Hey there! Thank you so much for stopping in! Some teacher bloggers and myself have gotten together to bring you some fabulous freebies that you can use this year in your classroom. We are featuring these through a blog hop. What is a blog hop, you say? Well, a blog hop is where different bloggers link to each others blog. In these blog posts, you will find amazing lessons and content to add to your library. Many of these would be great for morning work, to accompany your lesson plans, or for math or literacy stations. All you need to do is to click the button to “hop” to the next blog!

Today, I am going to share with you one of my very favorite units of all time…hatching chicks! I don't know about you, but there is nothing more fun than learning about the life cycle while “growing” chickens! Not only is it a great hands on lesson, but there are lots of activities that you can incorporate with this theme!

When I taught first grade, we covered this unit. I was lucky because our district furnished us everything that we needed including the eggs, incubator, food, water, food dishes, etc. However, they didn't have so many lessons to accompany the life cycle objective. That is how my “All About Chicks” unit was born. I needed something that was educational, engaging, and fun.

Getting Started

I always opened up my lesson with a KWL chart. This was fun for first grade because I always love hearing what they think they know. Sometimes I had to stop from laughing. Like the one time a students said that they knew, “chickens could fly because how else would it cross the road without getting hit by a car!” ? LOL!

Read Alouds

I don't know about you, but I love incorporating read alouds into my lessons. I add some variety by choosing fiction and nonfiction book. A few of my favorites are First the Egg by Laura Vaccaro Seeger, Where Do Chicks Come From? by Amy E. Sklansky, From Egg to Chicken by Gerald Scrace Legg, and Chickens Aren't the Only Ones by Ruth Heller. Of course, I also have to throw some really fun chicken themed books in there such as Chicks and Salsa by Aaron Reynolds, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick! by Lucille Colandro, and Big Chickens by Leslie Helakoski.

Data Collection

When the eggs first arrived in my classroom, we would do a lesson about guessing which egg would hatch first. This is always fun. The truth about it is, many times we didn't know which chick hatched first because it would happen overnight. But it was always exciting for the students to guess!

Lesson Activities

While we were waiting for our chicks to hatch, we continued to read books, and I often read my All About Chicks and Hatching Chicks read aloud. We learned vocabulary, how to spell chicken, what a life cycle meant and discussed how long it takes for chickens to hatch. We also displayed life cycle anchor charts, did some interactive notebook sequencing, and observed the eggs every day.

Each day the children recorded what they notice in their chick hatching journal. The best part about this unit is that it covers so many skills. I always incorporated math, reading, and writing into my lessons. The students are always happy for the day that the chicks start hatching, but they also enjoy the days leading up to it because it is something new and exciting.

Egg Observation

Once the chicks start hatching, we looked back at our data, see who was correct about which chicken hatched first, and of course, we get to hold the chicks! We discussed that, just like with babies, chicks are very fragile. We talked how to handle them, what to do if a chicken poops while you are holding it, and what to do once you are done holding it (wash your hands)! The students and I kept the chicks in our room for a few days, and then I told the kids that it is time for them to go back to the farm!

Chicken Life Cycle Freebies

I hope this lesson is useful to you! I have also created a fun freebie of sheets that I like to use during this unit. The include addition, subtraction, a word search, and some writing sheets! Be sure to grab them here! And if you are interested in more life cycle activities, you may like my Life Cycles Bundle set!

Thank you so much for “hopping” by! Please be sure and visit the other blogs to see what amazing freebies other teacher authors have for you!

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