Nature Adventure-Virtual Learning for Educators and Families

 

Calling all teachers, homeschool families and educators who want to spice up your fall education plan! Announcing Nature Adventures, a virtual learning program aligned with NC state teaching standards on NC ecology and the natural sciences.

Nature Adventures is a 7-part series of 45-minute educational sessions for the fall semester developed and taught by professional Environmental Educators from North Carolina's premier 4-H Camps. This program is provided for FREE for teachers and families. Check out the session schedule below. All programs are aligned with the North Carolina Standard Course of Study and are presented live over Zoom. Can't make the live event? Register for the recording and go at your own pace!

LEARN MORE at our website, grab material lists, and review standards alignment

This program is free, but requires registration                            REGISTER HERE

PROGRAM SCHEDULE Coastal Ecology Sept. 18, 9 am Students will explore the vibrant ecology of the Albemarle Sound, learning about the plants and animals that call this unique ecosystem home. Presented by The Eastern 4-H Center Beaver Pond Explorations Oct. 1, 9 am Students explore a decades old beaver pond habitat, learn how to identify evidence of beaver activity, and discover why beavers are important to many other plants and animals. Presented by Betsy-Jeff Penn 4-H Center Pine Forest Ecology Oct. 14, 9 am Explore the unique Longleaf Pine ecosystem of the North Carolina Sandhills with a wildlife expert, featuring one of the most beautifully restored Longleaf Pine stands in the south eastern US. Presented by Millstone 4-H Camp. Stories in the Stars Astronomy Oct. 27, 1 pm Students investigate the myths behind constellations, learn about current astronomical events, and explore what they can find in the night sky right now. Nature Crafts Nov. 9, 1 pm Students will build simple nature crafts like toad homes and bird feeders, then use their crafts to collect data, make observations and develop inferences about the natural world and the species they find there. Outdoor Survival Skills Nov. 20, 9 am Students will learn survival skills including the Rule of 3, the Ten Essentials, how not to get lost, and how to survive in the wilderness. Then students will apply what they've just learned with a mock survival scenario where they have to make decisions about how to survive. Sharks Teeth & Fossils Dec. 8, 9 am Students learn where and how to find & identify fossils. Students will explore different types of fossils and dive deep on shark teeth. The session instructor will share his personal fossil collection to show and tell what he's found over the last ten years.

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Time to Warm Up....

  Teachers get your incubators plugged in and watered....because it's time to play 4-H Embryology!  This project happens twice a year in second and third grade classrooms around Robeson County.  This year 27 classrooms are signed up to hatch chicken eggs in their incubators for Round 1.  That means more than 600 youth will get the chance to turn the eggs three times a day until March 31.  The week of April 3 is when the magic for round one will happen.
  This does take a little more prep work then just throwing some eggs in the incubator.  Teachers attend a training to ensure success in their classrooms and review the curriculum.  They take their incubators back to their classrooms at least two days before the eggs arrive so that the incubators can get to the right tempreture (must be between 99-101 degrees) and have the right humidity to receive the eggs.
  This year we ordered or eggs and had to get them ready for pickup.  When you consider we had 30 dozen eggs, that takes a little time.  We ordered a variety of eggs so each classroom should have a variety of chickens that hatch.  When we get a little closer to hatching date we will put up a live feed for our incubators so everyone can watch.  Feel free to stay tuned for that announcement.  Are you egg-cited about this life cycles project yet?  We can hardly contain ourselves for the late breaking news.  Stay tuned!

Cheep, Cheep, Cheep....

It's that time of year again, time for 4-H to work with some incredibly creative and brave second and third grade teachers to implement embryology in the classroom.  This year almost 40 classrooms took part in our classroom adventure, and we added a new twist.  This year we set up a virtual incubator in our office and the results were outstanding.  Almost 1,000 more viewers tuned in from around the country to see our chicks hatching out of the eggs live on camera.  We couldn't have hatched a better project ourselves.  A big thank you to our teachers who implement the program, fill out evaluations and paperwork to make sure their students are recognized as taking part in this.  We also appreciate the level of learning that our students get from this as well.  If you would like to see the photos of our chickens feel free to click this link.  As we get updates we will let you know.  So fair everyone is doing well at their permanent chicken home.

