Chickens Aren't the Only Ones
Everyone knows that chickens lay eggs. Most people know that all other birds do as well but have you ever thought about all the other animals that lay eggs?
This unit explores eggs and egg layers. You will find dozens of ideas for teaching about Oviparous animals across the curriculum from learning to read to math, science, art and writing.
Get out some eggs and crack the shells of learning...
Oviparous Table of Contents
- Oviparous Animals
- Chickens Aren't the Only Ones
- A Platypus is an Egg Laying Mammal
- Oviparous Poems
- Books about Eggs
- Guess What Is Growing Inside This Egg
- An Extraordinary Egg
- It Started as an Egg
- Which Came First the Chicken or the Egg?
- Oviparous Writing Activities
- Oviparous Math
- Oviparous Math Centers
- Dissect an Egg
- Green Eggs and Ham Literacy Bag
- Egg Timers
- Which is your favorite oviparous animal?
- Crack the Eggs and Spell
- Egg Games
- Oviparous Puzzle
- Chicken Family Theater
- Egg Related Coloring Pages
- Oviparous Literacy Bag
- Oviparous Homework
- Oviparous Lenses
- Oviporus Thematic Studies
- Lensmasters with Oviparous Animal Lenses
- Tell us about your favorite oviparous animal
- Follow me on Twitter
- About the Author
Oviparous Animals
I find that this unit works especially well after studying Frogs, Alligator Pie and fits in nicely with the units on Bluebirds and Purple Gallinules.
Chickens Aren't the Only Ones
I like to start my Oviparous Unit Study by reading Chickens Aren't the Only Ones by Ruth Heller which talks about many animals other than birds that lay eggs. Ideally it is best to have a big book of this book so that all the children can see the words as you read.
Having several copies of the regular sized book means that several children can read the book during silent reading time.
Chickens Aren't the Only Ones (World of Nature Series)
Amazon Price: $7.99 (as of 10/06/2008)
Chickens Aren't the Only Ones, Big Bk.
Amazon Price: (as of 10/06/2008)
A Platypus is an Egg Laying Mammal
Oviparous Mammals
Even though the female Platypus has a pair of ovaries only the left one actually produces eggs.
She usually lays two small, leathery eggs. They are slightly rounder than bird eggs and measure about 11 mm or 7/16 of an inch in diameter.
A chicken egg develops for 1 day inside the hen and 21days in the nest. A platypus egg, on the other hand, develops for 28 days inside the and only about 10 days outside.
Oviparous Poems
Lots of animals come from eggsSome with fins
And some with legs.
Some that chatter
And some that cheep
Some that fly
And some that creep.
Some that slitherAnd some that run
Some with feathers
And some with none.
Animal eggs can be quite small
Or just as big as a tennis ball.
They're quite a few
Hatch from eggs
And lay them, too.
Books about Eggs
I love to read to children. Reading builds common understanding of any subject that we are reading.
Guess What Is Growing Inside This Egg
Guess What Is Growing Inside This Egg
Amazon Price: $11.96 (as of 10/06/2008)
An Extraordinary Egg
An Extraordinary Egg
Amazon Price: $6.99 (as of 10/06/2008)
It Started as an Egg
- It Started as an Egg
- Learn to Read Science Level 3, It Started as an Egg, 6 pack
16-page books that builds confidence and teaches reading strategies to young readers while stretching their abilities with more challenging text. Level III readers challenge emergent readers more with less repetitive, less predictable, but equally entertaining and motivating text and images. These sensational stories present science topics most commonly taught in the primary grades and cater to children's natural curiosity about the world around them. [CTP4166] - Teacher Supplies - Get Smart Super Stores Grade: K-2 - It Started as an Egg
- Lesson Plans, ideas, poems and activities to accompany It Started as an Egg for early childhood educators and parents from Hubbard's Cupboard.
Which Came First the Chicken or the Egg?
Can we find an answer to this oviparous question?
You knew I was going to have to ask it! Didn't you? So now you have to answer:
Which Came First the Chicken or the Egg?
Fetching blurbs now... please stand byIt must have been the Chicken.
Samantha K says:
It was the chicken because they evolved from and egg laying pteradactyl and one day that pteradactyl layed and egg and when it hatched it was a chicken. So the chicken came first.
Posted September 26, 2008
alber alvez says:
for sure,chicken of course for there's nothing would lay and hatch egg without a hen.Secondly,egg is a product of a hen cannot vice versa.
Posted September 24, 2008
hizkaye manieva says:
i must say CHICKEN because,according to the bible in the book of genesis 1:21 God created .......every winged flying creature according to its kind and God got to see that it was good.
Posted September 23, 2008
On a lens like this I have to go with the Oviparous answer.
