Every Living Thing

A learning resource from The British Hen Welfare Trust

Animals and Us

2

Thank you for downloading this resource pack. We hope you will find it useful.

We’ve produced these resource to help your pupils explore the issues around egg production while developing new skills across the curriculum and applying them to real life situations.

We love hearing from schools who have used our resources! If you have feedback, comments or suggestions that you’d like to share then please email them to learning@bhwt.co.uk We love seeing your photos and artwork too!

Using this pack...

Creative writing

Sharing a story

Discussion or debate

In this pack you will find a selection of lesson plans each with background notes, a resource list, and suggestions for extending the activities. Look out for the icons found throughout the pack to see what kind of activities or skills each element of the lesson plan supports. For example:

All activity sheets, resource sheets and supporting resources can be found at the back of the pack.

This is one of six resource packs. You can find the others, together with guidance on keeping your own school hens and other useful resources, on our website: www.bhwt.co.uk

Welcome

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Playground Scavenger HuntAm I Alive? cardsHabitat CardsWho Lives Here? photo cardsWhere do I live? In, On, At, or Under?A Perfect HomeInside an EggOviparous Animals cardsComparing Animal Lifecycles

What’s inside?Claws, Wings and Other ThingsFor EYFS to KS2

In this lesson pupils practice categorising living things and learn the differences between birds, mammals and reptiles.

Page 4

Animal HomesFor KS1

In this lesson pupils investigate different animal homes to learn what they need and to design a perfect chicken coop.

Page 9

Teeth, Beaks and NosesFor KS2

In this lesson pupils explore how different animals find and eat food and learn the importance of caring for their teeth.

Page 14

Not Just ChickensFor KS2

In this lesson pupils investigate how different animals reproduce, learn how a chicken makes an egg and discover other animals that hatch.

Page 20

Lesson plans

Supporting resources

Looking for the presentations associated with this resource pack? They were included with this download so you’ll find them in the same folder as this document.

4 5

Claws, Wings and Other Things

for EYFS or Key Stage 1 one

In this lesson, pupils practice categorising living things and learn the differences between birds, mammals and reptiles.

Teacher notes

Dorling Kindersley Find Out has a very good resource on the characteristics of livings things called What Is A Living Thing? which may be useful in preparation for, or during activity 2, Am I Alive?

The final activity, Who Is Like Me? considers how a chicken can be grouped with many different types of animals depending on which features you choose to focus on. In 2003 a unique tyrannosaurus rex fossil was discovered that provided scientists with the means to analyse the dinosaur’s links with both living and extinct species. The process found that the t-rex shared more of its genetic makeup with modern birds – particularly the chicken and the turkey – than with other modern invertebrates.

The chicken’s shared common ancestry with reptiles is evident in their scales and skeletal structure; in 2014 scientists even strapped fake ‘dinosaur tails’ to chickens to see if they could recreate the posture of bipedal dinosaurs!

In this lesson...All pupils will

Be able to give examples of things that are living, were living or have ever been living so that they can understand the characteristics of living things

Most pupils will

Be able to group familiar animals in different ways so that they can understand the similarities and differences between them.

Some pupils will

Be able to identify features shared by different animal groups that they can explain that animals are related and change over time.

Key vocab Ingredients, recipe, cocoa, bake, farmers, growers

Resources needed

Copies of the Playground Scavenger Hunt activity sheet for all pupilsBags or trays for collecting their itemsA copy of the Am I Alive? PresentationA set of the Am I Alive? Cards for each groupA copy of the Who Is Like Me? presentationVarious items from around your classroom for discussionFour sheets of paper labelled ‘people’, ‘animals’, ‘plants’ and ‘all living things.’

Curriculum links and supported skills

• Comparing things that are living, dead or have never been alive• Grouping living things in a variety of ways • Describing and comparing the structure of common animals• Identifying and naming a variety of common animals• Describing the physical properties of materials• Associating parts of the body with the senses• Recognising that living things have changed over time• Respecting differences between individuals• Recognising the needs of living things, and understanding their

responsibilities towards them.• Learning about a range of jobs• Following instructions or directions• Using observational skills

Chickens, despite their reptilian features, are classified as birds as they have the three characteristics which distinguish birds from other animal groups; feathers, hollow bones and hard-shelled eggs.

Some of the other anatomical features in the presentation have evolved separately multiples times in different branches of the animal kingdom. For example, wings evolved independently in birds, bats and insects while claws are found in many species of mammal, reptile, bird and even one species of amphibian.

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Begin by asking the pupils what makes something alive, and discuss their answers. Explain that you’ll be working outside and spend a few moments helping the class lay down some ground rules for safety and behaviour.

Hand out the Playground Scavenger Hunt activity sheet and explain that they will be looking for three kinds of things: things that are living now, things that used to be alive and things that were never alive.

Explain that - if it is safe to do so - they may pick up items to bring back with them but they must not touch litter, animals, other people’s property or anything unsafe or unhygienic.

