143Oviparous Animals Science and Discovery • Allow a small group of children at a time to continue their ovip- arous animal study. On a tray, provide magnifying glasses and natural items related to oviparous animals. These can include shredded snake skins, old bees’ nests, empty birds’ nests, and broken eggshells. I have collected these things over my years of teaching, but if they are not at your fingertips, touch base with a science teacher, e-mail your colleagues, or include a request in your weekly family newsletter. Allow children to freely explore these objects. When they’ve finished, encourage them to draw pictures and write descriptions of what they observed. Younger children can dictate their words for you to write. • Gather up to ten plastic eggs and different weights. In each egg, insert a weight. If you do not have weights, use coins. Be sure all the weights are dif- ferent. Number the eggs 1 through 10. Include a scale for children to use in comparing the weighted eggs. Ask them questions, such as, “Which one is heaviest? Which one is lightest?” Having children compare and contrast the differently weighted but same-sized eggs helps them learn about mass, bulk, and solidity. Math • Cut out different sizes of ovals the shape of an egg from heavy construction paper. On one side of the ovals, include pictures of oviparous animals. (Use pictures from catalogs or magazines, or draw sim- ple images.) Using one-to-one correspondence, have the children count how many oviparous ani- mals are on the front of each oval. On the backs, write the answers. For instance, on the front of one oval, show three snakes, and on the back, write the numeral 3, write the word three, and draw three dots, as shown here. three 3 . . . Samantha weighs the plastic eggs that hold mystery weights inside. Austin observes the various oviparous items at the discovery center. Celebrate Nature_4th pages.indd 143 2/18/11 6:24:50 PM