Oviparous Writing Activities
Classroom Activities for teaching about Eggs and Egg Laying Animals
Children create books with Pockets for stuffing with all sorts of neat "discoveries" related to eggs, birds and other oviparous animals.
Oviparous Math
Teaching Math while learning about Oviparous Animals
The Whole Language Kindergarten (Early Childhood Education Series (Teachers College Pr))
Amazon Price: $17.95 (as of 10/06/2008)
Oviparous Math Centers
Things that come in Dozens
Eggs often come in dozens. We brainstorm things that come in dozens and eventually make a class book that is kept in the class library or used in a Literacy Bag.
- Egg Carton Counting
This hands on preschool math activity is simple to make using recycled egg cartons. Preschoolers will practice their small motor skills, number recognition skills, and counting skills as they play this counting game.- Egg Pattern Center
1. Provide a basket of assorted colors of plastic eggs and a few empty egg cartons.
2. Cut construction paper egg shapes in the colors that match your plastic eggs.
3. Glue the eggs shapes in various patterns onto cardstock and laminate.
4. Have your students select a pattern card and then extend the pattern by placing plastic eggs in the egg carton.
5. They can self check by placing the pattern strip above the eggs in the carton.
Dissect an Egg
First we look at the egg and describe the shape. You can feel the difference between a hard boiled egg and a raw egg. It is easiest to see a difference when spinning them on a table top. We pass the eggs around so that everyone can feel the difference.
Then the children become absolutely silent as they watch me use a common pin to gently chip away the shell of the raw egg. Usually you can chip away quite a bit before you break the membrane. Carefully pass the egg around again.
"If you look carefully you should be able to see not only the yellow yolk, but perhaps also the white circle marking the germinal spot within it. This germinal spot is never well developed in unfertilized eggs, however, in a naturally fertilized egg of a wild bird it would be the beginning of the new baby bird. You should also be able to see that the 'white' or 'albumen' comes in two different forms. Some of it is thick and retains a certain amount of shape around the yolk and some is runny and flows all over the place. You may also be able to determine the two whitish, twisted, stringy 'chalaza', one on each side of the egg. Part of these may remain inside the egg shell after you have tipped the rest of the egg out."
Once the activity has been modeled, including how to clean up accidents, this can become a center during center time. Have lab sheets handy for recording observations.
- The Bird's Egg
- An introduction to the biology of the avian ova, or eggs
- Hatching Chicks
- Watching eggs hatch using an incubator in the classroom.
- Diagram of an egg
- Egg Structure diagrammed.
Green Eggs and Ham Literacy Bag
Green Eggs and Ham MathThese kids are serving up eggs and ham. The then take the number tiles to form the math problems such as 2+3=5. Where 2 eggs plus 5 slices of bacon equals 5 things to eat on the plate.
'Yum or Yuk' Graph Children can interview their family and collect data to make a 'Yum or Yuk' graph to show how many people like or dislike eating green eggs and ham. Include a sheet of paper and an oval shape to trace around. The children trace an egg for each member of the family, write the family member's name on the egg. ie: "Brian's Mom", "Brian's Dad" and then color it green if they like it, leave it white if they don't. Provide a ziplock bag to bring the eggs back to school and attach it to the inside of the journal. At school the child gets to add the eggs to the classroom graph. NOTE:The graph can be arranged in tens to help learn to count up to 100.
Egg Timers
What can you do in a minute?
1. Tie your shoes
2. Line up
3. Write your full name, address and phone number
Egghead Timer
Amazon Price: $6.50 (as of 10/06/2008)
Which is your favorite oviparous animal?
Do you know of any other oviparous animals? Just add them to the list.
Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtle
http://www.nps.gov/pais/naturescience/kridley.htm
more...1 point
Crack the Eggs and Spell
Crack the Code with this fun printable game.
On each turn, players choose one each of three different egg card types: whole egg, just cracking egg, and VERY cracked egg. Keeping the cards in that order, the player flips the cards to reveal the letters on the other side. Do these letters make a good word? If so, a "chick" has hatched and the word is recorded on the handwriting lines on one chick on the player's game page. The winner is the first to make, read, and write four good short vowel words and fill their game page.
- Get Crackin Printable Reading Game
- Get Crackin' phonics reading game: printable game in full color. Practice reading and writing short vowel words. A FUN way to practice valuable language skills!
Egg Games
Fetching new data from eBay now... please stand by
Oviparous Puzzle
Life Cycle Sequences
These life cycle puzzles are great for using in learning centers. The children can put them in the right order. I like to write words on the underside of the puzzle pieces so that the children can use them during Writing Workshop. I also make sentences about the life cycles so that the children can also put the sentences in order.
