Trama in the First Grade

Our district has put into place that just about every elementary grade level observe a real life cycle. First grade get to hatch chicks every year. For 21 days, eggs incubate (is that a word?) and then we get to watch them come out. In an ideal world, this would be wonderful. However, this is reality and it hit a little too close to home today.

We came in this morning and there were our eggs - fresh and untouched after 26 days in the incubators. We were supposed to throw them out on day 22 if they had not hatched but we couldn't. Our kids had literally been praying for them. We held on to hope until this morning. Classes started and my co-worker came in to get me (I'm in charge of the incubators). A chick had poked its little egg tooth through and then stopped. At lunch, it was still the same - silent and still.

As the one in charge of this project (not by choice, mind you), I got the task of helping birth the chick. I pulled back a portion of the shell and there it was - black feathers, little feet, and dead as a doornail. My stomach turned. I was so upset that I couldn't even finish.

To make matters worse, we had to remove it before the kids came back in the room from lunch. As I put it in a box, closed the lid, and made my way outside, I felt my stomach in knots. It was horrifying. Now we had to figure out what to tell the kids. We got a game plan in place.

After school, we had to get rid of the rest of the eggs. We decided to check them and, thankfully, none had even gone past about day 4 of development. Guess who got to check the other 15 eggs? Yep, lucky me.

Lesson learned today? I'm not cut out to be a vet.