Teacher Lindsay Bridgewater introduces a newly-hatched chick to one of her preschool students.
Chicks return to Dryden Elementary School
DRYDEN — This year, Lindsay Bridgewater, Preschool Teacher at Dryden Elementary, continued her tradition of hatching chicken eggs with her students. Last school year, Ms. Bridgewater shared the egg hatching process with her students via a live feed stream while students were home due to the COVID school shutdown. Ms. Bridgewater received a grant for the egg project through The Lapeer County Farm Bureau.
This time students in Ms. Bridgewater’s, Mrs. Campbell’s and Mrs. Pocius’ class participated in the project. The classrooms received the eggs and learned about the 21 day cycle, while waiting for the chicks to hatch. Bridgewater loves this time of year and was excited to share this experience, in person, with her 3-year-old students.
“On March 2, I put 84 eggs into the incubator. Farm Bureau provides the eggs, incubators (if needed), heat lamps, waterer, and feeders. It takes 21 days for the chicks to hatch. I
planned a hatching party with chick cupcakes on National Ag Day on March 23. Over the 21
days, students made chicken crafts, learned about the life cycle of a chicken, and were able to ask questions,” Bridgewater said.
Students were able to witness the entire 21-day chick growth process, as Ms. Bridgewater candled the eggs throughout.
“I showed them a chick that stopped growing on day 5 inside the egg. We talked about why the chick stopped developing. It was a great lesson for the kids to see and understand that it can happen.”
Prior to hatching, students placed their guesses on how many eggs would grow into chicks and hatch. Ms. Bridgewater shared that 64 chicks were successful out of the 84 eggs placed in the incubator.
What happens to the chicks now?
“Parents have the opportunity to buy a chick for $2 to take the chicks home or to have a happy life on my farm,” Bridgewater said.
“The $2 will be used to buy food for the chicks that go to my house or the two chicks that I will keep in my
classroom.”