Chicken Family Theater
Set up a theater and let the children make up stories of that the rooster, hen and chick are doing. They might relate the story to The Three Bears. What porridge would they eat? Corn meal mush? Try writing the story as a class book and then turning it into a Literacy Bag.
Chick In Egg Finger Puppet
Amazon Price: $10.02 (as of 10/06/2008)
Plush Red Hen Puppet 15"
Amazon Price: $22.49 (as of 10/06/2008)
Plush Rooster Puppet 15"
Amazon Price: $18.78 (as of 10/06/2008)
Egg Related Coloring Pages
Pastiche has made a lens with lots of egg related coloring pages. I like to use these to inspire writing about eggs, making book covers, or just the fun of coloring.
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Easter Coloring Pages
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Sure, Easter is about Coloring Eggs, but it's also a fun time to color pictures of bunnies, eggs, lambs, springtime, renewal and the religious symbols of Easter. Grab your crayons, colored pencils and markers and lets color Easter pictures and crafts...
Oviparous Literacy Bag
Cotton Tote bags are great for turning into Literacy Bags. Just add a couple of books; fiction and non-fiction, a stuffed animal, an activity related to the skills you are learning in class and a journal for recording thoughts.
I use literacy bags instead of homework because it makes homework individual to each child's needs and learning style. Literacy bags are fun for both the parents and the child. Parents are often surprised when their child comes home able to read some of the books included in the literacy bags.
Oviparous Homework
- The Adventures of Goose and Peanut: Do You Know What Oviparous Means???
- The assignment was to choose an oviparous animal, draw a picture of it, hide it in a plastic egg, and write 3 clues to help your classmates guess the animal.
Using inventive spelling she was able to do the assignment all by herself. What an accomplishment!
Oviparous Lenses
Learn more about the following oviparous animals:-
Frog Unit Study: Hopping to Learn
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Take trips to the frog pond, play games and sing songs, gobble up the insect words and swat the fly verbs. Children will remember these lessons that allow them to manipulate objects and preferably get a little dirty in the process. This lens will g...
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Alligator Pie, Alligator Pie...
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Alligator Pie is a great poem for introducing the alligator theme. Use it in a reading chart and then go on to learn about the alligators. Alligators bring us eye to eye with the watery, muddy world of the swamp. Write a poem or explore an alligato...
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Purple Gallinules of the Everglades
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Gallinules are spectacular creatures. The can be found walking on water lilies in the canals throughout the Everglades. One day we took a trip to the Everglades and saw a Purple Gallinule for the first time. It's vibrant colors are unbelievable. We...
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Pigloo: Penguins Singing in French
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These happy French-singing penguins will get your kids singing along and they won't even realize that they are learning French. We all know that learning a second language is very important but who knew it could be so much fun. Pop a Pigloo CD into...
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Bluebirds: Classroom Meadow Theme
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Summer nears and the bluebirds start nesting along the fenceline. The children are fascinated with the way they fly back and forth to build their nests. They become the focus of our next Unit Study, Bluebirds of the Meadow. As your little bluebirds...
Oviporus Thematic Studies
- Pre-Kindergarten Egg Unit
- Pre-Kindergarten Egg Unit for learning about eggs and oviparous animals.
- oviparous
Math activities, charts, and learning games for K-3 classrooms.- Oviparous Animals
- Mrs. Flanagan gave us pictures of animals. In the chart on the left, we predicted which ones would be oviparous (came from eggs) and which ones were not oviparous.
Lensmasters with Oviparous Animal Lenses
Elizabeth Jean Allen has created dozens of lens about birds from Flickers to Owls she has a lens about almost any bird you could think up.
Editor Dave has made several lenses about reptiles as well as Fish.
Tell us about your favorite oviparous animal
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Irenemaria
My goodness so much work here! Nice lens indeed! I lensrolled it to mine about the egg. Posted October 05, 2008 |
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funwithtrains
Wow, lots of info! 5 stars and a Digg! Posted September 25, 2008 |
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lakeerieartists
No I do not like Green Eggs and Ham, no I don't Sam I am. Posted September 24, 2008 |
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boutiqueshops
Outstanding work as always! I love reading your lenses - they're fascinating! 5*'s and Dugg! Keep up the great work! Posted September 24, 2008 |
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mulberry
Eggsellent lens! Posted August 18, 2008 |
About the Author
Evelyn's Hands-On Learning Blog.Finding a nest of turkey eggs in the field last year was the highlight of my summer.
Come find out what else I'm up to:
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Evelyn Saenz: Lensography of a Teacher
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My passion is teaching and finding ways to teach children in fun, hands-on, creative ways. The lenses I make on Squidoo reflect my view that learning should be integrated and no skills should be taught in isolation. I believe that each topic studied...
