What Came First?
Unit/Lesson Plan Title: What came first?
Subject: Science
Grade Level: K
Length of Unit/Lesson: About a Month
Unit/Lesson Summary: Students will learn about animals by experiencing first-hand the hatching
of chickens.
Key Vocabulary: eggs, chick, chicken, hen, rooster, incubator, hatch, crack, embryo, shell,
fertilize, candeling, safety / handleing
Essential Question(s): What observations can we make about Chickens and Eggs? What can we
learn about eggs from books?
NCSCOS Essential Standards/ESOL objectives Addressed in Unit/Lesson: Language Arts
Objective 2.01
Demonstrate sense of story (e.g., beginning, middle, end, characters, details).
Objective 2.02
Demonstrate familiarity with a variety of types of books and selections (e.g., picture books, caption
books, short informational texts, nursery rhymes, word plays/finger plays, puppet plays, reenactments of
familiar stories).
Objective 2.03
Use preparation strategies to activate prior knowledge and experience before and during the reading of a
text.
Objective 2.04
Formulate questions that a text might answer before beginning to read (e.g., what will happen in this
story, who might this be, where do you think this happens).
Objective 2.05
Predict possible events in texts before and during reading.
Objective 2.09
Identify the sequence of events in a story.
Objective 3.01
Connect information and events in text to experience.
Objective 3.02
Discuss concepts and information in a text to clarify and extend knowledge.
Objective 3.03
Associate target words with prior knowledge and explore an author's choice of words.
Objective 3.04
Use speaking and listening skills and media to connect experiences and text
listening to and re-visiting stories
discussing, illustrating, and dramatizing stories
discovering relationships.
Objective 4.01
Use new vocabulary in own speech and writing.
Objective 5.01
Develop spelling strategies and skills by:
representing spoken language with temporary and/or conventional spelling.
writing most letters of the alphabet.
analyzing sounds in a word and writing dominant consonant letters.
Objective 5.02
Use capital letters to write the word I and the first letter in own name.
Science
Objective 1.01
Observe and describe the similarities and differences among animals including:
Structure.
Growth.
Changes.
Movement.
Objective 1.02
Observe how animals interact with their surroundings.
Objective 1.03
Observe the behaviors of several common animals.
Objective 1.04
Demonstrate how to care for a variety of animals.
Objective 1.05
Observe the similarities of humans to other animals including:
Basic needs.
Growth and change.
Movement.
Social Studies
Objective 1.01
Describe how individuals are unique and valued.
Objective 1.02
Identify different groups to which individuals belong.
Objective 2.01
Exhibit citizenship traits such as integrity, responsibility, and trustworthiness in the classroom, school,
and other social environments.
Objective 2.02
Participate in democratic decision making.
Objective 2.03
Describe the importance of rules and laws.
Objective 2.04
Analyze classroom problems and suggest fair solutions.
Math
Objective 1.01
Develop number sense for whole numbers through 30.
Connect model, number word (orally), and number, using a variety of representations.
Count objects in a set.
Read and write numerals.
Compare and order sets and numbers.
Use ordinals (1st-10th).
Estimate quantities fewer than or equal to 10.
Recognize equivalence in sets and numbers 1-10.
Objective 2.01
Compare attributes of two objects using appropriate vocabulary (color, weight, height, width, length,
texture).
Objective 4.01
Collect and organize data as a group activity.
Objective 4.02
Display and describe data with concrete and pictorial graphs as a group activity.
Objective 5.01
Sort and classify objects by one attribute.
Technology
Objective 2.02
Identify, discuss, and use word processing as a tool to enter letters, numbers and words. Strand Keyboard Utilization/Word Processing/Desk Top Publishing
Objective 2.03
Identify, locate and use special keys (e.g., arrow keys, space bar, Shift, Enter/Return, Backspace,
Delete), letters, and numbers on the keyboard. Strand - Keyboard Utilization/Word Processing/Desk Top
Publishing
Objective 2.04
Use multimedia software to identify and practice letters, numbers, shapes, and colors as a class/group.
