Haha! Well, it is first grade, so the math behind percentages is way above them. They are just leaning how to add and subtract double digits at this point. I work with sixth graders who have trouble with percentages (sadly). But, I did tell them that they need to lose 5% per week. I was thinking of getting a dollar's worth of nickels and taking away a nickel each week to give them the idea. We did weigh the eggs with grams as the unit, and I then weighed a crayon to give them a comparison. "A crayon weighs 5 grams, and this egg weighs 50 grams, so we would have to have 10 crayons to equal just one egg!" I actually wrote the weight on the eggs themselves so we won't have to worry about losing the paper with all the info. I figure every Friday I will re-weigh them to see how their weight loss is goin and write the new number next to the old. Have them do the subtraction to see how many grams were lost. Plus, draw the new aircell outline so that there is a visual representation of the loss.
I think I might track down one of those posters that show the day by day development of the chick. That way they can see what the chick is supposed to look like inside the shell, without actually cracking it open. Even as an adult I was fascinated by it, so I bet they would really love it, too.