Note: if you wish to extend this activity to include a minibeast hunt then provide suitable equipment for catching invertebrates and relax the no animals rule!

It often helps to begin this activity with a couple of examples:

Living things: indicate trees, plants or birds flying overhead.Things that used to be alive: a snail shell, a stick or a wooden buildingThings that were never alive: a pebble, a crisp packet, a bus driving by.

Anything that can’t be collected can be drawn or written down on their sheets.

Once the class have collected lots of examples, come back together to discuss what they found. The ‘used to be alive’ category tends to cause the most confusion so to clarify challenge them to find things that used to be alive inside the classroom and collect together some examples to discuss such as paper or cardboard, wool or cotton clothing and fruit from a lunch box.

Playground Scavenger Hunt

20 minutes

Outdoor activity

Class activity

How to run it

Place the pupils in groups of five or six and give each group a set of the six Am I Alive? Cards. Alternatively, bring everyone together in a circle and use a single set of cards.

Explain that for something to be alive it has to do all six of the things on the cards. Spend a few minutes checking their understanding of each statement, using some or all of the following prompts:

I eat and breathe

• What do plants eat? How do they eat and breathe without mouths?• Do all living things eat the same thing?

Am I alive?

20 minutes

Presentation

Teamwork

• Do all animals breathe in the same way?

I move

• We’ve seen plants blow in the wind but can they move on their own? Some living things move on the inside so it is difficult for us to see them moving. • Can you think of an animal that moves really slowly? How about one that moves really fast?

I have senses

• Can you name all your senses? Which parts of your body do you use to sense?• Do plants know when it is day or night? How about spring or winter?• Can you think of an animal that has very different senses to you?

I reproduce

• Can you name any animals that have babies? How about ones that lay eggs? These are both types of reproduction. • How do plants reproduce?

I grow

• We don’t keep growing forever; is something alive even when it stops growing?• Can we always see things growing? Think of something that grows very slowly.

I get rid of waste

• How do our bodies get rid of things they don’t need any more?• Do plants poo? How do they get rid of waste?

Using the Am I Alive? presentation show each of the examples, one at a time. For each one, ask the pupils to talk together in their groups, or discuss it as a class, and together choose the cards that describe that example. Is it alive? Remind them that it must do everything on the cards in order to be alive.

Explain that we can group living things together in different ways to help us understand them and the world around us. Have everyone stand up and ask them to get into three different groups; people with black hair, people with blonde hair and people with brown hair. Next, ask them to get into groups based on the following:

• People with pets and people without• People who walked to school and people who came by car• People who like bananas and people who don’t • People who can touch their nose with their tongue and people who can’t• And so on…

Who is like me?

15 minutes

Presentation

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Use some of the activities in the Not Just Chickens lesson plan in this pack to explore other egg-laying animals.

If exploring what they have in common – and what makes them different – has captured the children’s’ interest then Scope’s Imagine The Difference resource is a great way to take this topic further.

Make sure you have a clear area for playing the game in the final activity and remind the pupils to look where they are going!

Taking it further

Keeping everyone safe

Explain that we can group living things together based on what they look like, how they behave or where they live; you’re going to think carefully about one creature, a chicken, to decide which animal groups she best fits into.

Use the Who Is Like Me? presentation to discuss the various features of a chicken, encouraging the pupils to think of other animals with the same characteristics. Finish by asking them which group they think the chicken belongs to: explain that she is a bird but looking closely at the similarities and differences between animals can help us learn more about how they are related and how they have changed over long, long periods of time.

Finish the lesson by explaining that we all have responsibilities towards other living things. Place four pieces of paper labelled ‘people’, ‘plants’ ‘animals’ and ‘all living things’ around the room. Explain that you’ll call out a job or type of person and the pupils should think about which living things that person cares for and quickly run to the correct corner of the room. Call out the following:

Vet, gardener, farmer, doctor, zoo keeper, nurse, tree planter, dog owner, dentist, bee keeper, parent, me.

Remind the pupils that some people have special jobs caring for living things but it is up to all of us to look after the people, plants and animals around us.

As the class prepare to finish the lesson ask everyone to think of one thing that they can personally do to care for living things; give a few examples such as ‘walk my dog’, ‘water the plants in the classroom’ or ‘be kind to my brother and sister.’ As everyone leaves the room for break, lunch or home time have them take turns to call out what they plan to do to care for living things.

Who Cares?

10 minutes

Game or puzzle

Class activity

9

Animal Homesfor EYFS or Key Stage 1

In this lesson, pupils investigate different animal homes to learn what a good home needs and design a perfect chicken coop.

Teacher notes

There is plenty of guidance available online to help you improve or create habitats in the school grounds. Useful organisations include the RSPB, Learning Through Landscapes, The Woodland Trust, Creative Star Learning and The Council For Learning Outside The Classroom. Funding for school grounds improvements may be available from local businesses, carrier bag funds and other small grant schemes. However, there is a huge amount you can do with minimal materials or those already on hand.

