LibGuides: Educator Guide: Amazing Amphibians: Amazing Amphibians Educator Guide

Amazing Amphibians

Tips to Come Prepared

Before you visit the Genovesi Environmental Study Center (GESC) with your class, review the Educator's Guide to prepare for your students.

Read the Essential Questions (p. 1) and Connections to Standards (p. 2) to decide how you want to link your curriculum with your field trip
Complete the Pre-Visit Lesson with your class activating student interest and engagement
Come to GESC ready to engage and learn with our experiential, hands-on field trip program, Amazing Amphibians

Library Finds

The Salamander Room by Anne Mazer; Steve Johnson; Lou Fancher A boy finds a salamander in the woods and imagines the many things he can do to turn his room into a perfect salamander home. Together, Anne Mazer and Steve Johnson have created a woodland paradise that any salamander would love to share with a child.
All About Frogs by Jim Arnosky A thorough and colorful introduction to frogs by renowned naturalist Jim Arnosky. From tadpole to frog, Jim Arnosky shows and tells kids how frogs grow and live. Big bullfrogs and tiny spring peepers, vivid tropical frogs and bronze swamp frogs spring from the pages of the book. Kids will learn why frogs can jump so far, what they eat and what eats them, the correct way to handle a frog, and how to recognize frogs by the sounds they make. And there is some information about toads, too! This is the seventh book in the aaclaimed All About series. It will appeal to every young naturalist.
About Amphibians by John Sill; Cathryn Sill This beginner?s guide offers a first glimpse into the natural world of amphibians. In this addition to the acclaimed About? series, educator and author Cathryn Sill uses simple, easy-to-understand language to teach children what amphibians are, how they look, how they move, what they eat, and where they live. With beautifully detailed, realistic paintings, noted wildlife illustrator John Sill introduces readers to a variety of amphibians, from frogs and toads to salamanders and more. An afterword provides details on the animals featured and inspires readers to learn more.
Red-Eyed Tree Frog by Joy Cowley; Nic Bishop (Illustrator, Photographer) Let the Scholastic Bookshelf be your guide through the whole range of your child's experiences: laugh with them, learn with them, read with them! Sixteen bestselling titles available now! Category: Nature In a tropical rain forest in Central America, a red-eyed tree frog spends the night looking for food while avoiding potential predators. Award-winning photographer Nic Bishop's larger-than-life, gorgeous images document the hunt, which ends happily with the frog settling down in the leaves to spend his daylight hours sleeping! Joy Cowley's simple, readable text makes the frog's story fun, interesting, and accessible to young readers. This is a nature tale like you've never seen before!
Why Frogs Are Wet by Judy Hawes; Mary Ann Fraser (Illustrator) Frogs Frogs can jump thirty times their own body length, catch insects on the wing, and breathe underwater or on land. But they must always keep their skins wet. Read and find out why!
How to Hide a Meadow Frog and Other Amphibians by Ruth Heller Go on a fascinating nature hunt to find all kinds of camouflaged amphibians--frogs, toads, and salamanders--hiding in the brilliantly-painted pages of this book.
From Tadpole to Frog by Wendy Pfeffer; Holly Keller Female frogs lay eggs in the water, but what hatches isn't a frog yet--it's a tadpole! This classic Level 1 Let's-Read-and-Find-Out picture book shows the incredible metamorphosis that occurs as a tadpole loses its fishy tail and gills and becomes a frog. Now rebranded with a new cover look, this book includes a find out more section with an illustrated guide to identify different frog species and a map showing where bull frogs can be found throughout the United States. Both text and artwork were vetted for accuracy by Dr. Edmund Stiles, formerly professor of Biological Science at Rutgers University, and Dr. Valerie Chase, formerly of the National Aquarium in Baltimore. This is a Level 1 Let's-Read-and-Find-Out, which means the book explores introductory concepts perfect for children in the primary grades and supports the Common Core Learning Standards and Next Generation Science Standards. Let's-Read-and-Find-Out is the winner of the American Association for the Advancement of Science/Subaru Science Books & Films Prize for Outstanding Science Series.

