#1828. All About Frogs

Science, level: Elementary
Posted Thu Jun 29 08:45:05 PDT 2000 by Dina Hallow (ccjh@grove.iup.edu).
Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Indiana, Indiana County
Materials Required: Access to the Internet, the book Frog and Toad are Friends, Fantastic Frogs, access to a local pond
Activity Time: 5 days
Concepts Taught: Help students learn about the development of frogs, understand the basic needs of living things

Rationale

This is a mini unit of frogs. It introduces the life cycle of the frog. The terms amphibian, froglet, and
habitat will be introduced to the students. The main emphasis of this mini unit will be to help children
broaden their concepts of living things as they learn more about the development of frogs. In addition, to
help children develop an understanding of the basic needs of animals through the study and care of
tadpoles as they grow into frogs. The students will be participating in a number of various activities in
which they will actually raise some tadpoles into frogs in our classroom. The children will be keeping an
journal throughout the frogs developmental stages and also will be conducting a search using the Internet
on a specific frog.

Objectives

Day 1:

Objective: Following the power point presentation on frogs, grade 1 students will be able to draw and
label the life cycle of a frog with 100% accuracy.

Day 2:

Objective: Following the field trip to the pond, grade 1 students will be able to describe the habitat and
basic needs of tadpoles and frogs with 100% accuracy.

Day 3:

Objective: Following the research computer activity, grade 1 students will be able to describe how they
conducted the research on the Internet with 75% accuracy.

Day 4:

Objective: Following the review discussion, grade 1 students will be able to describe and list the important
characteristics of the specific frog with 75% accuracy.

Day 5:

Objective: Following the story Frog and Toad are Friends, grade 1 students will be able to list three
differences between a frog and a toad with 100% accuracy.

More specifically the learner will be able to :

List the different developmental stages of the life cycle of the frog
Will be able to recognize the differences between a frog and a toad
Will demonstrate the ability to responsibly care for tadpoles and frogs
Will responsibly keep an active journal of the developmental stages
Explain what a amphibian is

Lesson Activities

Day 1:

5 min: I will begin the lesson by asking the students some introduction questions about frogs.
-Does anyone know what a tadpole is?
-Has anyone seen one before?
-Does anyone know what a tadpole will turn into?
-Can anyone describe to me what a frog looks like or any characteristics of a frog?

Today we will be learning tadpoles, frogs, what a froglet is, what an amphibian is, the life cycle of a frog
and how to care for them in our classroom.

20 min: Power point presentation on tadpoles, froglets, and frogs. Pictures of the life cycle of a frog is
and different kinds of frogs. Also, how to care for a frog in the various stages of its development, what
are some differences between frogs and toads are, what an amphibian is, and various different kinds of
frogs that are in our world today.

15 min: Building an suitable aquarium to grow tadpoles into frogs in our classroom. Also, this time will be
spent teaching the children how to care for the frogs and the appropriate way to handle them. Let them
know that we will be going to a nearby pond tomorrow and have them dress in appropriate clothes for the
conditions.

5 min: wrap-up. Review with the students how they feel about frogs. What they hope to learn from the
experience and answer any questions that they might have.

Day 2:

10 min: Review the information that we discussed the previous day. Ask the students some questions
concerning going to the pond to make sure they are ready to go. Review the rules with them on how to
behave when we go on field trips and review how to work well in their groups. Hand out appropriate
supplies to the students.

40 min: Get the students to the pond. Demonstrate how to look and catch the tadpoles. Have students
split into their groups and observe what their behaviors are and how they are working together. Ask them
questions about what else they might observe in nature while looking for the tadpoles. When everyone
has successfully caught some tadpoles, gather them all together and have a small review session about
what they just had observed. Also, get some ideas from the students about what else they had discovered
and would like to learn more about, for future lessons.

15 min: Get the students back into the classroom and place the tadpoles in the aquarium. Review with
class what they will be observing in the weeks to come. Pass out frog journals to the students and explain
to them that they will be keeping a record of what they observe. They can use pictures or words to
describe what they observe. Give them time to start their journals with what happened in today's lesson.

Day 3:

10 min: You want to start the lesson by making sure that everyone knows how to conduct a search on the
computer using the Internet, if not, teach the ones who do not know how. Explain the activity to the
students and split them up into groups. Give each group a frog and a worksheet. On the worksheet will
be questions that the students must find on the Internet about their specific frog. Next you would want to
list helpful web sites on the chalk board of where the students might find the information. Have them
take turns in using the computer and writing the information down.

Group 1: Red eyed tree frog
Group 2: Bullfrog
Group 3: Dart Poison frog
Group 4: Green frog
Group 5: White's tree frog
Group 6: Goliath frog
Group 7: Glass Large Eyed frog

30 min: Have the students working with the computers and also any resource materials you might have on
frogs. Help students as needed with the computers. Have each group find a picture of there frog and
print it out. Give them enough time to finish the worksheet. When finished, have them gather all there
materials together in a way that they could present it to the class. They will be discussing their frogs with
the class tomorrow, if they need more time to prepare, they can finish with their research tomorrow.

10 min: Ask the students questions concerning their research. Ask the students if they had any problems
with the computers or finding out information. Then ask what they liked and disliked about working with
the computers. Then teach the students how to properly shut down a computer if they do not already
know how.

Day 4:

10 min: Observe any changes with the tadpoles. Have them write in their journals if there is any
changes. Ask the students if they are ready to present their frog to the class. If so, follow through with
the lesson. If not, give them another day to work on there research.

40 min: Have each group share with the class there frog. Have them give the class some characteristics of
there specific frog. Have the students show the picture of there frog to the class. Also, have the students
discuss the questions on the worksheet with the class. Then have the students ask if there are any
questions. Then have each group go until they are all finished.

10 min: Ask the class some questions about the different frogs. Ask them if they had realized that there
were so many different frogs out there. Then read to the class the book Fantastic Frogs. This will give
them an idea of some other frogs that we did not discuss in class. This book have a detailed picture of
different frogs and the students will be able to notice the different characteristics of the frogs.

Day 5:

10 min: Review the material from Day 4. Ask the students if they have any questions. If so, answer
them, if not, move on to today's topic.

20 min: Read the book Frog and Toad are Friends to the entire class. After reading the book discuss with
the class some differences between frogs and toads. Ask them specific questions pertaining to the book
and what their opinion is of the book. Then ask if anyone would like to share a story with the class about
their best friend and why they are the students best friend.

30 min: Wrap up the mini unit by giving each child a frog certificate. Have the students watch an eye
witness video about frogs and discuss what the saw after the educational video is over. Also remind the
students that there learning about frogs is just beginning because they will be keeping a record of there
observations over weeks to come.

Evaluation

1. Learner will complete daily projects with the class
2. Learner will complete picture and description journal upon completion of the developmental stages of
the frog
3. Learner will participate with their group on their research project and complete the worksheet