Eggs galore!

Today our egg babies are 10 days old and we compared how much they've grown since day 3.  Holy smokes have they changed in just one week!

We candled them last week and saw the beginning of the heart.  We'll candle them again this week and hope to see more of the embryo developing! 

Along with our incubator eggs, I love plastic eggs for whatever I can get my hands on.  I have quite a few ideas up my sleeve but here are two we're using this week:

We use Investigations as our math curriculum but I get tired of using the same old games {can I get an amen?!} so I always incorporate thematic things.  The lesson calls for making number combinations using tiles to help students see how one amount can be made multiple different days.  I figure...if we can do it with tiles...we can do it with eggs!

I bought these little eggs at Hobby Lobby and stuffed them inside larger plastic eggs with a number on each.  The students open the big egg, double check the amount {in case one is missing} then make 2 piles.  They record the combination on the recording sheet then do it again until they've shown four different ways to make the number.  Then they put the eggs back and get another one!

  I bought these foam sheets at Wal-Mart last year and use them for many math games.  They make dice quieter, eggs less likely to roll off the table and counters easier to pick up.  This is one of the best purchases I have ever made!

After the students complete four combinations of 4 different eggs they can color in the clip art {since I can't print in color at work.}  Today was the first day of using this game...and they love it!

Here's the recording sheet I made to go with it:

We're also using plastic eggs in literacy centers.

 I wrote word endings on the right side of the egg and beginning letters or blends on the left side.  When students twist the egg, they make new words. 

 I adapted a recording sheet created by Hadar from Outfitted & Inspired to meet the levels of all of my students.  You can see her original activity here...complete with adorable bunny baskets!

My lowest group is yellow so I wrote their words on yellow eggs, my highest group is green so I wrote their words on green eggs, etc.  All of the eggs are mixed together in an Easter basket but the sheets are clipped with colored paperclips so they know which one to use.  I also write a note at the top after checking it for the students to practice reading the words {now at their instructional level!} to parents or siblings for additional practice when they get home.