Day 3

The borrowed incubator was so easy to use and held all of our duck eggs!  Eggs are gently being rocked to keep them moving and not stationary.  Duck eggs need to be turned an odd number of times a day.  Luckily, the ease of this borrowed incubator gave me time to get the Monarch's settled into their mesh cage for transport on Monday.  I've measured a few of the caterpillars - as they are still small and hard to find!  I also saw a few eggs hiding in the leaves.  More to come!

Visit our FlipGrid MixTape to see some of my recordings.

Monarch: pick up and settle in

Duck eggs are stable and moist for day 2 in the incubator.  I drove halfway to Houston to meet my sister and mother (dad stayed behind) for an exchange of Monarch ownership.  My family has a great location and "stopping ground" for Monarchs!  As the Monarchs leave Mexico and travel North, several of these butterflies love to stop by their place in Katy to feast on nectar and lay plenty of eggs.  My family is #ServeLikeSue as they drive across Texas to share their babies with our school!

Visit our FlipGrid MixTape to see some student reactions.

Day 1 in incubator

Mrs. Harvey's 7th and 8th-period classes were able to view the candling of eggs (comparing to a chicken egg) before they went into the incubator!  Each egg was weighed, candled, documented color and any special markings before going into the incubator.
The CBC stayed after school today to place the milk jugs, filled with water, in the courtyard. They also prepared the numbers (countdown to Hatch day) in the front office window!
Tomorrow, my older sister, "Aunt Kathy", will be meeting me halfway to Houston where we will do a Monarch caterpillar exchange. We are about to have some more Monarch butterflies emerge in class!  It is a good thing we planted those milkweeds in the courtyard!

Visit our FlipGrid MixTape to see some student reactions.

Harvey and FA classes candle the eggs

Mrs. Harvey's classes observed the candling of eggs today.  The FA class was also able to visit and get a quick lesson on the duck eggs compared to chicken eggs.  They will be back in one week to see if the heart has developed inside the duck eggs.  Patience is a virtue!
Due to Mrs. Harvey saving the girls athletic (and Coaches) from the baby rat snake and due to the practice fire drill, the last two classes will view candling on Friday. Eighth-period science classes were able to get a closeup look at a snake in class.  Sometimes I think we are part zoo - in 6th grade Stafford science classes!

Visit our FlipGrid MixTape to see some student reactions.

Candle an Egg with Koenig classes

Today, we will take the assigned three eggs for each class and candle them.  I will start off by candling an egg (from a chicken - borrowed from Mrs. Nystrom, our Cafeteria Manager).  We will compare the two kinds of poultry eggs.

1. We will take our eggs and our cell phones (or flashlight) into the prep room.
2. We will turn off the light and get our eyes adjusted to the dark.
3. We will place each egg on the "flashlight" side of one phone using the flashlight app.
4.  Students will use their phones to video and record what each egg looks like. (The light will shine through the shell of the egg and present an image of what is inside the egg.)
5. We will candle the eggs each Wednesday to conclude at the two-week mark.  After the two-week mark, the growing duckling gets so big inside the egg where we can no longer see anything but a large, dark mass inside the egg!

Visit our FlipGrid MixTape to see some student reactions.

Numbering the eggs

I am placing the tray of eggs in the refrigerator each evening (Monday and Tuesday) to model our strange Texas weather. The mass of the eggs was discovered during every class period when we numbered (in pencil) each egg and then used the "Skills for Living's" food scale to find the mass of each egg.  All six classes documented their findings and will have three eggs to supervise.  Mrs. Harvey and Mrs. Koenig have one egg each to supervise. Students came in at lunch to help get the documentation organized on the front board.  It is looking good!

Visit our FlipGrid MixTape to see some student reactions.

The Eggs Have Arrived!

Our excitement is palpable!  The eggs have arrived!

Photo of Duck Eggs

Visit our FlipGrid MixTape to see some student reactions.

Did You Know - Duck Vocabulary

A clutch is a group of eggs laid by ducks/birds (or amphibians or reptiles)

Eggs arrived at the Frisco Post office!

Stafford Middle School just received a phone call from the post office!  Our eggs are in a holding pattern until they are delivered to the school!  We are excited and can't wait to see those 20 eggs!!  They go into the incubator on Friday, so we welcome them ANY time this week!

Milkweed Planting

We just planted the milkweed in the courtyard.
The Monarch butterflies have started the migration back to the states and are in Houston as of 3/19/19!

Did You Know - Duck Vocabulary

Female duck = hen

Did You Know - Duck Vocabulary

Male duck = drake

March Calendar

Kids are getting excited about the egg delivery!
They thought it was interesting/weird that you could send eggs through the mail (postal service).
Mrs. Koenig let them know that LIVE ducklings can also be sent through the postal service!

Take a look at our upcoming calendar for March, and click on events for more details.

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