Kindergarteners learn about the life cycle by observing chickens
Posted on 04/30/2024
The Mehlville School District kindergarten science curriculum focuses on life sciences of plants and animals. Students at Beasley Elementary School learned about the life cycle through observations of chickens.
For the past few years, the kindergarten classes at Beasley Elementary have each received a dozen eggs from St. Louis County 4-H. The eggs sit under an incubator for a week, and students are able to watch as the eggs begin to hatch. Kindergarten teachers have cameras set up so students can check on the eggs with their families at home, too.
Image: Lara Schilling, a kindergarten teacher at Beasley Elementary School, teaches a student how to safely hold a chick.
After the chicks hatch, they live in the kindergarten classrooms for a few days so students can watch their growth. Students also have the opportunity to learn how to safely hold the chicks.
“It was so cool seeing them hatch,” said Emery, a kindergarten student. “The chicks were kind of soft, but their nails were kind of sharp.”
Some Beasley Elementary families also raise chickens, so they brought their chickens to school so that students could review the entire lifespan from egg to chick to adult chicken.
“It’s so fun to watch the students get excited when they're holding the chick or when the chick is jumping on them,” said Mikayla Faulkner, a Beasley Elementary kindergarten teacher. “It’s something that they usually wouldn’t get to experience.”
In addition to life sciences, the Mehlville School District kindergarten curriculum also allows students to understand that pushes and pulls affect the motion of an object, how changes in the environment can impact how living things grow and change, how weather patterns can be measured over time, and how sunlight affects the earth.