Can You Feel the Egg-citment?

  We are very happy to say second and third grade embryology are back in Robeson County classrooms.  About 20 classrooms currently have incubators and eggs, working hard to hatch chicks this year.   This is during round 1 we will have a second round that has 30 classrooms signed up also.

  However there is something special about this year.  Not only are there incubators in classrooms, but we also have a live virtual feed.  If you would like to check in on the eggs you can click on this link (or paste it in your browser):  http://ustre.am/1uNJp.  You can see us turn the eggs at 8:30, 12 and 5 pm weekdays.  Our eggs will be hatching the week of March 20, and our ducks (yes this one and only incubator has ducks) will be hatching about 5 days later.  So tune in and catch some breaking news!

This News is Cracking Us Up!

The excitement is more than we could bear this week as we watched chick after chick hatch as part of Embryology.  Embryology is the study of the embryo and in 4-H we conduct this curriculum in second and third grade class rooms.  May is the second round in which 18 classrooms took part in the experiment this go around.  We offer the teachers training and curriculum not to mention an incubated and fertile eggs to make this science experiment possible.

  Teachers have reported hatching going o around the county and we are very excited to say that we had 23 eggs hatch at our office.  If you would like to be part of our embryology program we will set eggs again in September to hatch at the Robeson County Fair.  Come by the livestock building in October to to see the chicks hatching.

EGG-Citing News

Did you hear the little birdies talking around the county?  That's becuase round two of 4-H Embryology is here.  We have teachers in almost 20 classrooms in seven different schools taking part in the second round of this every popular 4-H school enrichment program.  Incubators went out on Monday, eggs are being set today.  Each classroom has a dozen fertile eggs provided by Hatcher Family Farms.  For the next 18 days the students will turn the eggs three times a day (that's why we put x's and o's on the eggs so we turn them all the same amount each time) and watch to make sure the incubator temperature is maintained at 100 degrees.  The week of May 6 we should here real life cheeping coming from all over the county as the eggs hatch and little chickens emerge.  Stay tuned for breaking news on this topic!

Breaking News!!!

In case you can't hear the excitement around the county let me go ahead and tell you what all the cheeping is about.  The eggs in second and third grade classrooms are hatching this week as part of our 4-H Embryology program.  More than 20 classrooms are equipp
ed with incubators and fun hands on experiments to do with the students in their classrooms as they learn about life cycles.
We also have an incubator at the 4-H office today 8 chicks were hatched and we have high hopes for our other 4 eggs.  There have been lots of questions about the process of hatching chicks and how long it takes.  We posted some of the questions on our Twitter page as well as the Robeson County Extension Facebook page.
We will have a second round of embryology going on in 15 classrooms in the county starting April 15.  Stay tuned for more late breaking news concerning our hatching project.    

They Keep Hatching!

Talk about a science experiment in action. This morning when I came in the office we had three chicks, who had just hatched in the incubator. Usually all of our eggs hatch at one time. However this time we had some extra eggs and went ahead and put them in the refrigerator. After a week we had just about six left so we put those in the incubator with the others. We weren't sure if they would hatch, or if the hatch rate would be as high but we thought we should at least try. During the course of the day five of the six have hatched. We are going to give the last egg until the end of the week. If you would like to come out to the 4-H office (O. P. Owens Agricultural Center) and see the cuties, please feel free to stop by. They love visitors, especially those who talk with them.
Also, just an update, we are starting to hear from our schools. Green Grove Elementary had 13 out of 16 eggs hatch that is an 81% hatch rate. Mary Savage said he students loved the chicks and even got on the specially modified chick floor and watched them as they walked around. She said she is ready to do it next year!

Breaking News!

