During our farm study, we will spend about a week learning about chickens. I am very fortunate to have my very own flock of chickens, so the children get to do a lot of hands-on learning during this week. One of my favorite chicken week activities is our "Farmer of the Day" activity. Each day during open play one child is chosen to help collect eggs. The child gets to pick a farmer hat, carry the basket, feed the chickens, and of course help collect eggs.
Classroom Decor:
For this study, I hung up several posters. I had a chicken vocab poster, Hen and Rooster Anatomy poster, eggs facts poster, and a few more chicken posters. These posters were part of a downloadable pack I purchased on Etsy (Chicken Mini Nature Study - Etsy)
Language and Literacy
Books:
Picken by Mary Murphy (https://amzn.to/3Sbm3Uy)
Farm Anatomy by Julia Rothman (https://amzn.to/48OOK0M)
Count your Chickens by Jo Ellen Bogart (https://amzn.to/3SgP1Cr)
Poetry:
"Last Night I dreamed of Chickens" by Jack Prelutsy
Vocab Words
We go over one or two vocabulary words a day during greeting time. Our chicken study vocab words are:
Flock- A group of chickens
Poult- Teenage chicken. (Not a baby but not full grown)
Coop- Chicken House
Rooster- Male Chicken
Hen- Female Chicken
Chick- Baby Chicken
During our open play times, I also had some Laminated tracing worksheets out with dry erase markers that allowed children to practice writing words like: Chick, Chicken, Rooster, Coop, etc. These worksheets were part of a downloadable pack I purchased on Etsy (Chicken Study Printable Homeschool Worksheets Nature Study Charlotte Mason - Etsy)
Match and Science
Chicken Collect Bar Graph- As I mention above, each day we had a child go out and help collect eggs during open play time. After egg collect the child and I would bring the eggs back inside to the daycare and count them. Once the eggs were counted, they were charted on our bar graph. The next day during greeting time we talk about how many eggs were collected the day before. We count the boxes filled in together as a group and we discuss whether we had more or less than the previous day, which day we got the most eggs, etc.
Coop Building- One of our small group activities is chicken coop building. Before we start building, we looked over and read a few parts of pages 32 and 33 in Farm anatomy. These pages show information on coop building and the different types of coops people build. Next, I place building materials such as Q-Tip's, building blocks, popsicle sticks, and washi tape. I show the children how they could construct a coop with the materials and then let them explore and build on their own. While the children are building, I talk about what seems to be working for others, how the children are using the materials, why kind of coop it looks like the children are building, etc.
Egg Candling- We were fortunate enough to have a broody hen sitting on a clutch of eggs during our chicken study. Therefore, when the children were out collecting eggs, each child got the chance to candle a chicken egg (the process of checking development by putting the egg over a flashlight). They were so excited to see the little baby chick moving around in the egg.
Observing Egg Hatching- This one was more of a surprise than a planned lesson. I had gone out to collect eggs with our farmer of the day just after P.M snack. When we noticed one of the chicks had started to hatch. We ran back inside, and I yelled down to my assistant to get all the kiddos upstairs and ready to go out. As she got the kiddos upstairs, we threw on their shoes and got them ready to go. I opened the door and we all raced down the chicken coop. (At the time they were in a makeshift coop in our barn so the kiddos we able to easily come in and out of the "coop"). Before we went in, I remind all the kiddos that we need to be calm, quiet, and listen to our teachers so we can keep the chick safe and ourselves safe. As we entered the coop, I had the children make a semi-circle around the hen and her nest. I lightly lifted up the hen to expose the egg and all the children got to watch the chick begin to break out of the egg. This was the first time I myself got to see something like this and to get to experience it with all my littles was so cool. They were so well behaved and reminded each other so nicely that we had to be quiet. Watching their reactions to the little baby peeps and the egg moving with the chick inside was so cute!
Extras
The weekend before we started our chicken study my assistant came over and we made a mini chicken coop for the kiddos to use during open play in our dramatic play area.
To recreate this here is what you need:
1 Medium Sized box
Red construction Paper
Scissors
White construction paper
Fake eggs (we used a few eggs from a plastic egg dying kit. They looked realistic and unlike easter eggs you won't have to worry about the kids taking them apart and separating the pieces)
3-4 Paper towel tubes
Small Basket
Instructions
Cut your paper towel tubes in half length wise
Cut the short folding flaps off of your box and cut the long ones in half to make the coop doors.
Cover your box in red construction paper
Cut out 4 white strips of construction paper the length of your coop doors and then four white strips that are equal to the width of your coop doors. These will be used to make the white rectangles on front. Next measure from corner to corner of each coop door and cut four white strips to this measurement. These will be the Xs on the coop door.
Glue your white strips of paper onto the box doors.
Cut a small hole in the side of your box. This is what the kiddos will use to place the eggs inside.
Take your cut paper towel tubes and create a track for the eggs slide down by glueing them to the inside of your box. You'll want to slant and stagger them for the best results.
Place your basket on the inside of your coop to catch the eggs after they slide down the track.
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