One little boy in particular really enjoys the chickens. He asked if he could go in with the pullets and after about 15 minutes I brought him a chair. I then busied myself with helping other children pull weeds in our organic children's
gardens. He'd been observing the chickens and holding various ones that jumped onto his lap for about 45 minutes when he called me over. In an excited tone he announced that he had been learning some things about the various
chickens. He told me for instance that he had noticed that our little white polish, "Parsnip" dug many, many holes and that she dug way more than the others. I asked him why he thought she might be doing that. He said that he thought
it was because she was hungry. I told him that that was his hypothesis and explained that he was conducting some emperical observation. I told him that Dr. Maria Montessori established her learning theories by this type of study of
children, and that many scientists work this way. Oh boy that sparked him. In he went for a clipboard, paper and pencil, sat down in his chair and went to work. He wants to know everything from breed to comb type to habits and
personality. This is true learning--through discovery! I love being a Montessori teacher...with chickens of course.