The chicks are here! The chicks are here! That's right it is just over 20 days since we put our eggs in the incubator and the chicks are here! We have been getting calls from the various schools with incubators and the chicks are hatching everywhere.
We actually had our first chick hatch yesterday and it was joined by two more the next morning and before the end of the day we had a total of nine. We still have several more trying to peck their way out so we can't wait to see what happens.
If you come in to the lobby of our building you will be able to hear our chicks as well as some music. Our first hatch was so loud that we started playing music for it to help it calm down and find its indoor voice. Believe it or not it worked. The chick loved the music and all of them have been relatively quiet, sleeping and breathing to whatever tune they are listening to. They will be in our office through Friday when they go to their new home and then we expect a few more to arrive in another week, since we did put a few eggs in a week later. We will let you know how that works out.

Have you Peeped in on this One Yet?

Spring is here which means we are celebrating in only a way 4-H can celebrate, by joining with 30 second and third grade classrooms for Embryology. Embryology is the study of the embryo, in this case chicken embryos. We train teachers on the hands-on Embryology curriculum and send them back to their classrooms with incubators, thermometers, and eggs. That is when the fun begins.

Three times a day the students help turn the eggs, just like mother hens. Three days before the scheduled hatch (which takes place 21 days after the eggs are placed in the incubator) the students stop turning the eggs and patiently wait. On hatch day students hear peeping, and pecking and suddenly chicks are born.

This is our first round of Embryology in the classroom this year. More than 35 classrooms were involved in the first round including classrooms from; Rowland Normant, Janie C. Hargrave, Flora McDonald, Rex Rennert, Long Branch, Rosenwald, Pembroke Elementary, and East Robeson.

So far reports have hatch rates as high as 85% on average this year. That's a whole lot of chicks that are finding homes with nice families who have established backyard flocks who are prepared to take really good care of our special friends. Our chicks from the 4-H office made their way to their new home on Sunday and their new family was very happy to welcome them.

Our next round of Embryology will take place in May. We have another 17 classrooms registered for second round so stay tuned for some egg breaking news coming to our 4-H blog soon.

Warming Up

Eggs-cellent! They have arrived and been laid in the nest. In case you have not cracked under all these puns (or caught on yet) the embryology eggs have arrived. The eggs which were recently laid at the N.C. State Hatchery by many many chickens were carefully packaged up and picked up by our 4-H staff. The fertile eggs were distributed to 30 classrooms and will be turned three times a day until March 24th. Then they will rest until they hatch. We hope that on the week of April 25th we will have little chicks pecking through their shells and peeping their way into our hearts.

Stay tuned to the 4-H blog for updates on our county wide hatch.

Get Cracking

It was an eggs-celent day for puns and education, embryology education that is. Today we took a couple of hours to work with our first time teachers who are implementing embryology in their second and third grade classrooms. Spring is the time of year when teachers and 4-H work together to plant a seed in the heads of of our youth. This is a science, technology, and agriculture seed that grows into a lesson on life cycles and more for our students.

Thanks to United Way of Robeson County 4-H is able to offer the teachers training on our hands on, research based curriculum and how to implement it in their classrooms. Then we loan them incubators, and get fertile eggs for each classroom in hopes that within the month they will have hatched some cute and noisy little chicks. While the youth are helping turn the eggs they learn how to read a thermometer, candle eggs, and how life cycles work. It is a fun lesson that teachers say stay with the students for their lifetime.

Stay updated on 4-H Embryology through the blog as we place the eggs in the incubators, turn the eggs and have a fabulous hatch. We will keep you up to date with photos and video of our fun event. If you would like to take part you can also come by the 4-H office and check on the chicks in our incubator at the O. P. Owens Agricultural center. We will have a guest book for you to sign in and leave us contact information so that we can contact you as we get closer to the big day.

Singing our Way to Health

It is amazing how the educational songs we learned in Kindergarten stay with you. In this case it is our ABC's and the Happy Birthday song. Both can help our youth become official germ busters and keep them healthy in school rather than sick and out of school.

