Frog tales
Year level: P–2
L17 – Where do frogs lay their eggs? Copyright Education Services Australia Ltd.
About the unit
Unit description
Students investigate frogs by examining a collection of fiction and non-fiction resources and
creating a class anthology of frog stories.
Knowledge, understandings, skills, values
•
Students examine the differences between fiction and non-fiction books.
•
Students use adjectives and adverbs to describe frogs.
•
Students publish their own fiction book.
•
Students publish a non-fiction class anthology about frogs.
Focus questions
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What is the difference between the sort of information that tends to be available from fiction
and non-fiction books?
•
How can adjectives and adverbs add meaning to a story?
•
What is a frog?
© Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010, except where indicated otherwise
Frog tales
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Resources
The Le@rning Federation digital curriculum resources
L17 Where do frogs lay their eggs?
L8740 Wonderful words, creative stories: pets
L9493 Story map: Muddled up!
R6755 ‘Lift Off' – Upwardly mobile frogs
Internet sites
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Images of amphibians in the Murray-Darling Basin: http://images.mdba.gov.au/
Software
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Microsoft PowerPoint
Print
Fiction books
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The Wide Mouthed Frog – A Pop-up Book, Keith Faulker and Jonathan Lambert, Penguin,
1996
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The Icky Sticky Frog, Dawn Bentley and Salma Yoon, Dalmation Publishing Group, 2003
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Tiddalick the Frog, Susan Nunes and Ju-Hong Chen, Simon and Schuster, 1991
•
The Frog Prince (retold), Jan Ormerod and David Lloyd, Walker, 2002
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A Frog in the Bog, Karma Wilson and Joan Rankin, Simon and Schuster, 2007
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Lester and Clyde, James H Reece, Ashton Scholastic, 1976
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A Frog Thing, Eric Drachman and James Muscarello, Kidwick Books, 2006
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Jump, Frog, Jump, Robert Kalan and Byron Barton, Harper Collins, 1989
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The Teeny Weeny Tadpole, Sheridan Cain and Jack Tickle, ME Media, 2005
Non-fiction books
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From Tadpole to Frog, David Stewart and Carolyn Scrace, Children’s Press, 1998
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Frogs – See How They Grow, Kim Taylor and Jane Burton, Dorling Kindersley, 1998
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Spotted Grass Frog, Greg Pyers, Echidna Books, 2004
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Frogs and Tadpoles of Australia, Marion Anstis, Young Reed, 2007
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Amazing Frogs and Toads, Barry Clarke and Jerry Young, Random House, 1990
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From Tadpole to Frog, Wendy Pfeffer and Holly Keller, Harper Collins, 1994
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Tale of a Tadpole, Karen Wallace, DK Publishing, 1998
© Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010, except where indicated otherwise
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Frogs Sing Songs, Yvonne Winer and Tony Oliver, Margaret Hamilton Books, 2002
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First Field Guide to Australian Frog and Reptiles, S Parish, Steve Parish Publishing, 1997
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Amazing Facts About Australian Frogs and Reptiles, P Slater and S Parish, Steve Parish
Publishing, 1997
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Australian Frogs, C MacLulich, Scholastic Australia, 1996
Attached printable resources
The following teacher-created learning resources referred to in the Unit of work are
available for you to modify, print and use in your own teaching and learning context:
•
What I know about frogs (page 7)
•
Frog songs (page 8)
© Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010, except where indicated otherwise
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Teaching the unit
Setting the scene
Resources
•
What I know about frogs (page 7)
•
Frog songs (page 8)
•
Fiction and non-fiction books on frogs (see Resources list)
•
L17 Where do frogs lay their eggs?
•
Frogs of the Murray-Darling Basin poster: http://www.mdba.gov.au
Teaching and learning activities
In the past, frogs were given a bad reputation in stories. They have been described as slimy
creatures living in dark, creepy places and good ingredients for witches’ spells. Read a selection
of fiction stories that depict frog characters and create a list of good and bad characters.
Compare frogs in modern and historical fiction.
Present non-fiction books and poster to students for exploring and investigating. List the
common characteristics of frogs.
