Elementary teachers can use trade picture books with stories about hatching eggs in an egg theme unit. Try an elementary reading lesson plan about identifying theme and genre and an elementary science lesson plan about what happens when eggs hatch.
Build Background – Egg Theme Unit
Build background by asking children to share any prior knowledge they have about what eggs are, where eggs come from, what birds must do to hatch an egg, and what happens when an egg hatches.
Make a Text-to-Self Connection and Identify Theme
Read aloud the trade picture book Ollie by Olivier Dunrea [Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003].
Before reading, show students the cover. Ask them to describe what they see and predict what the book might be about. Take students on a picture walk in which they describe what they see on each page and make further predictions about the plot.
While reading the book, have children chorus Ollie's repeated line, "I won't come out!"
After reading, invite students to share personal experiences and compare their feelings and actions with those of Ollie to make a text-to-self connection. First, ask students why they think Ollie did not want to hatch yet. Next, ask if students have ever been asked to do something they did not feel ready to do yet or did not wish to do because someone else was bossing them into doing it. Then, ask why students think Ollie decided to hatch after all and what (if anything) his decision had to do with Gossie and Gertie eventually telling him not to hatch.
Once students have connected to Ollie's situation, ask them to state in their own words what they think the theme – or big idea – of the story is.
Make a Text-to-Self Connection and Identify Theme
Read aloud the trade picture book The Golden Egg Book by Margaret Wise Brown [Golden Books, 2004].
Before reading, have children describe what the bunny is doing on the cover and in various story pictures and make predictions about the story's plot.
While reading, fill in a story map to record details about the characters in the story, the problem facing the bunny, the main events of the plot, and the solution that resolves the bunny's problem.
After reading, ask children to make a text-to-self connection and compare the bunny's situation to their own past experiences. Discuss how the bunny feels at the beginning and end of the story, and have children share times when they have felt the same way. Then ask children to discuss how people can solve the problem of loneliness and to share thoughts about the importance of friendship.
Once students have connected to the bunny's situation, ask them to state in their own words what they think the theme – or big idea – of the story is.
For an extension activity, have older or more advanced students compare and contrast the two stories, identifying ways the characters, plots, and themes are alike or different.
Identify Genre – Animal Fantasy
Review the parts in both books when eggs hatch. Have children identify which events could happen in the real world and which would not really happen. Note how the fantasy events (such as Ollie being able to move his egg around and the bunny's attempts to get the egg to hatch) are a clue that these stories are both animal fantasy stories.
Elementary Science Lesson Plan – How Eggs Hatch
Once students can distinguish fantasy from reality, discuss the sequence of events real-world bird eggs follow to hatch. Share a nonfiction trade picture book on the subject, such as Where Do Chicks Come From? by Amy E. Sklansky [HarperCollinsPublishers, 2005].
For assessment, have students draw and label a sequence of events chart that shows the steps an egg follows to hatch into a chick, gosling, or duckling. Then have them write a few sentences describing the young bird's feelings about leaving its egg for the world.
Both Ollie and The Golden Egg Book can inspire discussions about themes such as friendship, loneliness, and the effect that other people can have on a person's actions, as well as a science lesson about how an egg hatches. Teachers can continue this egg theme unit with more detailed elementary science lesson plans about eggs and animals.
Renee Carver - Renée Carver has an Elementary Education degree and over ten years of experience writing and editing children's educational products.
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