chicks we hatched just before we broke up for the Easter holidays.
They have a new home with one of the children from Cherry class, but came back to visit earlier this week and stayed for a sleepover!
We couldn't believe how much they had grown! They were quite tricky to handle because they were now so strong. The children couldn't physically hold them by themselves but they were able to stroke them and feel ,and look at, their big feet!

We looked at their wings and how the tiny feathers were growing there.





The 'cute' fluffy chicks have changed so much. The children noticed that you can also see the start of the chickens comb on the top of its head.
They are now 3 weeks old and we await to find out if they are girls and boys. This will be noticeable between 12-16 weeks. If they are hens, then at around this time, they too will start laying. If they are cockerals then they will show themselves by making lots of noise and possibly by fighting if there's another cockeral about.......
We have used this real life experience to look at the life cycle of the hen. And so, if there is a hen and a cockeral is running with her, chances are there could be more baby chicks yo follow!