I can tell you are singing your ABC's trying to remember how that might work. Well the message is not in the lyrics to the song rather the timing of it. The 4-H and EFNEP (Expanded Foods and Nutrition Education Program) staffs descended upon Rowland Norment School to help battle germs. Yes, those microscopic things that are rampant no matter where you are. However, in a school where little ones like to touch everything and everyone it makes the germ travel faster and easier than other settings. The four staff members went class to class to conduct glo-germ, a science experiment in which the students got to see the germs on their hands illuminated. Then the youth had the opportunity to go to the bathroom and wash their hands correctly (with soap and water, scrubbing for as long as it takes them to sing their ABC's or Happy Birthday, then rinsing the soap and germs away). When they returned we checked their hands to see how well they did.

Hand washing is one of the easiest and safest ways to kill the germs that could get our youth sick. By teaching them the appropriate way to do it and then empowering them to teach others we have noticed a 40% decrease in reported absenteeism's due to illness. This is a program that is usually conducted in connection with 4-H Embryology which takes place in the spring.

Almost a Dozen

They have finished hatching after a marathon session and we have about a dozen of the adorable little ones. As you can see the excitement of coming out of the egg wore them out and they were just napping as hard as they could. Our brown and striped chicks came from eggs supplied by a 4-H member's family. The yellow ones are meat chickens that will be very hardy. We want to thank all the teachers who implemented this curriculum and the students who enjoyed the chicks in their classrooms. Already we have had reports of 60% and better hatched in classrooms and we are so excited for everyone's success. Thank you to all of our second and third grade teachers who made it possible and United Way for supporting us in this hands on science and technology curriculum.

The Energizer Bunnies of Chickens

Honest, they keep hatching and hatching and hatching. Monday we had one little chick make a premature entrance. Tuesday morning another was waiting for us in the incubator and by Tuesday afternoon two more had hatched with several more showing signs of getting ready to break out. A brief light emergency brought me back to the office on Tuesday evening and yet another one was sitting in the incubator looking for a dryer home.

So Wednesday morning I was wondering what surprises might await us. Imagine four little chicks nestled between the eggs waiting for us to get them out and put them in with their new brothers and sisters. During the day we have had two more hatch with signs of life from at least two more eggs in the incubator.

Several visitors have come by to check them out and let them know exactly how cute they are (very cute when they stop pecking on each other). The chicks will be at the office until Friday which is when they will go to their new home. We will keep you updated right here on the 4-H blog as to future egg breakouts. It is an exciting time here and in the 25 second and third grade classrooms in the county that are conducting this embryology project.

Birth Announcment

The Robeson County 4-H Staff is pleased to announce the birth of our first chick as part of the second round of embryology. The chick was born on May 3, 2010 around 4:45 in the afternoon. It is a little to early to tell if it is a boy or girl. This chick was born from a pink egg given to us by one of our members parents. Shortly after hatching we moved the baby to a brooder box were it could dry off and stay warm. No gifts for our new baby please. Several more are expected to be arriving in the next few days. We love visitors, so if you feel so inclined feel free to check out the chicks at our office at 455 Caton Road, Lumberton. Please stay tuned to our 4-H blog to see our new arrivals.

Which Came First?

In our case the egg always comes first when we start a round of 4-H embryology in the schools. Today we gave out more than 30 dozen eggs as part of round two of this incredible hands-on school enrichment curriculum. This time we have incubators at Deep Branch, East Robeson, Flora McDonald, Janie C. Hargrave, Long Branch, Magnolia, Parkton, Rowland Norment, and St. Paul’s Elementary Schools. We also have a special addition to this round of embryology. Thanks to one of our 4-H member’s parents, we were given pink and blue eggs (the chickens lay eggs this color-they were not left over from Easter). So in the incubator at our office, and at a couple of the schools we have some different chickens hatching. I am getting a lot of questions wondering if the chicks that come out of the eggs will be pink or blue. I guess we will just have to wait and see. Feel free to come by and check out our eggs. We are expecting the eggs to hatch the week of May 2. You can always get updates right here on our 4-H blog and we will let you know how it is going at the schools, as we receive updates as well.

How many Eggs Can we Hatch?

