Hatching Chicks in Room 6 (Life Cycles in Room 6)

by Caroline Arnold (Author)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade
Kindergarteners learn the joys of hatching chicks from egg to coop in this close-up look at how chickens grow.

A visit to Mrs. Best's classroom is always inspiring! Follow a classroom of real kindergartners as they participate in a popular activity: hatching chicks. Astonishing photographs show the life cycle of a chicken, from incubating eggs, watching them hatch, and raising the chicks until they are old enough to return to the chicken coop.

The Life Cycles in Room 6 series follows Mrs. Best’s real kindergarten class as they help things grow. This photo-illustrated series engages readers with hands-on science in the classroom and beyond.

Winner of the Cybils Award for Elementary Nonfiction
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Kirkus

Arnold captures the joy and mystery of this familiar unit of study.

ALA/Booklist

Readers will come away with a good understanding of chickens' origins and will likely want to rush off to hatch an egg of their own, but Arnold wisely cautions that chickens do not make good pets.

School Library Journal


Publishers Weekly

Through photographs and direct, unadorned writing, Arnold (Living Fossils) takes readers to a (real-life) kindergarten class in Los Angeles, where the teacher, Mrs. Best, brings in eggs from the chickens she keeps at home. As the children tend to the eggs, keeping track of the 21-day incubation cycle on a calendar, readers learn about the parts of an egg and how chick develops inside. Finally, the eggs begin to hatch: "Little by little, the shell begins to crack. It is like unzipping a zipper." Arnold's photographs clearly show the children observing, feeding, and learning how to hold the chicks, which eventually return to Mrs. Best's house. A glossary and answers to common questions ("When you eat an egg, are you eating a baby chick?" "Do chickens make good pets?") conclude this up-close look at where chickens—and their eggs—come from.

Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission. 

Review quotes

This photoessay follows Los Angeles kindergarten teacher Jennifer Best as she shares her enthusiasm for raising chickens with her young students. Best brings in the fertilized eggs and an incubator, and over the next two months the kids (and, by extension, Arnold's audience) learn about and observe first hand the development of the embryos, the exhausting work of hatching, and the first weeks of the chicks' lives. The chonological narration keeps readers invested, while egg-shaped insets add information or context as needed. It's close-up photographs, though, that will make this a class pleaser, with views of hardware, cages and feed, eggs cracking open, and of course bedraggles little hatchlings and the adorable little fluffballs they become. A Q&A on all things chicken, a glossary, and lists of kid-friendly print and online resources are included. Forward-thinking carnivores in the audience may wonder what will happen to these chicks, but Arnold simply concludes, "In about five months the roosters will be able to crow. The hens will start laying eggs. Perhaps next year some of their eggs will come back to school and hatch into new chicks." Fair enough.

—BCCB Reviews

Caroline Arnold
Caroline Arnold is the author of more than one hundred books for children, most of them about science and nature. Books by Caroline Arnold include, Too Hot? Too Cold? Keeping Body Temperature Just Right, Shockers of the Sea, African Animals (Morrow Junior Books), and Dinosaur Mountain (Clarion Books), which was named an ALA Notable Book.

In addition to writing, Caroline spends much of her time reading, gardening, and traveling. She visits many elementary schools telling children about her books and encouraging them to read and write. Caroline also teaches part-time in the Writers' Program at UCLA Extension School.

Caroline lives in Los Angeles, California.
Classification
Non-fiction
ISBN-13
9781623542689
Lexile Measure
590
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Charlesbridge Publishing
Publication date
March 12, 2024
Series
Life Cycles in Room 6
BISAC categories
JNF003080 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Animals | Farm Animals
JNF051110 - Juvenile Nonfiction | Science & Nature | Experiments & Projects
JNF050000 - Juvenile Nonfiction | School & Education
Library of Congress categories
Chickens
Chicks
Eggs

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