Every few years, our K-2 students get to experience “Chicks R Us“, in which a dozen eggs come to visit for a fortnight, and the eggs are incubated until they hatch.
One year, I played a practical joke on the staff and students by waiting till most of the chicks had emerged, then placing a mysterious, large egg in a small perspex aquarium, into the room with the chicks. A note read: “Please look after this egg, thank you.” It caused a huge amount of discussion and several students were convinced a dinosaur, an elephant or a fully-grown hen would emerge from the egg. One morning, I snuck in early, upturned the (already-cracked) egg, and placed a plastic, fire-breathing dragon into the empty shell… of the ostrich egg.
Again, a huge amount of discussion took place as each class discovered the mystery hatching. This year, enough of the students have moved on that I could replay my practical joke. To follow it up, next week, we’ll be using this new slideshow on the IWB. I’ve experimented with using the “quiz” facility of Photo Peach and produced a more interactive, online resource!
What’s in the egg?: an interactive quiz
A huge array of possibilities is now presenting itself, as our Stage 2 and Stage 3 begin to grapple with how they will be formalising their Guided Inquiry research into the human body and endangered animals.