The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project
Chicken Math
Chicken Math
A 3rd grade STEM lesson
Author: Dezirea Contreras
Date: 5/22/23
Notes for teachers
Each student will get the chance to “grow” and name their chick.
Each student will color and add eyes to their chick. They can get as creative as time allows.
They will label chick names to keep track.
The eggs will be reusable and the students will be able to take home their cotton ball chick at the end.
*If however you do get the chance to have chicks in class even for a day the kids will enjoy it more than you know.
List of Materials
Standards
Solve problems involving measurement. 3.MD.A.2
*How much Water does a chick need to be left for weekend feeds? Volume
Represent and interpret data.3.MD.B.4
*Measure chicken growth, they grow very fast!!
3.MD.C�Geometric measurement: Understand concepts of area and perimeter.
*Plan and Measure the area the chickens need to live and thrive
3.MP.4 MODEL WITH MATHEMATICS
Design a chicken coup/Habitat (groups students up to design the ideal space)
Current Arizona Science Standard
3.L2U1.8 Construct an argument from evidence that organisms are interdependent.
Standards
Concept 1: Observations, Questions, and Hypotheses
PO 1. Formulate relevant questions about the properties of objects, organisms, and events of the environment using observations and prior knowledge.
(See M03-S2C1-01)�PO 2. Predict the results of an investigation based on observed patterns, not random guessing.
Concept 2: Scientific Testing (Investigating and Modeling)
PO 1. Demonstrate safe behavior and appropriate procedures (e.g., use of instruments, materials, organisms) in all science inquiry.
PO 2. Plan a simple investigation (e.g., one plant receives adequate water, one receives too much water, and one receives too little water) based on the formulated questions.
PO 3. Conduct simple investigations (e.g., related to plant life cycles, changing the pitch of a sound, properties of rocks) in life, physical, and Earth and space sciences.
PO 4. Use metric and U.S. customary units to measure objects. (See M03-S4C4-04)
PO 5. Record data in an organized and appropriate format (e.g., t-chart, table, list, written log). (See W03-S3C2-01 and W03-S3C3-01)
Concept 3: Analysis and Conclusions
Objective(s):
Week 1: Plan a habitat for baby chicks to live, research what is ideal; water, food, shelter.
Week 2: In groups of 3, In Paper construct a mock habitat, plan to share with class.
Week 3: Create and name baby Chicks, discuss what would be needed for survival i.e. if it’s Hot? Cold?
Week 4: As chicks “grow” what would they look like, how big are they? Computer labs or library books are great for visual aid and growth information. Keep track on graphs or tables.
Agenda (4 weeks x 1 hour)
This lesson will be completed over a 4 week time frame. Working about 30 minutes to an hour a day. Science and Math are included so you can spend more or less time here as needed.
If measuring and graphing it should take a few minutes in the morning, however you plan to sequence the day.
After a week they were ugly and cute fluffy feathers were replaced by larger feathers uneven feathers. Within 4 months our chickens began to look like adults. They actually begin to lay eggs after about 6-8 months.
The feather color changes as well.The yellow chick is now white as snow. The black chick is now a dark black colorshift teal.
Intro/Driving Question/Opening
What would it take to raise a Chick from a baby, to an egg laying Hen?
let’s talk about what they need to survive…
List ideas students come up with. Dive further into their answers, guide as needed on survival needs.
Hands-on Activity Instructions
Fluff cotton and glue together to form a chick glue eyes and let dry. Add feet and or beak
While the glue dries think of a name for your chick and on your piece of tape write the name.
Assessment
Utilize the habitat formation as a tool for assessment. In their groups as they come up with designs. The measurements need to be realistic to hold up to 6 chickens (one side can’t be 6ft and other side 6.5 ft etc…livable space, place for nests)
What are problems they can run into?
How can chickens survive with food and water if they go on vacation. (volume of food and water containers needed)
How does the hypothesis compare to what happened? For example, we started with 7 chicks, we ended up with 6 what could have happened to have changed this number?
Differentiation
This lesson was completed with a range of students from 1st-7th.
Older students can talk more in depth about what it takes for chickens to produce eggs. Like diet, and age.
We ran into problems that the older kids solved through experiment. ex; the chickens kept getting into the garden so they designed a fence to go around to help keep them out.
Ultimately we decided to keep them cooped up because they still got into the garden.
One thing is for sure, they all enjoyed chicken snuggles.
Remediation
Extension/Enrichment
Since you are working with fake chicks, maybe throw some realistic problems at the students. They would draw a problem out of a hat and have to work to solve it. (Isn’t growing, has a cut on its foot, it died, chick got out- has to find it in class etc…)
We ended up building a coupe together as a class. The kids shared responsibilities.
As an alternative the students can build a coup out of popsicles sticks. Either individually or as a group.
Words that are NEW can be vocabulary words that they need to know definitions for.