Activity 3, The Perfect Home, considers how the housing of three different domesticated animals can meet their needs. Rabbits, as social animals, should be kept in pairs or small groups and should have enough space in their hutch to stand up on their hind legs and take three hops. They need regular access to an outdoor exercise space and should be provided with toys and enrichments, including suitable chewing material to keep their teeth from overgrowing. As prey animals, their instinct is to hide from danger so they need quiet spaces to hide away and feel safe.

In this lesson...All pupils will

Be able to name and describe several habitats so that they can understand that different animals live in different places.

Most pupils will

Be able to understand which features animals need in their habitats or homes so that they can explain the need for protecting habitats and providing suitable animal housing.

Some pupils will

Be able to understand that humans have an impact on animal homes so that they can take personal responsibility for protecting habitats and providing suitable animal housing.

10 11

20 minutes

Outdoor activity

Class activity

This activity takes place outside and most school grounds should be suitable as long as they have a garden or wild area, flower beds and trees. However, if you’re really short on green space then you may wish to visit a local park instead.

Explain that you’ll be working outside and spend a few moments helping the class lay down some ground rules for safety and behaviour.

Tell the pupils that they’re going to be looking for animal homes; not necessarily the animals themselves (although they may see some if they look calmly and carefully) but places where they think animals could live. Animal homes can be very, very big or very, very small but they all have some things in common. Ask them to suggest what animals might need in their homes.

Show the different coloured lolly sticks and explain that they will be using them to mark three very important things all animal homes need: food, water and shelter.

Note: As an alternative to lolly sticks you could have the pupils decorate flat stones with words or symbols or make little flags instead.

Encourage them to think carefully about the animals who may live in their playground, reminding them that for very small creatures, such as ants or woodlice, even a leaf could be marked as a shelter while rainwater in a flower could be marked as a water source. Pose the question: if you were shrunk to the size of a mouse, a snail or a tiny ant, where would you look for food, water and somewhere to hide?

The second part of this activity focusses on describing animal homes. Show the Habitat Word cards and explain that once they have marked their animal home they can come and choose a word or two to describe it, placing the card near their markers. There are some blank cards included as they may think of lots of good describing words of their own!

Once everyone has had a chance to place some markers and choose some word cards, bring everyone back together and take a tour of the area, asking the pupils to describe what they found and why they chose the positions for their markers.

Explain that animal homes are known as habitats. Habitats can be very small (such a single log) or very large (such a whole park, a desert or even an ocean). They can be wet, dry, hot or cold but they all need the same things; food, water and shelter.

How to run itHabitat hunt

• Identifying and naming a range of different habitats and microhabitats, and describing the animals living there.

• Describing how habitats meet the needs of the animals living there• Describing the basic needs of animals, including humans• Using basic geographical vocabulary to describe their surroundings• Manage their own risk and become confident explorers of the outdoor

environment• Knowing what improves or harms their local environment• Demonstrating care and respect for their environment• Using a range of materials and artistic techniques to share ideas• Designing functional and appealing products• Understanding where food comes from• Using simple fieldwork and observational skills• Building vocabulary• Contributing to the life of the school• Demonstrate an understanding of prepositions

Key vocab Habitat, coop, sty, web, burrow, stable, hutch, hive, perch, dust bath.

Resources needed

Lolly sticks in three colours A set of Habitat Word Cards and a pen for adding your own words on the blanksA copy of the Where Do I Live? activity sheet for each pupilA copy of the Who Lives Here? photo cardsA copy of the In, On, Under activity sheet for each pupilA copy of the A Perfect Home activity sheet for each pupil.

Chickens should be kept in groups of at least three. They need perches for sleeping as they are uncomfortable sleeping on the ground. They also need enough nest boxes, or quiet secluded places to lay their eggs and they need access to the ground or to a material in which they can scratch and forage. They should have access to a dust bath as this is how they keep their feathers in good condition and their skin free of parasites; dust bathing is also an important social activity. They should have plenty of toys and enrichments to prevent them becoming bored.

Pigs should be kept in pairs or small groups. They need shelter from the elements with clean, dry straw to sleep on. They need a mud patch, or wallow, as this natural behaviour keeps their skin in good condition. They need opportunities to explore and play with objects (such a chains, tyres and balls) and materials in which they can dig and root in.

Curriculum links and supported skills

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Plan a farm visit to see how farmers provide homes for their animals. Use visitmyfarm.org to find a host farmer near you.

The Happy Egg Company have some good, short video tours of their hen houses (and other parts of their farms). These explain how the housing meets the needs of the hens.

If you have a school pet work as a class to carry out an audit of their home. Does it have everything the animal/s need? Could it be improved? The Blue Cross provide expert pet care guides for most kinds of pets.

Taking it further

Ask the pupils to suggest why the animals live in different types of home. Do the animals have different needs? Do the different homes have anything in common?

On the board write Rabbit, Chicken and Pig. Ask the class to brainstorm what each of these animals needs in their home. Use the list of suggestions below as prompts if they get stuck.

