Eggs, Eggs Everywhere, Part Six: What Happens Inside An Egg?

This week we looked at what is inside a chicken egg.

My youngest cracked an egg inside a bowl and the boys looked at the different parts, and touched them, feeling the different textures. They are quite familiar with eggs because of helping me out in the kitchen so much, but they had never really looked closely at one. (Sorry I didn't get a shot until after they were done with it and by that time the yolk had broken and spread.)

We washed our hands after to protect ourselves from possible salmonella germs.

I found a worksheet that showed the parts of the egg and I thought it would be a nice idea to make a flat, layered model of it. So, I got out craft foam, paper and yarn, and we cut and glued and learned new names for the parts.

I continue to be surprised at how much individuality the boys can bring to their projects. The youngest opted for orange construction paper rather than the yellow craft foam I had imagined them using. He also decided to draw his chalazae, the string-like fibers that hold the yolk in the middle of the egg, rather than use yarn.

Another decided to use this wispy yarn we had.

My older, special-needs used some yellow yarn and separated the fibers a little.
They all used cut-outs of the terms to label their eggs.

Older, special needs

Middle student

Youngest student

We also looked at egg development. When my oldest was in first grade we did a duck hatching project, but the project is quite a commitment and I didn't have that time this spring. I would like to so it again in the future, but for now, to help them understand what was going on inside the egg, I found this page  that shows the stages of development of the chicken (last page).

It is supposed to be made into a wheel with paper plates,

but we are going to make booklets instead,

but then again they may each decide to do it slightly differently.

Resources: 

GEMS: Eggs Eggs Everywhere