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ANDY MATSKO/STAFF PHOTOS Fourth-graders in Shannan Burciks class watch chicks in their classroom at Blue Mountain Elementary East. The chicks are part of an embryology project for a lesson on the life cycle.

ANDY MATSKO/STAFF PHOTO Blue Mountain Elementary East fourth graders raised chicks in their classroom on Monday, March 20, 2017.

ORWIGSBURG Fourth-grade students at Blue Mountain Elementary East are using chicks to learn about the life cycle.

About 105 children in the five fourth-grade classes are participating in the embryology project.

They all have different personalities. Some are jumpy. Some are calm, Merik Brayford, 10, a student in teacher Shannan Burciks class, said.

The project started Feb. 21. Sixty eggs were provided by a local 4-H club. More than half have hatched and one died. The lesson extended outside the classroom on March 13 when the students watched the chicks on Facebook after the teachers took them home because of Winter Storm Stella.

On Monday, the students had the opportunity to interact with the chicks. Burcik said the chicks will go to local farms this week to live long, healthy, happy lives.

The first chick in Burciks class was born Wednesday. Ten of the 12 eggs in her the class have hatched.

Dont squeeze him, one student said.

The children were taught the proper way to hold the chick in the palm of the hand and to gently protect it with the other hand.

The chicks were kept in a plastic container with a heat lamp. They were fed corn meal and water.

Burcik said having the eggs at her house and their subsequent hatching was like having a newborn at the house. She said the chicks needed care and attention.

They love their bellies rubbed, Burcik said.

Oddly, she said she thinks they like Frank Sinatra music, because they seemed happy.

Some of the students said it was hard to concentrate on their lesson Monday because of all the noise the chicks made.

The opportunity to experience the life of the chicks firsthand is not something you get out of a textbook, Burcik said.

She said the children were in awe of the chicks and each one means something special to them.

A chick named Wobbles has difficulty walking, so a rubber band was tied around his legs to help him walk better. Lucky Chick was born on St. Patricks Day and Hope is named after someone who has medical issues. Dynamite is one of the most active of the group.

Dynamite is very spunky. Hes actually the teenager of the group, Burcik said.

Ian Correll, 9, said he liked Dynamite the best.

He jumps all over the place. He makes all the class laugh. Hes very wild, he said.

The children didnt want their new friends to go.

Let me take them home, they said.

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Blue Mountain students learn lesson from chicks - Republican & Herald