Using the Perfect Home activity sheet, ask the children to design the best chicken coop in the world. They should think about providing all the things on the list but they can also use their imagination and make it as creative as they wish, providing it still meets all the animals needs.

If you wish to take this activity a step further than help the class choose a suitable spot in the school grounds for their pretend chicken coop. Work together to measure the space and discuss how they will need to think about the space when designing their coop. For example, is there a tree or a building they will need to build around? Is it a very windy, sunny or shady spot?

Rabbit Chicken PigA warm, dry place to sleep

FriendsPlaces for food and fresh waterShelter from the rain and sun

Toys and things to doPlenty of space to hop and stand up on their

back legs

Plenty of space to stretch their wings and

move around

Plenty of space to dig and stretch out

Somewhere to dig Somewhere to scratch for food Somewhere to scratch

Places to hide from danger Perches for sleeping Fences to stop them

escaping

Something to chew A dust bath Somewhere to roll in mud

A place to lay eggs

30 minutesTaking your lead from the habitats that the pupils have discovered, brainstorm the kind of animals they have spotted, or that they think might live in the school grounds. Taking their suggestions, make a plan to do something to protect or improve a habitat within the school. There are a huge number of simple activities that can be carried out by the children that will make a difference to wildlife, including:

Making posters and information signs. If the pupils find a habitat at risk of being trampled or affected by litter they could design posters asking other pupils and school staff to help protect it.

Creating a log pile. Contact a local tree surgeon to ask for some suitable logs and choose a shady spot which is unlikely to be disturbed.

Creating a container pond. These small, child-safe ponds provide an important home and water source for a surprising number of species.

Planting a tree. The Woodland Trust provide free saplings to schools. Apply every March and November.

Building a mini-beast hotel. From a tiny habitat in a plant pot to a mini-beast skyscraper made from pallets, this is a great project to brighten up school grounds.

Carrying out a litter pick. This is also a good opportunity for pupils to record and display interesting data on the types and quantity of litter they collected.

Planting pollinator friendly seeds (in spring) or bulbs (in autumn and winter). As well as brightening up the school these will provide essential food for bees, butterflies, moths and other pollinators.

Installing bat boxes. Welcoming bats to your school grounds can lead to some really exciting learning opportunities including unforgettable after-hours bat walks.

Habitat heroes

Various timings

Outdoor activity

Class activity

Hand out the Where Do I Live? activity sheets and have the pupils draw, colour and cut out the animals listed. Place the Who Lives Here? photo cards around the room and ask the pupils to choose the most suitable home for their animals, placing them by the correct picture.

Once they are done, ask them if they can name the different types of animal home. Add labels to the pictures or use them, together with the children’s drawings, as the basis for a wall display. Use the In, On, Under activity sheet to consolidate their memory of different types of animal homes and practice using prepositions of place correctly.

Next, ask the pupils which of the animal homes they visited around the room were created by humans. Explain that wild animals live in many different habitats but when animals live in our care, it is our responsibility to make sure they have the right home.

A perfect home

Discussion or debate

Art and craft

Independent work

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Teeth, Beaks and Noses

for Key Stage 2

In this lesson, pupils explore how different animals find and eat their food and learn the importance of caring for their teeth.

Teacher notes

The lesson includes a discussion activity around the emotive subject of beak trimming, also known as beak clipping or debeaking. This practice is legally carried out on hens destined for caged, barn and sometimes free range egg production systems (please see the information sheets in our All Cooped Up resource pack for more details). The beaks of broiler (meat) chickens and turkeys can also be trimmed. The top part of the beaks of day-old chicks is trimmed using an infra-red beam. It is a quick process and chicks appear to return to their normal behaviour as soon as the procedure is over. Around ten days later the tip of the beak falls off.

The aim of this procedure is to prevent hens from injuring or killing each other through aggressive pecking. This pecking behaviour can start for a number of reasons but overcrowding and boredom are two key causes.

In 2015 the UK Government rejected a proposed ban on beak trimming as it was felt the risk to welfare from leaving hens able to peck and injure each other outweighed the welfare considerations of beak trimming.

In this lesson...All pupils willBe able to name and describe the function of some of the body parts of different animals so that they can understand some of the differences between different animal groups and species.

Most pupils will

Be able to describe how some features of an animal’s anatomy help it survive so that they can understand how different species are adapted to their own environments.

Some pupils will

Be able to explain how human teeth are adapted for our diets, and what can affect the health of our teeth, so that they can better care for their own teeth.

Resources needed

For Activity 1: Who am I?

The Feeling Nosey powerpoint

For Activity 2: Talking Scents

• Describing and comparing the structure of common animals• Associating parts of the body with senses• Identifying and naming a variety of herbivores, omnivores and

carnivores.• Identifying ways in which animals are adapted to suit their

environment. • Understanding the importance of good hygiene. • Setting up fair tests• Reporting on findings from investigations. • Using results to draw conclusions• Grouping living things in a variety of ways. • Building vocabulary.• Exploring, considering and understanding moral dilemmas. • Taking part in discussions and debates.

