Derik Vanderford|Daily Times Jonesville kindergartener Dawson Hyatt introduces himself to one of the newly-hatched baby chicks in his classroom.

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Jonesville kindergarten teacher Kerri Hembree and her class stand around an incubator to observe cracked eggs that have not yet hatched.

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Photo submitted Students in Heather Barnado's second grade class at Buffalo Elementary are pictured with baby chicks they watched hatch during their life cycle project.

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Kindergarten students at Jonesville Elementary/Middle School hold baby chicks they watched hatch in their classroom.

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UNION COUNTY — There has been lots of chirping as of late in classes at two schools in Union County.

Second grade classes at Buffalo Elementary School (BES) and kindergarten classes at Jonesville Elementary/Middle School (JEMS) have been participating in projects involving the hatching of baby chicks.

Second graders at BES were very excited last week when they heard chirping coming from the incubator in their classroom. As part of a life cycle project, students were given the opportunity to house an incubator in their classroom. After 21 days, Heather Barnado’s second grade students were new “mother hens” to 17 chicks, and three days later, 25 more chicks hatched.

“This is the best year I’ve ever had with this project,” Barnado said. “Usually we have one or two chicks to hatch, but this year — WOW — we had 42! Mark Cathcart helped with this project and I think he was the essential ingredient we needed to make this project so successful. He let us borrow his incubator and brought eggs from his own chicks. They were beautiful chicks and the kids really enjoyed doing this.”

The other second grade classes are doing this project as well and are scheduled to have chicks within the next week.

“I always love doing this with my students,” said BES second grade teacher Teri Lawson. “They learn so much from this project. It is a wonderful way to give a hands-on perspective of an animal’s life cycle.”

Kindergarteners at JEMS were also excited to have an incubator in their classroom and watch eggs hatch. Eggs and the incubator for their project were provided by the Clemson Extension Office. They were provided with 24 fertilized eggs. On Wednesday, 14 chicks hatched, and two chicks hatched on Thursday. The remaining eight eggs were all cracked and moving — with chirping coming from inside — on Thursday afternoon.

“They’re really excited,” said JEMS kindergarten teacher Kerri Hembree, explaining that each egg was numbered to help students and teachers observe progress. As she described the project, the egg marked with the No. 17 cracked open and another chick hatched.

Staff Writer Derik Vanderford can be reached at 864-427-1234, ext. 29, or by email at dvanderford@civitasmedia.com.