During week two of distance learning, 5th-grade students dissected chicken eggs and learned about all of the parts! This dissection connects to their study of animal evolution. During the late Paleozoic Era, about 300 million years ago, the animals that evolved from this amazing new amniotic egg were much better at adapting and surviving the harsh, dryland environments of the Permian Period. These animals were the world's first reptiles! Birds (including chickens) are all technically reptiles, too, so dissecting a chicken egg helps students look far into the past to ponder how having a hard shell around your egg might give your babies a survival advantage.