The British Hen Welfare Trust would like to see an end to beak trimming, but not until we are assured that large-scale welfare will not be compromised.

The final activity uses the How Do You Chew presentation to compare how a human, a cow and a hen eat their food. The cow has lower incisors on at the front of her mouth but no upper incisors; instead she has a dental pad, a hard pad of gums. Together the incisors and dental pad help grip and pull up grass. At the back of her mouth, she has broad, flat molars which constantly regrow as the silica in grass quickly wears them down. To make it possible to digest cellulose and other plant compounds the cow has a four-chambered stomach. After chewing the grass briefly, she swallows it and it arrives in the rumen, the largest chamber. Here billions of bacteria begin to ferment the grass. The second chamber, the reticulum, contracts and forces food back into the cow’s mouth where she continues to chew for some time, breaking down the plant fibres to a point where they can be digested. This is known as ‘chewing the cud’. At this point, they pass through to the omasum and the abomasum which function in a similar way to a human stomach.

The hen ‘chews’ by swallowing small stones and grit which end up in the gizzard, situated just before the small intestine. Digestive enzymes have already been added to the food which is then crushed by the squeezing motion of the muscular gizzard and the action of the stones inside.

Please be aware that the How Do You Chew presentation contains an image of the chicken’s gizzard which some children may not like; you may wish to give a warning before these images are presented to give any squeamish pupils the chance to look away!

Curriculum links and supported skills

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Three clear jars labelled 1, 2 and 3. Fill one jar with water, one with white vinegar and one with rubbing alcohol (found with first aid supplies in most chemists). If you are concerned that your pupils will be tempted to taste the liquids then punch holes in the lids and tightly screw or glue them on.

At least 6 sealable numbered tubs containing several cotton wool balls, each tub scented with one of the following:

• Peppermint oil• Lavender oil• Perfume• Vinegar• Crushed garlic or garlic puree• Vanilla essence• Lemon or orange

Choose one smell and make two tubs containing that smell – the pupils will be challenged to find the matching smells.

For activity 3: Brilliant beaks

• A large tray, tub or shallow bowl• 3 clothes pegs or large tweezers• 3 cocktail sticks• 3 teaspoons• 3 cups or tubs• A selection of food for the ‘birds’ to collect. If you wish to use real food

then raisins, popcorn, mini marshmallows, Smarties, pretzels, gummy sweets, sprinkles or other small cake decorations, chocolate chips and small biscuits, such as Animal Biscuits, will all work well. If you’d rather use non-food items then packing peanuts, marbles, buttons, rice, dried beans, uncooked pasta, small snips of wool, elastic bands, paper clips and cotton wool balls will be perfect.

For activity 5: How do you chew?

A copy of the How Do You Chew? PresentationSmall hand mirrors.

Key vocab Variation, adaptation, habitats, species, herbivores, carnivores, omnivores, molars, canine, incisors, digestion, gizzard.

Explain that many creatures find their food, or avoid dangerous foods, using their sense of smell. Guinea pigs, dogs, mice, African elephants and certain species of frogs and turtles have the most powerful noses in the animal kingdom. Many animals smell with their noses but some (like snakes) smell with their tongues and some (like butterflies) with their feet or antennae.

Humans, in comparison, are not very good sniffers! However, our noses can still recognise thousands of different smells and without them we wouldn’t be able to taste much at all.

This activity will put the human sense of smell to the test. Begin by showing three jars of colourless liquid and explain that, although they look the same, only one would be safe to drink. Emphasise that the pupils must not taste the liquids but will be smelling them, remembering the number of the jar they think contains water, and passing them on. Once everyone has had a smell and agreed on the correct jar, explain that our sense of smell can protect us from danger by sniffing out harmful things such as smoke from a fire, a gas leak, rotten food or harmful chemicals.

Next, direct their attention to the tubs containing the scented cotton wool balls. Place these around the room so it is easy for several children to access each tub at once and explain that the pupils have three goals in this activity:

1. Identify each smell if they can2. Find suitable words to describe the smell3. Find the two matching smells

Talking scents

20 minutes

Puzzle, quiz or game

Class activity

In this warm-up game pupils are asked to try and guess the owner of a nose, mouth or beak while identifying and describing some of its features.

Use the Feeling Nosey powerpoint to play this game. You can either play together as a class or put the class in teams who confer and ‘buzz’ (using their noses as buzzers of course) when they think they know the answer. Once the pupils have correctly identified the owner of each beak or nose, take a moment to discuss what they notice about it such as the colour, size, shape or absence or presence of teeth and whiskers.

Finish by asking everyone to turn to the person sitting next to them and spend a minute or two discussing why there is such a variety of mouths and noses in the animal kingdom. Choose some pairs to share their responses.

