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.
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