The third graders had just put away their math books.
Suddenly they heard a buzz from the speaker on the wall.
The voice of the principal, Ms. Olson, rang through the classroom.
"Joy Donovan, please come to the office."
"Grandpa is here with the chicks!" cried Joy.
"Hooray!" cheered Katie.
"May I go to the office, Mr. Higgins?"
asked Joy as she jumped up from her desk.
"Yes, you may," said the teacher.
Joy stopped at Katie's desk.
"Go ahead and draw the chicken," she whispered loudly.
Mr. Higgins nodded to Katie, and she walked to the whiteboard.
She took a marker and drew a big chicken.
Just as Katie finished the tail, Joy marched back into the room.
Grandpa walked behind her with a large cardboard box.
"Let's all say hello to Mr. Donovan," instructed Mr. Higgins.
The third graders clapped and called, "Hello, Mr. Donovan!"
"Hello, kids," Grandpa said, smiling.
He carried the box to a table in the front of the room.
Then he sat down on a small chair.
"I've already seen the chicks,"
Luke whispered to the boy next to him.
"They're cheeping!" cried Laura Layman.
Joy walked to the front of the class and stood beside Katie.
"We're going to look at the chicks in the box.
But first Katie will tell you about her drawing."
"In five or six months, these little chicks will look like this.
This is a grown-up hen.
That's what you call a female chicken," Katie explained to the class.
"Here is the hen's beak." She pointed to the whiteboard.
"This wavy thing on top is called a comb."
She tapped her finger on the comb.
"And this floppy part under the beak is called a wattle."
"Cool," said Luke. "Where are the feet?"
The whole class laughed.
Katie had run out of space on the board and hadn't drawn the feet.
"You're silly, Luke," replied Katie.
"Thank you, Katie," said Mr. Higgins. "That was very helpful."
Now it was Joy's turn.
"Our chicks aren't grown up yet," she said.
"They're about two weeks old."
She lifted the lid off the box.
All the third graders jumped out of their seats and gathered around the box.
"Hey!" exclaimed Luke. "Their hair looks funny.
It's sticking out."
The chicks were cheeping and hopping around inside the box.
Joy lifted a chick from the box.
"They're getting real feathers on their tails and wings."
"This one has little horns," exclaimed one of her classmates.
"That is where its comb is starting to grow," explained Joy.
"Why do some have white legs and some have yellow legs?" asked Luke.
"They're just different," said Joy.
"Are the two white ones twins?" asked Laura.
"They look alike."
"They look alike, but they're not the same," said Katie.
She picked up one of the white chicks and put it in Laura's hand.
"This one is nice and calm, but the other one―"
The other white chick chirped and ran around in circles.
Everyone looked closely into the box as the chick tripped over the feeder.
It knocked into some of the other chicks.
"What's it doing?" asked Luke.
Suddenly the squawking chick jumped and flapped its little wings.
"It's trying to fly!" cried Laura.
All the children laughed.
"See?" said Joy. "The chicks look alike.
But they're really different."
"Just like us!" Katie couldn't help saying.
"Hooray for Katie and Joy's chicks!" Laura said.
All the third graders clapped and cheered.
Katie and Joy looked at each other and smiled.
Then they cheered too!