Feeling Nosey

10 minutes

Presentation

Puzzle, quiz or game

How to run it

18 19

Explain that humans don’t need a fantastic sense of smell because we have other senses that are adapted to our environments; for example, we have good colour vision for spotting colourful fruit in trees. All animals have bodies that are adapted to suit the places they live and the kinds of food that can be found there. We’re going to explore one amazing example of adaptation: beaks.

Show the Brilliant Beaks slides and explain that different species of bird use their beaks for different tasks. Choose up to nine volunteers to play the Brilliant Beaks game (if your tray or bowl is smaller then you may want to do it with six or three participants to avoid bumped heads!) Explain that they are going to take on the role of different species of bird:

Some of them are going to be chickens, with short, rounded beaks that are perfect for collecting grains, seeds and insects; give the chickens the clothes pegs/ tweezers.

Some of them are going to be ducks, with flat beaks for scooping up water plants and small insects; give the ducks the teaspoons.

Some of them are going to be herons, with long pointed beaks for spearing fish; give the herons the cocktail sticks.

Give each pupil a cup to represent their stomach.

Encourage the pupils to try moving and calling like the three different birds – you may want to watch a video of each on YouTube to make sure the pupils are familiar with all three.

Brilliant beaks

15 - 20 minutes

Puzzle, quiz or game

Class activity

Give them time to move around the room, smelling the cotton balls and trying to find the match. Check to see if most pupils were able to correctly spot the matching smells.

Using the final slides of the Brilliant Beaks presentation, explain that on some types of chicken farm the birds have the tips of their beaks removed when they are day-old chicks. The process does not appear to cause them significant pain or distress (but it is very difficult for us to know how animals are feeling). This is done to prevent them hurting each other as adults when they live very close together in crowded conditions. Fighting among the birds can be reduced or stopped altogether by giving them more space and more toys to play with but keeping them in these better conditions makes the eggs more expensive for people to buy.

Ask the pupils to share their responses to this dilemma and, following their discussion, take a vote on the following question:

Should beak trimming be banned, even if it means the chickens injure each other more often?

Right or wrong?

15 - 20 minutes

Presentation

Discussion or debate

A local dentist, Healthy Schools team or local authority may be able to offer speakers to schools to take the pupils learning about their own teeth further. Visit the National Smile Month website to find out more.

Remind the pupils not to put their fingers in each other’s mouth during the final activity!

Taking it further

Keeping everyone safe

Just as birds’ beaks are adapted for different tasks, different species of bird and animal are adapted to chew their food in different ways. Explain that in this activity pupils will be comparing how a human, a chicken and a cow process their food.

Use the How Do You Chew? presentation to talk through the three different examples.

Ask the pupils to tell you what they already know about caring for their own teeth; recap the importance of regular and thorough brushing, dentist visits and avoiding too much sugary food and drink. Remind them that their teeth don’t keep growing like a cow’s, and they don’t have a gizzard like a hen, so looking after the teeth they have is very important!

To finish, put the pupils into pairs and hand out small mirrors. Challenge them to take a look at their own and each other’s teeth to spot their incisors, canines and molars.

How do you chew?

20 minutes

Presentation

Teamwork

20 21

Not Just Chickens!

for Key Stage 2

In this lesson pupils investigate how different animals reproduce, learn how a chicken makes an egg and discover other animals that hatch.

Teacher notes

In addition to the shell, albumen and yolk, the pupils may spot one or more of the following while investigating their eggs:

The shell membranes: These strong, stretchy membranes lie between the inside of the shell and the albumen. They are partly made of the same substance as human hair – keratin. They protect the egg from any bacteria trying to get in.

The chalazae: These are the white, stringy bits noticeable on either side of the yolk. Each chalaza is made of proteins and they hold the yolk in the right place in the centre of the egg so that the chick can develop properly.

The yolk membrane: A rubbery skin around the yolk. In older eggs, it may look wrinkly!

A meat spot: This is a tiny red or brown spot on the yolk. It appears in

In this lesson...All pupils will

Be able to name other species and animal groups that lay eggs so that they can understand that animals reproduce in different ways.

Most pupils will

Be able to describe some of the similarities and differences in animal life cycles so that they can compare these to the human lifecycle.

Some pupils will

Be able to describe some of the difference between the eggs of different species so that they can understand how different animals are adapted to their environments.

some eggs when a small piece of the chicken’s oviduct (the tube the egg travels down as it is being formed) gets left behind on the yolk. It’s not a baby chicken and it is safe to eat!

When playing the Oviparous Animals matching game you may wish to have the pupils place the cards into two piles based on which eggs they think are eaten by people and which aren’t. The following eggs are eaten around the world:

Chicken, duck, quail, goose, pheasant, guinea fowl, turkey, seagull, ostrich, crocodile, snail, fish, ant, turtle, octopus, snake, emu.

Remind pupils that just because humans don’t eat certain eggs that doesn’t mean that other animals don’t want to eat them; most animals have evolved clever adaptations for camouflaging or hiding their eggs to keep them safe. However, this doesn’t stop us humans from sometimes eating eggs we shouldn’t; many species of bird and animal are endangered and when people collect their eggs to sell or eat this makes the problem much worse.

