Chicks, man...

     Hi, Everybody!  Back in April our first graders began their yearly chicken unit. Our eggs came in and sadly, only two hatched. The two that hatched I lovingly named Laverne and Shirley.   Later, I found that Shirley was not a Shirley after all, and was renamed Squiggy.

Squiggy & Laverne

Laverne & "Shirley"

     Unfortunately, most schools had little success with their eggs hatching, so the science department sent us a new batch of eggs.  We went from two chicks hatching to somewhere around 13.  The students were incredibly happy.  After finding out that Squiggy was going to be a rooster and knowing that I can't keep a rooster, I got three more chicks.  Even though I very carefully studied the chicks before bringing them home (I looked very closely at their wings and tail feathers trying to choose chicks that had more feathers), one still has a 99% chance of being a rooster.  So instead of having Lucy, Ethel & Carolyn, I'm left with Lucy, Ricky & Ethel.   It has definitely been a fun adventure with these little guys.

Ethel, Lucy, Ricky

Ricky & Isaac

Ethel, Ricky, Lucy

     Now, Lucy & Squiggy are just around 3 months old, and they are HUGE.  We found out that they are chickens that were specifically bred for their meat.  The poor things can't even get into the hen house comfortably.  Ricky, Lucy, & Ethel are 8 weeks old (today, in fact), and they seem to be normal sized chickens.  They don't eat as much and they haven't grown as fast as the other two did.  I'm still not sure what breeds they are, so if you have any ideas... throw them my way. :)

      

     As I said before, we are not allowed to have roosters in our neighborhood.  The City of Denton will give you a big fat ticket for it, in fact.   So, yesterday was a bittersweet day, as Mr. Squiggy went to his new home.  Soon, the same will happen to Ricky (though I'm hoping Ricky will have a better outcome).  I actually missed hearing his crow this morning.  I did not, however, miss him running after me when I went out to feed him.  I'm sure the neighbors missed seeing me running through the yard like a crazy person trying to escape his beak of doom.  

Squiggy's last day in Denton

I will leave you with that for now.  I often post chicken pictures to our Nance Specials twitter account, so follow us already!

Greetings, Earthlings

In case you're someone browsing the interwebs looking for inspiration, I suppose I should start with a little introduction.  

My name is Jamie (Miss Marrs to my students).  I'm about to start my third year as an elementary art educator, deep in the heart of Texas.  Being the art teacher is a difficult job, but somebody's gotta do it.  I'm happy to take on the challenge.

I'm the proud mom to 2 furry feline friends and 2 very long, short legged dogs.  I'm often found hanging around a human named Isaac.  Together (with our 5 chickens) we are a very happy little family.

I frequent many art blogs when looking for ideas and inspiration, and thought "Maybe I should start my own blog to share MY ideas."  So here we are.   My goal is to keep this blog updated with all the happenings of the Nance Elementary art room.  I'd like for it to be a way for students, parents, teachers and other visitors to leave feedback on the work we're doing in class or as a school community!  

What would you like to see on the Nance Art Blog??

JM