Strand - Multimedia/Presentation
Information
Objective 1.01
Participate in read-aloud, storytelling, booktalking, silent and voluntary reading experiences.Objective
1.05
Demonstrate sense of story (e. g., beginning, middle, end, characters, details).
Materials/ Resources (also list web resources, technology tools and safety requirements): Incubators,
Eggs, Digital Camera, iPhoto, Comic Life, Kidspiration, The Ugly Ducking, Chicken’s Aren’t The Only
Ones, Various Crafts items, additional Book resources.
Procedure: Schedule:
March 2nd - Incubators delivered
March 10-18 - Kidspiration Egg Activity - Sorting animals hatched from an egg
March 10th - Eggs arrive!
March 18th - Family Night - Parent / Child Centers will rotate through
K classrooms focused on Chickens & Eggs
March 25
iChat with Momma Hen (Media & TF)
March 31st - Hatch Day
April
Take Pictures of Chic around the room
April
Create a Comic Life Converstation about what the baby chic did at
school that day
Mid April
Media - Read book The Cow That Laid An Egg - Discuss prior
Beginning / Middle / End Graphic Organizer
knowledge,
iChat with Momma Hen
Students will submit questions that they would like to ask the Momma Hen ahead of time on index
cards. Answers will be found. Secure a Hen Puppet.
We will have 2 classes of students in Graham’s room with the Promethean Board / Projector and have
iChat set up in another room with our Tech Facilitator and a volunteer to be Momma Hen. Students will
get to come forward and ask her the questions - TF & MC will facilitate - Momma Hen will answer the
questions.
Conversation with Baby Chic (Language Arts)
After chickens hatch. Teachers will secretly take some pictures of chickens around the room while kids
are out. We will show these to students and ask them to imagine what the chickens did at school while
they were not looking. Students will use a Comic Life Template to add a picture of themselves
interviewing the baby chic to find out what happened at school that day. They will use the talking
bubbles to type in their stories. They will use Lettering to add their name and titles to the Comic.
Unit/Lesson Accommodations for Differentiated Instruction
Enrichment: Family Night Activities
Centers:
Mayhew - Incubator Activity - Exploration Egg Set
Graham - Dictionary Activity - Look up Key Words
Brown - Literacy - Read Book The Odd Egg, model the way parents
should read with
children at home. Include: predicting outcomes, re-telling info to review comprehension.
Miller - Math - Sorting - Comparisons with animals: eggs, legs, ability to fly,
nocturnal,
habitats, etc.
ESOL: Promethean flipcharts about animals born from eggs Cross Curricular Extension: Media - Read book The Cow That Laid An Egg - Discuss prior
Middle / End Graphic Organizer
knowledge, Beginning /
Math - Count Down to Hatching, Measurement Center - Measure different eggs with standard / nonstandard measurement tools, Estimation - Weights - Place Pennies in eggs and have students guess how
many teddy bears each one weighs by shaking, etc.
Social Studies - Read Horton Hears A Who - Discuss Responsibilities - Relate to Eggs, how do we take
care of them, etc. Create a Class Contract and have all students to sign.
Science - Read Chickens Aren’t The Only Ones - and follow-up with a Kidspiration Sorting Activity of
Animals that come from an egg; Stuff eggs with different items and have students use their 5 senses to
see what they think are inside of each egg.
Guidance - Read The Ugly Duckling and talk with kids about bullying and picking on others and hurt
feelings.
Language Arts - Nursery Rhymes - Humpty Dumpty and Peck, Peck poems. After reading class will
create a graph of their favorite “chicken” book.
Art - Create a watercolor egg & Paper chicken project
Music - Spring animal songs
PE - The Chicken Dance
Comments: Parent letter to go home sharing project info with a permisison slip allowing students
to touch eggs / baby chicks.
Created by: Libby Graham, Joanna Mayhew, Angie Miller, Barbara Brown, Jamie Gobble, Karen
Faulkenbury
Email: [email protected]