Wildlife at WMS
Friday, September 23, 2011 at 02:40PM 
Petting the wallaby!/ Baby chicks from the chick-hatching program
In what has become an annual tradition, the children at Hudson Street enjoyed the opportunity to observe the wonder of life this summer, as chicken eggs provided by Quiver Farms hatch into chicks. The Quiver Farm Chick Hatching program brings 12 incubated eggs, an incubator and a brooder box to schools like WMS all over the region, and the chicks hatch a few days later. This is a great opportunity for children to learn about farm life and the animals that make life possible.
Hudson Street Classrooms D, F and G/H were also treated to a special visit from Eyes of the Wild, a nonprofit wildlife protection organization that takes in injured animals and abused exotic pets and brings them to schools for educational purposes. Classroom D has been studying animals that live in water and Classroom F has been studying animal classification, so they organized this "in-class field trip" as a way to further explore these topics. Travis, the Eyes of the Wild representative, brought a wallaby, a baby alligator, a tarantula, a mourning dove, and several other exotic creatures, which the children had a chance to see up close and pet.
At Duane Street, all classrooms received caterpillars, observed their life cycles, and released them as butterflies. The caterpillars were fed sliced oranges and were released on Duane Street, just a few feet from the school entrance. Some flew away and some rested on a nearby bush.