A chilly, damp day didn’t stop us from heading outside! So the Scandinavian saying goes, “There is no bad weather, only poor choice in clothing.” Farm Sprouts suited with layers and rain gear to make the most of their afternoon at the farm.
We’re focusing on the study of embryology and the life cycle of a chicken these first weeks of Farm Sprouts. With our eggs placed in the incubator our first week due to hatch next week, our early literacy sign-in just had to center on eggs. Farm Sprouts matched two halves of an alligator egg resting in a nest to form their names. They also voted for either rabbits or ducks. Our emergent curriculum follows the interests of the children and is based on the season and current happenings in the farm environment. Voting for a preference upon arrival immediately provides the children with a chance to utilize their voice, even if oral English language skills are still developing or if a child is not quite comfortable sharing in a group setting. Today rabbits won the popular vote, so next week we will spend time with the rabbits, although certainly, we’ll find time to visit our ducks as well.
In the classroom we had much to see and do, including observing Coltrane, our turtle, and the blue gill who are part of the 4-H hydroponics project, playing a game called “Count Your Chickens!” by Peaceable Kingdom, and working with our Chick Life Cycle Exploration Set. The afternoon group was responsible for feeding Coltrane this week.
During our large group gathering, we talked about diversity, sharing how we all look different and may speak different languages, just as the chicks in our classroom have a variety of colors of feathers. Even the animals on our farm speak different “languages!” We giggled as we danced like chickens to the Spanish song, “Josefina la gallina.” Spanish has been a part of our program from the beginning and enjoyed by all! We incorporate STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) as a part of our inquiry-based approach to learning, which involves exploring the question, “How does our garden grow?” in the spring season. Everything at the farm is connected, so we’ll soon investigate how chickens connect to the gardens. In the meantime, we’re discovering how an egg becomes a chick. So today, we utilized both technology and mathematics to explore our scientific question to figure out what is happening with the eggs in our incubator. We worked on counting to find out how many days the eggs have been in the incubator, now 7 days, and utilized a tool called an ovascope to view the developing embryos in the eggs.
We made our way through puddles to wind up in the greenhouse. We learned greenhouses are not actually green on the exterior, but instead covered in clear plastic. It feels warm inside and what makes the green is all of the plants growing inside! We were asked to use our senses of sight and smell to explore upon entry and then settled into work. First, Will Jaquinde, our CSA Coordinator and Sustainable Agriculture Instructor, guided us through harvesting pea shoots that he and his assistant, Gwen, grew for us to eat. We learned that some farmers take care of animals and some grow plants, which is Will and Gwen’s role at Tollgate Farm. We are grateful for their hard work and that they could take the time to care for and help us harvest the tasty greens. Farm Sprouts worked on their fine motor skills through the use of children’s size scissors to harvest the shoots.
Next, we created planting pots out of newspaper with a wooden potting tool, added soil using trowels, sowed sunflower seeds, and watered them using spray bottles. We sowed extras in egg cartons for good measure. These seeds came from mammoth sunflowers planted by Farm Sprouts last spring and then children in our fall program harvested the seeds! We’ve now come full circle with our sunflowers and look forward to continuing this beautiful cycle and tradition for years to come.
We also talked about how a seed begins to grow by dissecting cranberry beans soaked overnight in water. We removed the seed coat, split open the cotyledons, and used magnifying glasses to take a close look at the embryo, noticing the epicotyl and the hypocotyl.
Now it was our turn to do our part to contribute to the animal side of the farm community by taking care of the chickens. We made our way to the mobile coop to collect eggs. Since the morning, the hens had been busy laying eggs! We collected eight eggs in the afternoon. We had the opportunity to view roosters and hens in their free-range habitat, touch a hen to learn more about her anatomy, and went inside the coop to collect eggs. Chicken eggs can come in a range of colors just the same as the feathers, from brown to even a bluish-green color.
After all of that important work, we were ready to settle in for a story and to prepare our snack as a part of our Mini Garden Kitchen. We returned to the classroom to wash up and read An Egg is Quiet by Diana Hutts Aston. Farm Sprouts then practiced basic knife skills to chop apples and assisted in adding the ingredients to the blender. Everyone tried the smoothie and many asked for seconds! It was rewarding to taste a smoothie made with pea shoots we harvested ourselves. We closed with our goodbye routine and smiles on our faces to celebrate a well-accomplished afternoon.
MSU Tollgate Farm Pea Shoots Smoothies
2 cups whole milk vanilla yogurt
1 Tbs. MSU Tollgate Farm honey
2 organic apples
1 cup local frozen berries and/or 1 frozen banana
1 lemon, juiced
2 cups of pea shoots
“In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt.” – Margaret Atwood
We most certainly did after our fun and muddy afternoon! See you next week!