When I left the story of the chicks on Friday we had one still trying to make its way out of the shell. On Saturday morning, when I went by the office for a club meeting guess what? That one had not only made it out but another one to keep it company. I quickly fixed up a new brooder box and put the two chicks in their new temporary home. When I looked in the incubator, you guessed it there was one more trying to peck its way out. So I left the office that morning to carry on about our business and when I made it back that afternoon, there was the precious little chick. So I quickly added it to the two in the brooder box. In case you are wondering that takes us up to 26 chicks. When I looked back in the incubator, there was one more, pecking away (it has never taken this long to hatch eggs...of course I staggered the entry into the incubator as part of an experiment as well). So I went home and waited a few hours and called the wonderful person who agreed to take our chicks. She met me at the office and when we got there, you guessed it one more had arrived. She took all four to her father's house who is keeping the little ones happy and fed. This time when I looked back into the incubator that was it no more pecking their way out and no more showing any signs of life. So for our first round we have had an excellent hatch rate and we are looking forward to doing this again after a week off. If you would like more information about this project, or 4-H please contact Shea Ann DeJarnette, 4-H Youth Development Extension Agent at Shea_Ann_DeJarnette@ncsu.edu or (910) 671-3276. Stay tuned for more Embryology news from 4-H.

They Keep Hatching and Hatching...

I realize it is Easter and maybe that is why our chicks are hatching like Energizer Bunnies. Every time I look in the incubator or open an e-mail, they are hatching and hatching. Yesterday after we posted to the blog we had three more hatch in our office. This morning when I came in I looked in the incubator and two more were waiting for me. It looks like there is one more on the way. For those of you keep count we have hatched 23 so far. The sweetest thing was seeing them sleeping this morning.
Most of them were curled up together but two were away from the group nuzzled up against each other
while another seems to have fallen asleep whileeating. It is tiring work being so cute.


When I checked my e-mail Mrs. Armstrong at Pembroke elementary e-mailed me. In the six classrooms they conducted this project in they have had a total of 55 chicks hatch. All I can say is WOW!

Mrs. Davis from Rex-Rennert said they had about 9 hatch per incubator or a total of 36 in their classrooms. She said this is the most she has ever had hatch.

I have also gotten a handful of thank you notes from students at Knuckles Elementary. I can tell you each and everyone of them learned so much that they almost filled up the page with what they learned. While I appreciate their thanks I must give a special thank you to the teachers who were brave enough to implement this project and curriculum in their classrooms and to the principals who are so supportive of this project and encourage their teachers to do it.

I hope everyone has had a great time doing it and stay tuned because we will be giving out incubators again April 12 and eggs on the 14th. One of our 4-H parents is even giving us a few blue and pink eggs to hatch as part of this experience. If you would like to come by and see our our new babies as we get ready to hatch them they will be located in the lobby of the O. P. Owens Building. As far as our chicks we have hatched, they will be leaving us today headed to their new home with a teacher from East Robeson, who has a backyard flock. She came by today and saw them and fell in love with them and we know they are going to a very good home.

They're Here!

Can you hear them? The new cheeping going on around the county. As you get closer to second and third grade classrooms it is getting even louder. That's right we are at the end of round one of Embryology and the eggs are hatching. Embryology is a 4-H curriculum that is implemented in the second and third grades as part of the standard course of study. What a better way to study life cycles?

On Wednesday we traveled to Union Chapel where we actually saw one chick hatch, another class had one pecking through, and yet another classroom had two that had been born with several more trying to get out.

J.C. Hargrave e-mailed us Wednesday afternoon and said they expected several to be making their appearance today. At Knuckles we have heard there is a total of nine new chicks in the world with two more expecting to make an appearance today. Can you say WOO Hoo?

To support the teachers in this endeavor we also have an incubator at our office. Our eggs started hatching on Tuesday. We had our very first chick after a long day of labor on Tuesday and that one encouraged seven more out of their shells on Wednesday. On Thursday morning we had nine more chicks just waiting for us in the incubator, with three more still trying to hatch out. If you would like to see video from this morning you can click here and see them in the incubator and how they were doing once we placed them in their brooder box (a brooder box is a box with a light where they can move around and stay safe and warm). What an egg-citing day!

Stay tuned to the 4-H blog for hatching updates around the county.