Hatchling became a favorite scientific term for hundreds of Lincoln Public Schools students like Avi, Hudson, Evey and Frazier this winter.
 
Third graders from across the school district watched chicks emerge out of eggs as part of a popular flamingos unit. Students tracked the entire development process of the chicks in classroom incubators for three weeks.
 
Avi, Hudson, Evey and Frazier beamed as they petted the newly-hatched chicks in their Cavett Elementary School classrooms.
 
“When I started learning about how they form and their bodies and everything, I was just like, ‘Wait, that’s what’s happening inside of an egg?’” Hudson said.
 
“It’s just kind of cool to see something living come out and take life and finally you get to see it,” Evey said.
 
Megan Videtich smiled with her class as they made those same types of scientific discoveries. The lessons are incorporated into the third grade science curriculum and occur during the third quarter throughout LPS. Students learn about the life cycle of a chicken, observe and understand embryonic development and investigate flamingos and other animals that lay eggs.
 
Frazier said the progress signs helped him track what was happening.
 
“The signs that our teacher put up to say what days they were at and what was going on in the egg really helped me too,” Frazier said.
 
Embryos begin to move inside eggs after one week, and they begin to form feathers during the second week. The embryo becomes a chick on day 19 and reaches full development after 21 days.
 
Hudson said the science unit completely changed the way he viewed the life cycle of chicks.
 
“Now I’m learning what’s happening. What they look like at the beginning, everything,” Hudson said.
 
“It’s just kind of cool to see how a chick can grow from what it was at the start,” Evey said.
 
Visit home.lps.org/science to learn more about the many scientific discoveries LPS students are making each day.
 
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