SMA STREAM CHICK HATCHING PROJECT!!!

SMA STREAM CHICK HATCHING PROJECT!!! In order to enhance our STREAM program at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic School in Levittown, PA, we decided to contact a company called RentACoop in order to engage our students in learning about the life cycle of chickens. Our rental program involved 2 live chicks, a brooder and heat plate, 7 fertilized chicken eggs as well as an incubator. Included in the rental is also enough bedding and food to last throughout our 4-week rental plus a candling light. The children all took turns with feeding, cleaning and playing with the chicks. We also had students keep records as the process continued. Families volunteered to take home the chicks over the weekend. One of the highlights of the program is being able to candle the eggs. Children could see the embryo develop, as well as the blood vessels and decide for themselves whether or not the egg will hatch. We were counting down the days as to when the eggs would finally hatch (21 days) and, low and behold, the Coronavirus hits the area and schools are closed. Everyone was disappointed! However, we were able to Zoom the event live and keep the children advised of the status via Remind and our school website. How does this relate to STREAM, you might ask. Here is how we broke it down: S: Science: the development of the embryo and blood vessels. T: Technology: Students did research on chick hatching and development of the fertile eggs. R: Religion: the miracle of birth and all living things come from God. E: Engineering: what is the purpose of the incubator and how does it work? A: Art: Students sketched the live chicks and the eggs at different stages after viewing with the candle light. M: Math: During our hiatus, we took a poll as to how many chicks will hatch out of the original 7. This is done on an Excel spreadsheet. Upon our return to school, we will create a chart based on this information. RentACoop rents chickens for 4 or 12 week periods, and provides everything necessary for a successful rental. RentACoop also rents incubators and brooders for chick hatching rentals. Our rental programs are rich educational experiences that instruct and remind all ages where our foods comes from, and the evolution of change, through a chicken's lifecycle