12/10/19

Well, it is definitely a full moon this week... and it's definitely getting close to Christmas break!  The kids were excited and all smiles and giggles!

After feeding all of the many animals, the class finished up their Christmas tree projects.  It was an explosion of glitter, sequins, construction paper, and glitter... topped off with Christmas music and friends to laugh with!  The class also began their ornaments that they will be taking home next week.

Our lesson today was on donkeys and horses.  I love teaching about donkeys in December!  Last week we talked about donkeys as protectors.  Today we focused on the genetics behind donkeys and horses.  The kids learned the difference between a mule and a hinny.  (Hint- a mule is the offspring of a male donkey, or jack, and a female horse, or mare.  A hinny is the opposite- the offspring of a female donkey, or jenny, and a male horse, or stallion.)  They also learned that this is a type of hybrid animal which is always sterile and cannot reproduce at all.  

I really enjoyed the class's stories about the flock of bandit chickens that raided our garden!  Ms. Miranda has been working SO hard on our winter garden, and those darn escapees pecked the broccoli, kale, and brussel sprouts down to almost nothing!  At least we were able to get a great writing prompt out of it!  Some of the kids chose to write stories about the feathered robbers, while some chose to design a new fall/winter garden layout.  They did a wonderful job with these!

12/3/19

Last week, we added a new miniature horse on the farm!  The kids learned how tricky socializing a new animal to the farm can be.  In this case, we have one other miniature horse, Miss Kitty.  Miss Kitty is best friends with Delilah, the miniature donkey.  When we first brought Belle to the farm, Miss Kitty was very interested... but Delilah was furious!  Of course, we are keeping Belle separated from all of the animals for now.  The kids wrote about being the "new kid", meeting a new friend, or Delilah's jealousy for their at home writing assignment.  They did such an amazing job with these!  

We continued our lesson on socialization with a book on a team of guardian donkeys and dogs.  Through the book and our discussion of my experiences, the class learned that these things take time!  Livestock guardians must learn to respect new livestock in their keep.  You have to be careful when introducing new animals to the pasture!

The class began a new set of farm chores, which they will keep until Christmas break.  It was super cold today, but the animals must eat!

For art, the students finished up their fall trees and begin a Christmas craft.  They painted the base this week and will decorate their Christmas trees next week.

11/19/19

11/12/19

Today was too cold to play outdoors, so the kids spent their free time with board games, instead.

 

The chicks got plenty of love and attention today!

The class sorted different nouns from the farm into two bins: common and proper.

11/5/19

Today's farm news consisted of an update on the broody silkies.  We talked about their progress (and their poor timing with the cold weather).  Later in the day, we counted the number of eggs under hen #1.  We brought them in and candled them to see which were developing and which were not.  The class was able to separate them into those that were infertile/no development, those that had a blood ring (showing that the embryo had died), and those that were alive and well.  Hen #1 has four healthy little eggs under her!  The class also helped to give preventative coccidia medication to the Nigerian dwarf kids.

In other news, we were given pumpkins for the pigs!  I told the class about picking up the truckload of pumpkins, and how the pigs absolutely love them.  We even cracked open a few and threw them over the fence during class.

 

After our animal chores, the class read their stories.  They wrote about the broody silkie hens.  Those mommas have to stay on their nests for 21 days!  The kids came up with some great stories... some factual, some fictional, some third person, and some from the hens' points of view.  They did a great job!

In art, we began a simple geometric fall project.  The class created tree silhouettes, and they will be filling in squares with different shades of color to complete the scenes.

10/29/19