The Oviparous Animal cards have coloured borders signifying which class the animal belongs to. The colours are as follows:

Red = mammalBlue = birdGreen = invertebrateOrange = amphibian Purple = reptile

Resources needed

• A lunch box (if it is yellow or orange, even better!)• A blanket (white if you can find one)• A bike helmet. • Around ten free range eggs• Bowls and teaspoons (or cocktail sticks)

• Understanding the life cycles of different animals• Identifying and naming a variety of common animals• Describing and comparing the structure of common animals• Describing the physical properties of materials• Researching new topics• Carrying out food preparation tasks hygienically and safely• Using observational skills• Retrieving and recording information from non-fiction• Using the internet safely for research and knowledge checking• Recording findings using scientific language• Grouping living things in a variety of ways• Identifying ways in which animals are adapted to suit their

environment• Building vocabulary

Curriculum links and supported skills

22 23

Begin by asking the class to brainstorm what they already know about eggs. Explain that you’re going to be investigating how an egg works and which animals lay them.

Start by asking why chickens lay eggs. Eggs are how chickens reproduce and they provide a safe place for a chick to grow and develop until it is ready to hatch.

Ask one pupil to stand up and play the role of a chick. Explain that it will take the chick just twenty-one days to develop from a single cell, too small for our eyes to see, into a breathing, cheeping chick, ready to hatch and live outside the egg. What do they think the chick will need during its time in the egg?

Food: Hand the pupil playing the chick a lunchbox; this represents the egg’s yolk. The yolk is full of fat, protein, vitamins and minerals that the chick needs to grow, and it takes in these nutrients through its belly button! Shortly before hatching it will absorb whatever is left of the yolk and this will provide enough nutrition for the chick during its first couple of days of life as it learns to eat solid food.

Warmth: Wrap a blanket around the pupil playing the chick; this represents the albumen. The chick needs to be the right temperature to grow so the mother hen sits on the eggs to keep them warm while inside the egg the chick is wrapped in a thick layer of albumen, which we often call egg white. The albumen doesn’t just keep the chick warm, though; it helps provide nutrients and protects it from knocks and bumps too.

Protection: Give the pupil playing the chick a bike helmet to wear. This represents the shell. The strong shell stops the chick getting squashed and knocked about as it grows. It is covered in tiny holes, called pores, about 17,000 in total. Although they are too small for us to see without a microscope they let air and water into the egg while keeping germs and

Inside an egg

20 minutes

Discussion or debate

Class activity

Investigation

How to run it

Key vocab Reproduce, oviparous, nutrients, vitamins, minerals, protein, albumen, membrane, chalazae, pores

• Magnifying glasses• Cleaning materials for wiping up any spilt egg and hand sanitizer if

hand-washing facilities are not immediately accessible • Copies of the Inside an Egg activity sheet for every pupil• Around 6 copies of the Oviparous Animals cards • Copies of the Comparing Life Cycles activity sheet for every pupil

bacteria out.

Give a quick safety briefing about working with raw eggs; no touching the eggs with their hands, they must keep their fingers away from mouths and everyone needs to wash their hands after the activity. Place the pupils in groups and hand out small bowls and free range eggs. Providing teaspoons (or cocktail sticks) and magnifying glasses can also be useful. Demonstrate how to carefully crack open an egg and give the pupils time to observe the parts of the egg closely, recording what they see on the Inside an Egg activity sheet.

Once they’ve had a few minutes to look closely at their eggs ask if they have noticed any extra parts of the egg that weren’t mentioned earlier (see Teachers Notes above for more details).

Put the class into groups of around 5 and give each group a set of Oviparous Animals cards. Ask them to shuffle the cards and lay them out in a grid, face down. No peeking!

Explain that we’re most familiar with chicken eggs but all other birds and many other species of animals also reproduce by laying eggs.

In their groups, the pupils will play the card matching game, taking turns to turn over two cards of their choice. If they find a matching animal and its eggs they can claim them. If not, they must turn them face down again and play passes to the next person. Once all the cards are cleared the winner is the player with the most animals in their hand.

Once the winners have been declared, ask the groups to lay out all the cards in front of them, face up. Call out a property or a description of a type of egg or animal and have the groups race to select and call out an appropriate match. For example, try calling out:

• Hard shelled• Leathery• Buried in sand• Huge• No shell• Floating in water• Stuck to a leaf• Blue• Transparent/ see-through

You can extend this activity by asking the pupils to divide up the cards in different ways:

1. By the colour of the card’s border: Can they correctly name these different classes of animal?2. Into those they have seen and those they have never seen.3. Into those that are eaten by humans and those that aren’t (see the Teacher’s Notes above for a full list).

Who Else Lays Eggs?

20 minutes

Puzzle, quiz or game

Teamwork

24

BBC Nature has a large collection of videos of egg-laying animals in action.