Essential Questions

How are frogs and toads alike and different?
How are amphibians adapted to their environment?
How are amphibians helpful to their ecosystem and people?
Why do scientists study amphibians?

Our Educator Guide

Amazing Amphibian Educator Guide

Sora eBooks

Access these free ebooks by signing in to the Sora app with your NYC DOE credentials.

Frogs by Christina Moore (Narrated by); Gail Gibbons "Christina Moore uses her talent for storytelling to create a more narrative-like tale....An attractive offering for listening centers and for young children interested in nature and science." -School Library Journal
Becoming a Frog by Grace Hansen Becoming a Frogcovers each stage in a frog's metamorphosis from a tiny egg to an adult. Carefully chosen photographs accompany the copy, so readers can see and understand a frog's amazing transformation clearly.Aligned to Common Core Standards and correlated to state standards. Abdo Kids is a division of ABDO.
Frog or Toad? by Melissa Stewart One has wet skin. The other is dry and bumpy. One is thin and lean and the other is fat and round. One is a frog and one is a toad. Do you know which animal is which? Author Melissa Stewart guides readers through the many differences between frogs and toads. The simple text and stunning photographs will engage and delight young readers as they increase critical thinking skills and learn about these special animals.
The Frog Book by Steve Jenkins; Robin Page Caldecott Honor-winning team Steve Jenkins and Robin Page explore form, color, and pattern, and capture the very unique nature of frogs in this brilliantly illustrated picture book. Perfect for fans of The Beetle Book,and young readers looking for nonfiction about this perennially fascinating animal. Long legs, sticky tongues, big round eyes, and other dazzling features--what's not to love about frogs?  In this magnificently illustrated picture book, Caldecott Honor-winning team Steve Jenkins and Robin Page explore one of the world's most diverse--and most threatened--animals. With more than 5,000 different frog species on the planet, in every color of the rainbow and a vast number of vivid patterns, no creatures are more fascinating to learn aboutorlook at. Jenkins and Page present a stunning array of these intriguing amphibians and the many amazing adaptations they have made to survive.

Amazing Amphibians

Materials for Pre-Visit Lesson

Grow Cards

Materials for Post-Visit Lesson

Frog Poetry Worksheet

Fun Amphibian Facts

The largest frog in the world is the goliath frog of West Africa growing up to 38 centimeters (15 inches) and weighing up to three kilograms (seven pounds)!
Scientists believe the world’s smallest frog is the Paedophryne amauensis coming in at only seven millimeters (0.27 inches) long!
There are over 6,000 frog species on Earth.
Many frogs can leap more than 20 times their body length by using their long hind legs.
Frogs don’t need to drink water because they absorb it through their skin.
Spanish Ribbed Newts went to space!
Toads are usually nocturnal and bury themselves in the dirt during the day.
The skin of a toad has a bitter taste and a smell of something similar to a skunk.
Some salamanders and frogs can have tongues up to ten times as long as them.
The largest amphibian is the Chinese Giant Salamander, which grows up to 1.8 meters (5.9 feet) long.

Connections to Standards

NEW YORK CITY
K-8 SCIENCE SCOPE AND SEQUENCE
Kindergarten: Unit 3: Animals
Grade 1: Unit 1: Animal Diversity
Grade 2: Unit 2: Plant Diversity

NEW YORK STATE P-12 SCIENCE LEARNING STANDARDS
Kindergarten
K-LS1-1. Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive.
K-ESS2-2. Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants and animals (including humans) can change the environment to meet their needs.
K-ESS3-1. Use a model to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants or animals (including humans) and the places they live.
K-ESS3-3. Communicate solutions that will reduce the impact of humans on living organisms and non-living things in the local environment.

First Grade
1-LS1-1. Use materials to design a solution to a human problem by mimicking how plants and/or animals use their external parts to help them survive, grow, and meet their needs.
1-LS1-2. Read texts and use media to determine patterns in behavior of parents and offspring that help offspring survive.
1-LS3-1. Make observations to construct an evidence-based account that some young plants and animals are similar to, but not exactly like, their parents.

Second Grade
2-LS2-2. Develop a simple model that illustrates how plants and animals depend on each other for survival.
2-LS4-1. Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.