Today, we wondered if our ducklings already knew how to swim when they hatch. We researched and learned all about their webbed feet and how their legs are located toward the back of their body to help them swim. We also learned that most ducks are born already knowing how to swim!
We wanted to test this out for ourselves...so we took our ducklings swimming! Ms. Garner was so kind to let us use her duckling pool and our ducklings went for a swim with Mrs. Ryan's ducklings.
Then we recorded what we saw in our An Egg is Quiet journals....
"When ducks are born, they already know how to swim! Their legs are at the back of their body and they have webbed feet that help them swim."
"When ducks are born, they already know how to swim."
"When they first hatch they already know how to swim and they have webbed feet."
"When ducklings are born they already know how to swim! They have webbed feet."
"When ducks are born they know how to swim."
We had SO MUCH FUN watching our ducklings swim today. Stay tuned for more updates from Kindergarten's Duck Dynasty!
Another exciting day here in Fort Kindergarten! We welcomed another new feathered friend to our classroom this morning when we arrived (for those of you keeping count, this is duckling #5!) We can't decide on a name yet, but I update everyone as soon as we decide on a name :)
We wanted to know if our ducklings are playful, so to find out (and as a reward for MAP testing today) we put our ducklings (Sleepy, Wednesday and the unnamed duckling) on the carpet and watched them play! I wish I could share with all of you the sweet giggles and happiness that was in our classroom during this fun time.
Here are some pictures Mrs. Roper took from our experience of watching our ducklings play!
Then we recorded our experience playing with our ducklings in our An Egg is Quiet journals..
WHAT AN EXCITING DAY! All of the fun started yesterday, when we noticed that 3 ducks were beginning to peck out of the eggs.
Here are our pictures from yesterday when they were pecking out...
See the little cracks? That's all we got to see yesterday. Even after my meeting yesterday afternoon around 4:45, there still wasn't much more progress.
This morning, I got to school around 6:45, and I had two sweet feathered friends waiting on me!
I got a quick picture and video and then I had to go out in the hall for my morning duty. I wanted to keep the news of my new friends a secret, so I didn't let my friends come in and unpack as they usually do. (I think they knew something was up :-)) Thanks to one of my student's mom, Marian Loftis (who is a fabulous photographer) we got some amazing pictures of my friend's reactions when they first saw the ducklings! Here are the pictures she took the time out of her morning this morning to take for us. Thank you so much!
We decided to name the first two duckling Sleepy (it was very tired after all of that very hard hatching work!) and Wednesday, since it hatched on a Wednesday. We watched the ducklings all morning! Then, we noticed another egg was starting to hatch! We had to go to art, but while we were in art I took videos of the new baby hatching (we decided to name him Artie since he started hatching while we were in art.) Artie is still not all the way out of his shell but he's worked hard all day! (Update: With a little help from Mrs. Roper, Artie is out of his shell! We are so happy!)
Right when we came back from Art, we noticed ANOTHER egg was hatching!!! This time, we were able to watch! I called over groups to come look in the incubator with me, then I had the idea to mirror the iPad using the Apple TV onto our Promethean board while I took a video of the baby hatching. We got to watch this one hatch all the way! We named this duckling Surprise because we had the surprise of watching it hatch after.
While we were watching the "live" feed of the ducklings today, we wrote down our feelings and observations about Hatch Day in our An Egg is Quiet Journal..
"I am excited because we have baby ducks that have hatched and they are runners but there are no Pekins. I wonder why."
"I am excited. I cannot wait until all of our ducks hatch."
"2 eggs are hatched and 2 more are hatching. 1 is named Sleepy and 1 is named Wednesday."
"I am so happy and I cannot wait to hold them. They are also so loud. They're like peep peep."
"Four ducks hatched and we are happy."
"Four ducks hatched. I am so excited!"
"We have ducklings, but two are still trying to hatch."
"I can see them hatching!"
"Our eggs are hatching today, so be quiet."
4 ducklings out, still more to come :) Stay tuned for more updates from the Duck Dynasty in Fort Kindergarten!
