Newest Faces at Boulder JCC Preschool Have Feathers

The JCC Preschool recently added some feathered friends to their community.  The students have been raising eight laying hens since they were just over a week old.  The young chicks seem to double in size every week.  The chicks currently live in the preschool office so the classes can take turns visiting them throughout the day.  Sometimes just one or two students at a time will come with their teacher, appreciating the calming effects the birds can have, especially if a student is having a rough day.   The kids have been very curious about the chicks, asking questions such as: “Why do they have sharp claws?” “Where are they born?” “How do they fly?” “Why are their legs brown?”

Farmer Becca, Farm and Sustainability director at the Boulder JCC, incorporates more farm and garden activities into early childhood education at the J.  The new JCC will be adjacent to a two-acre educational farm site. The goat and chicken co-ops paved the way to ensuring that agricultural activities will continue on the Boulder Jewish Commons. The plan for the future farm includes pasture space for the co-ops’ goats and chickens, a large educational garden and orchard, a greenhouse, and space to grow vegetables for donation. If you would like more information or would like to get involved planning and implementing agricultural activities on the commons, please email becca@boulderjcc.org.

The birds at the JCC preschool will eventually find their way to Rabbi Marc Soloway’s backyard.  Rabbi Marc, of Congregation Bonai Shalom, recently set up a chicken coop with some of his congregants so that the synagogue can have their own eggs for Kiddush and other festive meals.  The eight new chicks will join the current flock of aging chickens that was inherited from Beis Tarnagol , Boulder’s Jewish Chicken Co-op.