Chicago elementary schoolers delight in new chicken coop that fuses science with Black history
Teachers tried to keep excited Chalmers Elementary students in line as they brought them into the school’s courtyard earlier this week. They were about to have a little meet and greet with seven chickens checking out their new digs — a silver coop that looked like a tiny house.
The school’s brand-new chicken coop is named after Mary Logan Reddick, a pioneering Black female biologist, and its dedication kicked off a series of events across Chicago Public Schools for Black History Month.
At other events, students will sing Harlem Renaissance-era songs, Black businesses will sell goods, high schoolers will hear from the engineers involved in the expansion of the CTA Red Line, and district officials will convene a panel on multilingual opportunities for African American students.
Chalmers Principal Romian Crockett said naming the chicken coop after Reddick is a way to introduce students to Black figures that go beyond those who are typically discussed during Black History Month, like Martin Luther King Jr.
Reddick’s research on chicken embryos advanced the understanding of human development.
“We wanted to make sure we highlight that just so they have a greater understanding of who came before them, and hopefully [it] will inspire them to continue moving forward,” he said.
Crockett said he knows of other schools that have chicken coops and he wanted his students in the low-income community of North Lawndale to have a similar opportunity to learn from them.
Before bringing the chicken to Chalmers, Crockett said he learned everything he could about them for one simple reason: “I want to keep them alive.”
Chalmers recently became a Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics, or STEAM, school as part of a community-led effort to bring more science and technology instruction into North Lawndale. Cherita Marquez, the school’s STEAM coordinator, said the chicken coop fits perfectly into this new focus.
“This provides a literal real-time opportunity for kids to come down here, collect data, make observations, even just watching the chickens’ behavior, and eventually, when they get to laying eggs, they can actually do egg studies,” she said. “So it's a real-life kind of science lab here in the middle of our school courtyard.”
Given that they have four hens and three roosters, Marquez said it is “going to be really fun” when they start laying eggs. “I'm super excited to see what the future holds for our little chickens,” she said.
The students ooohed and awed in front of the coop as they asked questions and tried to get the oblivious chickens to respond to them.
They talked about their color and texture. They also threw out names for them, which ranged from Cluck Cluck to Bluey to Max.
“I love chickens,” third grader Jayden White said as he shuffled out of the courtyard. “They make me laugh every single time when they walk.”