Hatching eggs with my class is always one of my favorite experiences! Here are some helpful hints and class activities to go along with the experience. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Hatching the Eggs: First you need to get an incubator. Either borrow one or they are not very expensive to buy from a feed and farm store. Then find a place in your area to get fertilized eggs. Usually someone from the farm and feed store can help with that too. The wonderful people I use even give teachers the eggs for free and the best part is that they agree to take the chicks back when they hatch!
Set the incubator up first and get the temperature stabilized first (trust me from a sad experience…). Then you are ready to start the journey. Make sure you time it so they are not going to hatch over the weekend or a break so the kids can watch it.
Predicting What’s in the Egg! I have my husband Mr. Eric bring in the eggs for the class. Wouldn’t you know it, I sent Mr. Eric to the farm to get eggs and he forgot to find out what kind of animal they came from! Silly Mr. Eric!
Circle Map: We brainstorm together and make a circle map of what animals hatch from eggs (in attached packet). Animals that hatch from eggs on the inside and animals that don’t on the outside.
Graphic Organizer: Then we use a graphic organizer using a little three part flip book (in packet). The students pick one animal they know it could not be (a mammal) and list reasons why it isn’t on the inside. Then they pick an animal it might be but probably isn’t (like an insect, fish or dinosaur) and list details inside. Then they make their prediction and justify their prediction on the inside.
What’s in the Egg Journal: Using the journal paper we write a narrative of what we think will hatch from the egg. The students use their graphic organizers to help. They draw a picture of each animal along with their writing. So much fun and they turn out fantastic! They then read them aloud to the class and we make a graph of our class predictions.
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Egg Chick Craft:
This is a super easy and cute craft. Turning a yellow egg shape into a baby chick or duckling. We did these to hang up with our journals.
Incubator Reading Passage and Comprehension Questions:
I explain the process of hatching eggs in an incubator in a student friendly passage. I also included several reading comprehension questions; great practice for answering “right there” answers. Don’t let students forget to underline their proof!
Candling the Eggs:
Candling the eggs is a way to see inside the eggs during the incubation period by shining a bright light through them. I found many ways to make contraptions to candle eggs. One way to do it is using an old school overhead projector. Google it and you can see how it is done. I also found several boxes my husband could have made me (although on his time scale, the eggs would have hatched before it was done!) Then I had an aha moment! I made and egg-candling device with an old Pringles can, duct tape, grocery bags and a flashlight! It is so simple and works amazing. See the easy to follow pictures.
You can candle the eggs at about 4 days and dispose of any eggs that are not fertilized. This helps with the smell a lot! I then candle the eggs every few days to check on their growth. You can take great pictures to show the process.
What’s going on inside?
The students use a sheet to draw and describe what they see going on inside the eggs. This is best done in a small group setting. I do it in my STEM center.
Our eggs are on day 11 of 28. (We are hatching ducks this time.) I will be back with an update as our process continues. You can get the entire hatching eggs mini unit in my Teachers Notebook store,
