Activities & Resources

photo by Karen Porreca

A. The Embryo

1. After looking at the development of chick embryos in different media (books, videos), have each child or team of children draw a specific stage of the chick's development inside the egg--first by looking at a picture; next from memory. For example, day 1, when the egg has been laid and the yolk is clear. Day 3, when blood vessels begin to show. Day 6, when the eye and beak appear. Day 9, when the chick looks more like a little bird. Day 18, when the chick is almost ready to hatch. Tell students, "Do not tell your classmates which stage yours is. Others in the class must guess which stage you drew."

2. Next, ask your students to put their embryo drawings inside empty eggshell drawings in the proper sequence. This activity teaches young students to learn by drawing a phase of development whose accuracy will be tested by the ability of their classmates to identify it correctly. The activity tests students' ability to represent a specific stage of avian embryology and to place each phase in sequence. While learning by doing, young students have the fun of playing a Guessing Game!

3. Now, ask students to explain WHY this developmental sequence makes biological sense. For example, why would the heart and blood vessels need to develop before the eyes and the beak?

B. The Chicken

1. Do a Big Book or poster by placing drawings and photos of chickens in various parts of a fenced yard, or in their natural jungle habitat, doing "chicken" things: scratching for food, sunbathing, dustbathing, going to roost in the evening, crowing and clucking.

2. Have the students put other things in the yard that ecologically complete the picture: crawling bugs, flying insects, worms underground, other species of birds, plants and roots, sunshine, bushes, grass, trees, chicken house. Ask students to explain, both orally and in a two-sentence statement, how all of these various these elements interact ecologically. E.g., one student could explain how the worms fit into the picture, another how sunshine and chickens "connect." And so on.

• Crowing of roosters-Wake-up!
• Searching-scratching--for food in the morning.
• Sunbathing and dustbathing in the early to mid afternoon,
• Searching for food in the mid-to-late afternoon
• Going to roost in the evening.
• Sleeping all night.
  
  Ask students: Why does this daily sequence of events make sense for chickens? Compare and contrast with the daily pattern of people the students know, e.g. mother, father, themselves.

4. The chickens' year has a natural sequence, as well. For example, hens lay most of their eggs in the Spring and early Summer. In the Fall they don't lay many eggs or hatch chicks. Why? Each Big Book should include a Picture and a 2-sentence Verbal Statement. The Picture should illustrate the Statement, and the Statement should describe the Picture. This teaches students to show and share information in two different mediums: words and artwork. It raises the question: "Am I being understood?" "Am I communicating?"

Egg: A Photographic Story of Hatching. Grades K-12. By Robert Burton. Color photos by Jane Burton and Kim Taylor. This beautifully crafted book shows chickens, ducklings, ostriches and other birds, along with reptiles, fish, and insects developing inside and hatching from an egg. It shows how animals breathe inside eggs, how chicks within shells "talk," and how baby caterpillars can be bigger than the shell they pop from. It "captures the very moment of hatching in extraordinary close-up photographs--from the first crack in the eggshell to the newborn bursting free." Order: DK Publishing: 877-342-5357. $7.95. DK.com

Chicken & Egg. Grades K-4. Explore how chicks grow and change with this easy-to-read 25-page book packed with big, full-color photos that show, step by step, the life cycle of a chick. When children finish the book, they can test what they've learned by drawing the cycles from memory, then placing them in proper developmental sequence inside a big egg. The entire series consists of 4 sets including Tadpole & Frog, Butterfly & Caterpillar, Plant & Bean, and Chicken & Egg. Item No. DF783. Order: Lakeshore: 800-421-5354. $13.99. Lakeshorelearning.com

Chester the Chick. Grades K-4. Story & photos by Jane Burton. This informative book follows a zesty male chicken through his first year of life. We watch him grow inside the egg, peck for food, play with his sister and the other chicks, and become a handsome young rooster. The protective role of the mother hen is stressed. The family interacts with each other and the outdoor environment. Random House, 1988. Softback $3. Clothbound $9. Order: Amazon.com.

