Dora is a brand new mother hen.  She has laid her eggs and wants to show them off.  All the other farm animals are busy raising their own babies.  The eggs are nice but…  they’re not as nice as the other babies.  Then suddenly the eggs begin to hatch.

Materials

•             Box of paperclips
•             Sequence cards Chicken to chick.
•             One hard boiled egg per child and the ingredients for egg salad.
•             Baby chick for egg with brad
•             Finger puppets to go with Bugs and chicks
•             Flat shirt boxes, 2 or 3, both tops and bottoms.

Vocabulary

•             Admire (to come and ooh and ahh )
•             Frolicking (running and jumping while playing)
•             Miserable (feeling very unhappy)

Before Reading the Story

Show the children the front of the book.  Ask them if they can tell you what is going on. (What is the chicken doing?  What are those things she is sitting on?  Why is she sitting on the eggs?  Why did she put that straw under her eggs?  Look at her face, how do you think she is feeling?)  Introduce the book, Dora’s Eggs.  Who do you think Dora is?  Turn to the title page, who’s house is this?  How can you tell (see the eggs inside?).  Let’s find out what Dora is up to.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; top act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story.  AND Approaches to Learning/Initiative & Curiosity; grows in eagerness to learn about and discuss a growing range of topics, ideas, and tasks.

Reading the Story

When reading the animal mother’s responses, make sure to sound happy and prideful.  And when you read the part about “My eggs are nice but…”  read it so it has some regret in your voice.  When you get to the part where the eggs crack, stop and ask the children what they think will happen.  Count how many babies hatched from the eggs.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; top act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story.   AND Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways.

After Reading the Story

Hand out the cards for the egg hatching sequence. ( One card per child and not in sequential order)  Have the children with the cards stand in the front of the group. The other children must then figure out the sequence of events leading from chicken to chicks.

Science/Scientific Knowledge; shows increased awareness and beginning understanding of changes in materials and cause-effect relationships.

Discovery

Make egg salad with the children using the rebus recipe cards.  Before you start making the egg salad ask the children to describe the eggs outside (“shiny brown and smooth to touch”)

Science/Scientific Skills & Methods; begins to use senses and a variety of tools and simple measuring devices to gather information, investigate materials, and observe processes and relationships.  AND Science/Scientific Knowledge; shows increased awareness and beginning understanding of changes in materials and cause-effect relationships.

Music and Movement

Bring in a box big enough for a child to climb inside of. When the child is inside, repeat the poem Baby Chick, by Aileen Fisher.  As you recite the poem the child can pop out of the box.

Baby Chick

 Peck, peck, peck on the warm brown egg.

Out comes a neck. Out comes a leg.

How does a chick who’s not been about,

Discover the trick on how to get out?

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; demonstrates increasing ability to attend to and understand conversations, stories, songs, and poems.

Teach your children the finger play Chicks and Bugs.  On one hand hold up fingers to be the chicks, on the other tape the insects to your fingers and hold up on cue.

Chicks and Bugs (Thank you Wake County library)

 Five little chickens by the old barn door;                     Hold up beetle finger

 One chased a beetle and then there were four.            Put down a chicken finger, put down                                                                                                                  beetle  finger  

  Four little chickens under a tree;                                  Hold up ant finger

  One chased an ant and then there were three.             Put down a chicken finger and ant finger

  Three little chickens looked for something new,          Hold up grasshopper

  One saw a grasshopper and then there were two.       Put down a chicken finger and                                                                                                                            grasshopper

  Two little chickens said “Oh what fun!”                        Put up ladybug

  One saw a ladybug and then there was one.                Put down a chicken finger and ladybug

 One little chicken began to run;                                      Put up bee

 Because he saw a bee, then there were none!             Put down all fingers.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to associate number concepts, vocabulary, quantities, and written numerals in meaningful ways.

 Play follow the leader.  One person being the mother hen and everyone else following behind like little baby chicks one by one.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness.

Blocks

Show the children the picture of the hen house. Show them  how it is off the ground on a platform.  Challenge the children to build a hen house.

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; demonstrates increasing ability to set goals and develop follow through on plans.

Art

Cut out large egg shapes that will fit inside the shirt box.  Put out bowls of paint in several colors.  Have the children dip a round object (small ball, marble, large bead, or pebble) into the paint.  Put it into the shirt box and roll the object back and forth to make a design on the egg. This is best done as a partner project.

Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; shows increasing abilities to use compromise and discussion in working, playing, and resolving conflict with peers.

Sand and Water

 Add plastic eggs to the sand or water table.

Library and Writing

 Give each child an egg shape to cut out.  After they have cut it out, have them cut it in half. Let the children hole punch a hole into the edge of each half and attach a brad.  Glue a chick to the backside of the bottom half of the egg. Color or paint as desired. Write the baby chick poem onto the egg.  The children can then open and close the egg as you recite the poem.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multi-step directions.  AND Physical Health & Development;Fine Motor Skills; develops growing strength, dexterity, and control needed to use tools such as scissors, paper punch, stapler, and hammer.

Dramatic Play

Put plastic eggs and a basket into the center for the children to pretend to gather eggs.

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; participates in a variety of dramatic play activities that become more extended and complex.

Math and Manipulatives

Make 10 egg shapes out of construction paper.  Label the eggs 1-10.  On the edges of the egg you might want to put the correlating number of dots also.  Show the children how to slide a paperclip onto the egg.  Challenge them to put the correct number of paperclips onto each egg.

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to make use of one-to-one correspondence in counting objects and matching groups of objects.  AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; grows in hand-eye coordination in building with blocks, putting together puzzles, reproducing shapes and patterns, stringing beads, and using scissors.

Outdoor Play

 In the story the baby chicks follow Dora.  Play a game of follow the leader with lots of jumping, hopping, skipping, and walking backwards.

Physical Health & Development/Gross Motor Skills; shows increasing levels of proficiency, control, and balance in walking, climbing, running, jumping, hopping, skipping, marching, and galloping.

 Transitions

Have the children name the different animals in the story.  The children might remember the names of the adult animals but might need help with the babies (who’s mother was the lamb?)

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story.

Resources