Here we are at the end of the school year. We are reviewing everything we have been learning... alphabet, phonics, numbers, number words, adding, counting, planting, growing... but we could have never have planned a better lesson than the unplanned one that a parent presented us with recently. She brought in 3 day old ducklings and said, "Here, would you like them for the day??" No warning, no time to think about food, water, what would I do with them. I just looked at her and said, "You BET!!!"
We had such a wonderful day with them. During the month of February we had 12 chicks in our room for 2 weeks, and this was a great way to compare the differences and similarities between the two birds. We talked about their weight, the food they ate, how much they ate, we got to hold them and pet them and cuddle with them. They fell asleep in the kids hands and it was the cutest thing to see. The ducklings beaks are rounded, so when they peck at you it has no real feeling, and even though the chicks didn't really hurt when they pecked at us, it was a little bit more of a prick then the ducklings. The kids were able to make so many connections that they wouldn't have been able to do without this hands on experience. The kids really loved it and I am proud to say that I am the kind of teacher that allowed them to have that experience!! I didn't think twice about it, because sometimes the best learning comes in the unexpected!!!
