Upper Elementary News, 5/4 - Bee Installation, Chicken Incubation Update, and More!

Bee Installation by Noah and Laila

We signed up for beekeeping because we were interested in learning more about taking care of bees. On Wednesday we installed new bees in our hives. First, we put bee suits on. It was really hot in them! Then we took boxes of bees down to the apiary. There was a can of sugar water in each box to feed the bees. There was also a smaller box that held the queen. We put the queen box inside one of our hives. In a few days, the bees in each hive will chew through a plug of sugar and release the queens.

Chicken Incubation Update - by Lily L. and Jonell

Today the UE class dissected six of the eggs from the incubator that had stopped developing and needed to be removed so that they would not contaminate the remaining embryos. We could tell that the developing chicks had died because we could see a blood ring when we candled the eggs. You can read more about that here. Three out of the six eggs had embryos in them that you could see. It looked like they stopped developing on day six. The other three looked like they had never been fertilized. We had already removed two of the original 26 eggs, so now we only have 18 eggs left. They are scheduled to hatch on May 8!

Overcoming My Fear - by Lily S.

Salt is a very nice pony, but I did not know this for a very long time because rumors were going around that he is mean and scary. I believed this mostly because my grandma has a very mean horse. I grew up around it, and it was the only horse I had ever met which led me to believe that all horses were mean and nasty. One day I decided I would see Salt anyway. I went with two other friends. I expected to see a horse kicking and neighing meanly, but when we got there I found a very sweet pony that could not stop licking me! We spent a long time with him, and he still could not stop licking us long enough to chew! He was very sweet, and he made me realize that maybe horses can be nice. I think over time I won't be scared of horses anymore.  

SpaceX Dragon to Splashdown on Saturday

After our visit to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, we have been interested in current events in space, especially what is happening at the International Space Station and on SpaceX missions. SpaceX launched a Dragon cargo ship on April 2 on the Falcon 9 Rocket. It was supposed to return on May 2, but Jodi shared with us this week that rough seas at the capsule's Pacific Ocean splashdown zone have delayed its return until Saturday, May 5 at 2 pm CT. Dragon will be carrying over 4000 lbs. of cargo, including mice who have been living in habitats on the ISS and NASA’s Robonaut 2 which is a robot that was designed to help astronauts with their chores but suffered a malfunction in 2014. You can read more about it here. Also, did you know that you can see the ISS flying over Nashville? Follow this link to see when it’s passing over us again. Spot the Station