Chickens help show ag is cool

Mason Walker, a fifth-grader at East Jackson Elementary School, wasn't sure what to expect when he adopted 2-day-old chickens as part of a school project.

What he learned was that little chicks turn into feathery chickens far faster than he expected, and agriculture is way cooler than he thought.

Mason is one of more than two dozen students who took part in East Jackson Elementary's Agricultural Awareness Week Adopt-a-Chick program - a school-wide project recognized by Gov. Sonny Perdue as the best Agricultural Awareness Week program in the state.

Renee Kiley, Kimberly Ashe and several other East Jackson Elementary teachers helped organize the chick adoption in mid-March, when students adopted about 60 day-old broiler chicks.

They took the chicks home, fed them, kept them safe and kept records of each chicken's growth, said Dawn Brock, a first-grade teacher who helped with the project.

"We met weekly and talked about what they should expect over the next week in terms of growth," Brock said. "Each week we had a different topic, like diseases, gender identification and proper care. Every week, we covered a different topic about how to raise a chick."

Through record-keeping and learning about the chickens, students learned math and science skills included in the state curriculum. Many of them picked up a love of agriculture as well, Brock said.

Mason, for instance, is looking forward to joining the FFA when he enters sixth grade next year.

"I want to be in the FFA next year, and I want to raise and show a pig," he said.

Mason Walker, a fifth-grader at East Jackson Elementary School, wasn't sure what to expect when he adopted 2-day-old chickens as part of a school project.

What he learned was that little chicks turn into feathery chickens far faster than he expected, and agriculture is way cooler than he thought.

Mason is one of more than two dozen students who took part in East Jackson Elementary's Agricultural Awareness Week Adopt-a-Chick program - a school-wide project recognized by Gov. Sonny Perdue as the best Agricultural Awareness Week program in the state.

Renee Kiley, Kimberly Ashe and several other East Jackson Elementary teachers helped organize the chick adoption in mid-March, when students adopted about 60 day-old broiler chicks.

They took the chicks home, fed them, kept them safe and kept records of each chicken's growth, said Dawn Brock, a first-grade teacher who helped with the project.

"We met weekly and talked about what they should expect over the next week in terms of growth," Brock said. "Each week we had a different topic, like diseases, gender identification and proper care. Every week, we covered a different topic about how to raise a chick."

Through record-keeping and learning about the chickens, students learned math and science skills included in the state curriculum. Many of them picked up a love of agriculture as well, Brock said.

Mason, for instance, is looking forward to joining the FFA when he enters sixth grade next year.

"I want to be in the FFA next year, and I want to raise and show a pig," he said.

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