Unit Title:	"Our Class Hatches the Egg"
Author:	Katherine P. Douglas, Merriland Montessori School
Subject Area:	Science
Grade:	K-2
Time Required:	3 hours prep time; 1-2 hours of class time spread over 23 days

Learning Outcomes:

Students will learn all about the process of egg development and hatching.  They will learn about temperature, recording data, and charting.  In addition to the outcomes for science mastery, students will gain experience in cooperative group work, taking turns, and listening.

Materials:

12 chicken eggs
incubator
a thermometer
a marker
a pie pan to hold water
a candler (you can make your own by taking a small box, cutting a hole in it slightly smaller in diameter than the eggs and placing the box over a bare lightbulb)

Activities:

Day 1:

Read Dr. Suess's classic, Horton Hatches the Egg, to the class.  Talk about what conditions an egg needs to hatch a healthy baby.  Discuss the qualities that made Horton a good  egg-sitter. Ask the children what they think is inside of that egg.

Set up the incubator on a wide flat surface.  Using your marker, put a small x on each egg to help you and the students when turning your eggs.  Position your eggs.

Day 2 - Day 21:

Throughout the incubation period: be sure to turn your eggs three times a day!  If they are not turned, they will not hatch.  The children can take turns doing this during the day, but you will need to come in on the weekend to do it yourself!

Present a short unit on temperature and thermometers.  Chicken eggs need to incubate at 99.5 degrees.  Have your students check the thermometer in the incubator at intervals throughout the day while the eggs incubate.  Using your outside thermometer, have the students observe and chart the out-of-doors temperature each day.  (You can save these charts for your unit on Weather.)

Candle the eggs to see which ones are fertilized and developing.  Allow each child to look at the egg and ask what they see.  Cloudy spots or masses are a growing embryo!

Students will cut an egg shape out of construction paper and draw what they saw during candling.  This exercise can be repeated throughout incubation so the students can assemble an egg-shaped booklet of embryo development.

Day 22 or thereabouts:

Your eggs will start to hatch!  Allow lots of time for the children to watch this exciting process.

During Circle Time, ask the children to talk about how they feel about the eggs hatching.  Talk again about Horton and how he felt when his egg hatched.  Are they happy and excited?  Are they feeling sad that their eggs are broken?  Which do they like more, the egg or the chick?
 

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