VALDOSTA – Second grade students at Westside have jumped into life cycles with both claws and a beak too. Our brooder is home to three new and highly unusual chicks, a frizzle silkie and two naked necks (turkens). Students researched the origins of turkens and found poultry farmers bred them to create chickens with fewer feathers to help in the poultry meat preparation industry.
Students are also maintaining the WES chicken coop, selling organic eggs, charting egg production, and planting flowers which are sold in our lobby Farmer’s Market. In addition, 2nd graders have learned about the process of cold stratification as part of successfully germinating the 1,000 milkweed seeds we harvested at school last year. These milkweed plants are the host plant for monarch butterflies which visit our monarch way station each spring and fall. We are blooming with STEM and real-life learning experiences! Come visit our farmers market for fresh eggs and healthy plants!
Bruce Croft and Alaina Benson working with the milkweed plants.
Picture One: Cameron Williams and Mason Crosby with the three new chicks.
Picture Two: Bruce Croft and Alaina Benson working with the milkweed plants.