An Egg is Quiet by Dianna Aston is a beautifully illustrated book that provides hundreds of examples of different shapes, sizes, colours and textures of eggs. It is a good starting point for artwork inspired by the variety of eggs in the animal kingdom.and occasionally goose, turkey and even ostrich eggs! You many be able to find a local farmer able to supply duck and quail eggs too.

Take care when working with raw eggs. Everyone must wash their hands and spills must be cleaned up immediately.

Taking it further

Keeping everyone safe

Ask the pupils to give a simple definition of a lifecycle: for example, a life cycle is the stages every living thing goes through. Some animals, such as many mammals including humans, move through these stages slowly and continuously:

Fetus > baby > child > teenager > adult > elderly

Others, such as many amphibians including frogs, move through their lifecycle in clearly defined stages:

Spawn > egg > tadpole > froglet > frog

Can they give any other examples of animal lifecycles?

Explain that even when animal life cycles seem very different, they can still have a lot in common. In this activity, the pupils will be carrying out their own research using non-fiction books and the internet to compare aspects of the human lifecycle with those of a chicken, a crocodile and a frog.

Hand out the Animal Life Cycles sheets and give the pupils time to research and complete them; for each statement, they must decide how many of the four creatures it applies to. Please note that an answer sheet is also included in this pack.

Comparing life cycles

15 minutes

Research

Independent work

4. Into those laid on the ground, in a tree, on a plant or in water.

You can also ask the pupils how animals who don’t lay eggs reproduce and introduce the term viviparous, meaning animals that give birth to live young. Call out a mixture of oviparous and viviparous animals, asking the class to make a large O or V with their arms to signify which category they think the animal named falls into.

Playground scavenger hunt!

Four living things?

Four things that used to be alive?

Four things that were never alive?

Look carefully! Can you find...

Am I Alive? CardsUse these with the Am I Alive? presentation to help decide which things are living and which things aren’t.

I eat and breathe I move I have senses

I get rid of wasteI growI reproduce

Habitat cards

Damp Muddy Leafy Dry

Dusty Dangerous Sheltered Rocky

Grassy Woody Wet Bare

Emotion cards: more complex

Disappointed Surprised Lazy Worried

Flustered Lonely Hurt Proud

Hopeless Panicked Irritated Stressed

Confused Enthusiastic Embarrassed Disgusted

Who lives here?

Who lives here?

Who lives here?

Who lives here?

Who lives here?

Who lives here?

Who lives here?

Who lives here?

Who lives here?

Where do I live?

Draw, colour in, and cut out each animal.

Bee

Spider

Rabbit

Horse

Fish

Bird

Duck

Crab

Hamster

In, on, under or at?

Where do each of these animals live? Fill in the gaps with the correct word:

IN ON UNDER AT

Spiders live a web.

Whales live the sea.

Worms live the ground.

Birds build their nests trees.

Rabbits live a hutch.

Sheep live a field.

Ducks lives a pond.

Frogs live a pond.

Hedgehogs live a pile of leaves.

Sick pets get help to feel better the vet.

Some animals live the wild but we can visit them the zoo.

Hens live a farm. Some live cages and some live barns. Some spend the day a field.

A perfect homeCan you design a perfect home with everything hens need to be happy and healthy?

Perches for sleeping A place to lay eggs A dust bath Fun things to do A place for food and drink

Shelter from the sun and rain

Have you remembered to include...

Inside an egg

Can you name the different parts of an egg?

Oviparous Animals Cards

Oviparous Animals Cards

Echidna Fish Shark Robin Crocodile

Butterfly Snake Frog Emu Bees

ChickenQuailTurkeyOstrichSpider

Comparing lifecycles

Human Chicken Crocodile Frog

I grow for 266 days before I’m ready to be born.

I have up to 4,000 babies at a time

My mum talks to me before I’m born.

Before being born I take in nutrients through my naval (belly button).

I can stand and move about a few minutes or hours after being born.

I grow for 80 days before I’m ready to be born.

My mum keeps me warm before and after I’m born.

I lose some body parts and grow new ones as I change from a baby to an adult

I grow for 21 days before I’m ready to be born.

Once I’m born I depend on my parents for everything.

My body temperature before I’m born determines whether I’m male or female.

I usually only have one baby at a time.

I begin my life as a single cell

I grow for between two and four weeks before I’m ready to be born

Comparing lifecycles

Human Chicken Crocodile Frog

I grow for 266 days before I’m ready to be born. XI have up to 4,000 babies at a time XMy mum talks to me before I’m born. X XBefore being born I take in nutrients through my naval (belly button). X X XI can stand and move about a few minutes or hours after being born. X X XI grow for 80 days before I’m ready to be born. XMy mum keeps me warm before and after I’m born. X XI lose some body parts and grow new ones as I change from a baby to an adult X XI grow for 21 days before I’m ready to be born. XOnce I’m born I depend on my parents for everything. XMy body temperature before I’m born determines whether I’m male or female. XI usually only have one baby at a time. XI begin my life as a single cell X X X XI grow for between two and four weeks before I’m ready to be born X