Chick hatching a tradition at Mundelein's Fairhaven

It's been chick-hatching time in four first-grade classrooms at Fairhaven School in Mundelein, with the most recent batch of little ones recently breaking through their shells.

Chicks arrived at Fairhaven on April 10 and took 21 days to hatch. They were kept warm in an incubator during that time and the eggs were turned three times a day for the first 18 days.

Every day, students learned what was happening in the embryo. On days six and 10, the students were able to candle them or shine a light on them and could see them moving inside the shell.

Once the chicks hatched, students had a few days to play with them before they were sent to a farm where they have room to grow.

Teachers at Fairhaven have been hatching chicks the past 16 years as part of the "chick project," which coincides with the science curriculum at the Diamond Lake Elementary District 76 school.

In science, students learn about living and nonliving things, as well as life cycles. When looking at life cycles they examine tadpoles, butterflies, puppies and kittens and different types of plants.

In the spring, students take a field trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden to reinforce the unit on living and nonliving and the life cycle of various types of plants.