Chick Adoptions: Spring Mini Unit

Friends, is this year’s early Easter totally throwing you off or what? We’re still celebrating St. Patrick‘s Day with our Great Potato Disguise projects this week, but I’m already looking ahead to our chick adoptions for spring/Easter. We’re on spring break the week of April 1st, and I’m still debating on whether or not to push the project into next week or just wait and have it late when we come back from break. I’m leaning toward later so I can really give the unit justice. It doesn’t specifically mention Easter so I think my kids will survive the wait. =)

Either way, I did want to get it out to you now so you’d have time to plan for it if you decide to tackle it this year with your kiddos. It’s so much fun! Just like the sugar or egg babies of high school, students adopt adorable chicks for spring and spend the week taking care of them while also doing reading, writing, and science activities about chicks.

The week starts by students going on a scavenger hunt to find a plastic egg with their new baby chick inside. I like to use these adorable fuzzy chicks (and sometimes stuff two in an egg if I have extras… twins!), but you can also use the marshmallow “Peep” brand chickens. Just be sure your students don’t eat their new babies if you use those. It makes for some tears when they realize we’re turning them into our babies for the week. 

After students adopt their new chicks, we complete birth certificates and spend the week using our chicks for writing workshop. Because this unit is very similar to my Great Potato Disguise unit many of the prompts are similar but with a chick twist. I like this because we don’t ever have time to get to all of the prompts in either unit and the variety also provides for a lot of choice at the writing center.

This year, I decided to add the chick life cycle to add a bit more nonfiction “meat” to the unit. My students are also browsing chick (and other baby animal) books during reading workshop. They can read aloud to their chicks if they’d like. It’s so cute! Near the end of the week, we reuse the eggs for a math scavenger hunt where students must solve a word problem hidden inside each egg. I’m sneaky like that, mixing learning with fun.

If you want to grab my printables to try this unit with your class, it’s available in my TpT shop. I’d love to hear all about how it goes for you!