First the Egg




Author: Laura Vaccaro Seeger

Genre: Science/English Literature

Award: Caldecott Honor Book 2008,  Theodore Seuss Geisel Honor Award

Grade Levels: First Grade

Theme: Many transformations take place in our daily lives, but we are sometimes too busy to notice them. Chickens lay eggs on a farm, and they eventually turn into adult chickens. A seed is planted, and then eventually sprouts into a beautiful flower. In general, transformations are happening everyday and it is sometimes important to take notice of these drastic changes.

Quick Summary: Laura Vaccaro Seeger’s short story is about the everyday transformations we observe in everyday life. Although these transformations are very significant, we tend to take them for granted without actually observing how and why they happen. This is a book about transformations—from an egg to a chicken, from a seed to a flower, and from a caterpillar to a butterfly.

Pre-reading Strategies:

Discuss with the class the many changes that take place in everyday life. Inform them that the sun rises everyday and gets at its brightest point in the sky around the early afternoon, and then sets at night. Ask the students what other transformations they notice throughout the day. Talk about how an egg gets laid by a chicken and will hatch into a baby chicken in a matter of months. Discuss how the weather changes and how there are four seasons each year, causing a transformation with the clothes we wear.   

Post-Reading Strategies:

After the reading, the students will observe a seed being planted in a flowerpot which will be left by the window sill. Each day, the students will observe the seed and keep track of what they observed for that day. Each day, the students will take on a responsibility of watering the seed. This will help the students develop responsibility for watering the seed as well as keeping track of any visible observations that they observe. Eventually the seed will sprout into a beautiful flower and the students will see the transformation take place in front of their own very eyes.

Assessment: My little second graders will keep track each day of the growth of the plant and draw a quick sketch of what they see.

Reflection: Along with reading the book, the students will get to record scientific observations in their journals.

Seeger, Laura Vaccaro. (2007). First the Egg. New York: Roaring Book Press. Grades K-1.