A Home for Henny. Grades K-4. By Karen Davis. Illustrated by Patricia Vandenbergh. Thhe story of a 3rd-grade child's experience with a classroom chick hatching project and her subsequent friendship with Henny, the hen, whom she adopts when the project is over. This project, which seemed like a good idea at first, turns out otherwise. Melanie, the little girl, saves a chick who is about to be disposed of and gives her a loving home. Following a crisis, she and her parents take Henny to a sanctuary. A Home for Henny illustrates the problems with school hatching projects while evoking the behavior and personality of a hen. Order: UPC, PO Box 150, Machipongo, VA 23405. 757-678-7875. $4.95. info@upc-online.org

Goosie's Story. Grades 3 & up. By Louise Van Der Merwe. Illustrated by Ros Nel. Goosie's Story is about a hen rescued from an egg farm. Goosie tells her own story. We share her belated discovery of the world and realize that, far from being an "egg-laying machine," Goosie has a robust ability to live life to the full. Order: UPC, PO Box 150, Machipongo, VA 23405. 757-678-7875. $4.95. info@upc-online.org

Clara the Chicken. By Jackie Greene. Grades K-4. Color illustrations by Alison Stalker. Tired of her life as an egg-laying machine on a factory farm and fearful of being killed soon, Clara plans a Great Escape-and succeeds. She gets picked up off the road by Birdsaver and Mojo Crow and brought to the Wild Bird Care Centre where she lives happily until the Great Bird in the Sky comes for her, and her spirit soars away. Order: UPC, PO Box 150, Machipongo, VA 23405. 757-678-7875. $4.95. info@upc-online.org.

A Boy, A Chicken and the Lion of Judah: How Ari Became a Vegetarian. Grades 4 & up. By Roberta Kalechofsky. This illustrated story, set in the Negev Highlands of Israel, is a story for all children everywhere, for whom discovering where meat comes from often confronts them with their first ethical and social challenge-usually at a very young age. Order: UPC, PO Box 150, Machipongo, VA 23405. 757-678-7875. $8.00. info@upc-online.org.

Nature's Chicken, The Story of Today's Chicken Farms. Grades 3 & up. By Nigel Burroughs. With wry humor and outstanding illustrations, this book traces the development of today's chicken and egg factory farms in a rich blend of entertainment and instruction. The book promotes respect for the natural life of chickens and shows the inhumaneness of treating animals like machines. Order: UPC, PO box 150, Machipongo, VA 23405. 757-678-7875. $4.95. info@upc-online.org.

The Rooster's Gift. Grades K-4. By Pam Conrad. Color illustrations by Eric Beddows. Each morning Rooster crows. And like magic, the sun comes up. All the animals--especially Smallest Hen--are impressed. But one morning Rooster sleeps in, and the sun rises without him! What is his Gift, if not to bring up the sun every day? The proud rooster learns what really makes him special. The patch of earth on which he and the other chickens live is drawn as part of a round planet. HarperCollins. $6.95. ISBN: 0-06-443496-6.

A. Classroom Activity. Ask each student to write or tell a story about the main character or else one of the other chickens mentioned in, say, A Home for Henny or Chester the Chicken. The main character would be expected to illustrate what the student had learned about chickens so far, while emphasizing the fact that each member of a "supporting cast" is also a main character with his or her own personal drama.

B. Have the class put on a "Chickens Are People Too" Empathy Play in which each student plays a chicken character. For example, the play could dramatize Goosie's Story. "It was terribly cramped in my cage. There were two other hens in with me, always shoving and pushing, and pecking, and pulling out my feathers. Always irritable. . . . But then came the day that changed my life."

Chick, Chick, Chick, by Mick and Bob Brown. K-12. Color. Lively natural sounds accompanied by music. No narration. VHS. 12 1/2 min. Teachers Guide. Chicks, hens, and roosters live in an open farmyard. We watch them wake up, eat, drink, dustbathe, and explore their environment. We watch the speedy run of vigorous young chicks. The film cuts back and forth between the flock wandering about the farm, fields and streams, and a hen quietly sitting on a clutch of eggs about to hatch. We watch a chick exhausted and wet, movingly emerge from its shell. The teacher should explain to students that under normal--nonfilmmaking-circumstances, a mother hen does not leave her chicks to hatch unattended. Rather, from the time the chicks are ready to hatch, the hen stays put and assists with the hatching process. Order: Society for Visual Education (#80537-HAVT). $49.95. Ph: 800-829-1900; fax: 800-624-1678.