~
As a class, discuss the differences between the information presented about frogs in the fiction
and non-fiction books.
Complete L17 Where do frogs lay their eggs? Begin a vocabulary chart about frogs, listing
words such as ‘habitat’, ‘tadpole’, ‘amphibians’, ‘spawn’, ‘froglet’, etc.
Sing frog songs.
Assessment
Students draw and write what they know about frogs on the attached handout. Assess their
efforts.
Investigating
Resources
•
L8740 Wonderful words, creative stories: pets
•
R6755 ‘Lift Off’ – Upwardly mobile frogs
•
Frogs Sing Songs, Yvonne Winer and Tony Oliver, Margaret Hamilton Books, 2002
•
First Field Guide to Australian Frog and Reptiles, S Parish, Steve Parish Publishing, 1997
•
Amazing Facts About Australian Frogs and Reptiles, P Slater and S Parish, Steve Parish
Publishing, 1997
•
Lester and Clyde, James H Reece, Scholastic, 1976
© Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010, except where indicated otherwise
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Teaching and learning activities
Experiment with creative story writing using L8740 Wonderful words, creative stories: pets.
As a class, brainstorm a list of ‘interesting’ descriptive words (adjectives and adverbs) that could
be used to describe frogs.
~
Write a creative frog story incorporating words from the class frog vocabulary chart and
descriptive words.
Using the book Frogs Sing Songs or a field guide on frogs, have students draw their favourite
frog. Scan each picture and have students write an interesting sentence or fact to match their
frog drawing. Use each scanned page to create a PowerPoint or photo story on frogs.
~
Watch R6755 ‘Lift Off’ – Upwardly mobile frogs.
Read Lester and Clyde. Have students write a story about the life of a frog.
Assessment
Write three interesting things you have learnt about frogs. Share your findings with the class.
Assess students’ creative frog stories.
Bringing it all together
Resources
•
Spotted Grass Frog by Greg Pyers
•
L9493 Story map: Muddled up!
Teaching and learning activities
Look at the learning object L9493 Story map: Muddled up! to identify different elements that
belong on a book cover. Students design a cover for their own fiction story about frogs and
present it to the class.
~
Read Spotted Grass Frog by Greg Pyers or a similar text. Model making notes or a fact file (a
collection of gathered data) based on information found in the text. Students create a fact file
about frogs.
Using the information gathered for the fact file, students write an information report on a species
of frog or toad.
~
Create a non-fiction class anthology from the students’ frog information reports and present it to
other grades.
Assessment
Assess students’ frog information reports.
© Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010, except where indicated otherwise
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Writer: Antonina Fieni
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•
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© Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010, except where indicated otherwise
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What I know about frogs
Name
Class
Date
© Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010, except where indicated otherwise
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Frog songs
Five Little Speckled Frogs
Five little speckled frogs,
Sitting on a speckled log,
Eating the most delicious bugs,
Yum, yum.
One jumped into the pool,
Where it was nice and cool,
Then there were four little speckled frogs.
(Repeat, working your way down to one.)
One little speckled frog sitting,
Sitting on a speckled log,
Eating the most delicious bugs,
Yum, yum.
He jumped into the pool,
Where it was nice and cool,
Then there were no little speckled frogs.
Da Gloomp
Da Gloomp went the little green frog one day,
Da Gloomp went the little green frog,
Da Gloomp went the little green frog one day,
And they all went gloomp, gloomp, gloomp.
But!
We all know frogs go,
Lahdeedahdeedah!
Lahdeedahdeedah!
We all know frogs go,
Lahdeedahdeedah!
They don’t go gloomp, gloomp, gloomp.
Five Little Tadpoles
Five little tadpoles swimming near the shore.
The first one said, ‘Let’s swim some more.’
The second one said, ‘Let’s rest awhile.’
The third one said, ‘Swimming makes me smile.’
The fourth one said, ‘My legs are growing long.’
The fifth one said, ‘I’m getting very strong.’
Five little tadpoles will soon be frogs.
They’ll jump from the water and sit on logs.
© Education Services Australia Ltd, 2010, except where indicated otherwise
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