Animals Families Series-The Chicken. Color. 33 videos. Each video avg. 11 min. VHS. Teachers Guide. Each program focuses on a particular animal family: Ants, Dolphins, Ducks, Ladybird Beetles, Monkeys, Chickens, and others. Students learn about the animals' natural habitats, life cycles, eating habits, and more, and gain a sense of appreciation for the variety of life in nature. Order: Society for Visual Education (#98352-HAVT for The Chicken; 98370-HAVT for the complete Animal Families Series). $35. 800-829-1900; fax: 800-629-1678.

Life Cycles Videodisc. State-of-the-art database on reproductive biology. "Animal and plant reproduction comes to life in 4,OOO color images, computer graphics, illustrations, and vivid footage from the acclaimed Oxford Scientific Films." The disc is fully indexed in a 200-page directory. Includes the complete life cycle of chickens and many other animals. Topics: Territorial behavior, courtship, nest building, metamorphosis, mating, birthing, pollination, budding, cell division. Item No. lifecyc01LD. $295. Order: Videodiscovery. 800-548-3472. Videodiscovery.com

A. Classroom Activity
Design Your Own "Egg to Chick" Video Game. Do a project in which you and your students create your own computerized chick whose virtual life reflects the care the chick receives. A Japanese company (Bandai) showed the immense popularity of a hand-held chicken video game based on a computerized chicken that grows to an adult bird after hatching from an egg. On the display screen, an egg hatches and a chick is born as the game begins. The operator pushes three small buttons to feed, play with, and clean up after the growing chick. The video game can continue for several days if the chicken is well cared for. If the person forgets to feed the chick, the baby bird emits a loud "peep, peep, peep" of complaint. An ignored chicken grows sickly and angry-looking, and eventually dies of neglect, ending the game. By contrast, a well-cared-for chick looks happy, thrives and grow.

Cornell Ornithology Lab, an international bird-study center, offers direct observation programs for the classroom.

(1) Project PigeonWatch teaches students about the courtship behavior and coloration of pigeons and the process of science. $15.

(2) Project FeederWatch interests children in birds and the natural world. Students gather data by investigating "an array of natural mysteries." Activities are "designed to strengthen such skills as observation, identification, research, computation, writing, creativity, and more." $15.

(3) Classroom Feeder Watch is a complete curriculum for students in grades 5 through 8. Includes explorations in which students learn bird biology, collect and analyze date, and write reports based on their own questions and findings." $99.

Inquire about multiple classroom discounts. 800-843-BIRD (2473). Fax 607-254-2415. Cornellbirds@cornell.edu

Audubon Adventures is a National Audubon Society environmental education program for students in grades 3 through 6. It presents facts about birds, wildlife, and their habitats in a Classroom Kit for 32 students or an Individual Kit for 1 student. The program is perfect for classroom teachers, after-school program coordinators, special education instructors, language arts teachers, and homeschoolers. Classroom Kit $35 Individual Kit $19. 800-813-5037. audubon.org.

Bird Watching as an Alternative to Chick Hatching for grades two through six. Illustrations. Glossary. Bibliography. This 24-page curriculum unit was prepared by elementary-school teachers for publication by the United Federation of Teachers Humane Education Committee in New York City. Hands-on projects are designed to involve "young students in the exciting, highly motivating, and often awe-inspiring study of birds in their natural environments." Describes stimulating science fair projects. Each activity in this unit includes a Performance Objective, Materials Needed, Motivation, and Activities. $2 each. $1 each for 5 or more copies per order. Order from United Poultry Concerns, PO Box 150, Machipongo, VA 23405 (757-678-7875); or from Humane Education Committee, PO Box 445, New York, NY 10028 (212-410-3095). Or print out from http://www.uft.org/committees.cfm?doc_id=204.