Leapin' Frogs

by Cindy, Heidi, Norma, and Brilla

Welcome to Frog Features! You and your friends are apprentice frogologists. You have discovered a new frog never seen before by humankind. Your job is to study your frog's anatomy and make a Multimedia  presentation to the Frog Anatomy Academy (your peers). What makes your frog a frog? First you will study the frog itself, then make comparisons to existing frog. You and your frogologist colleagues will create a Multimedia presentation of your findings.

You and your friends will complete the following tasks:

• Read three to five books about frogs. http://www.frogsonice.com/froggy/tales.shtml

http://flickit.com/books.html

• Identify basic characteristics of frogs ( e.g. size, body shape,  and coloration).
•  http://www.frogsonice.com/froggy/photos/detzoo1/

• Decide what your new frog will look like.
• Choose a scientific name for your frog based on its characteristics. http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/nature/wild/amphibia/key/rana06.htm
• Create a media presentation project including: a title, a labeled illustration of your frog and, a written description of your frog.
• Present your Media presentation project to the class.

Some of the places you can visit to get your information include:

• Examples and characteristics of frog species- http://cgee.hamline.edu/frogs/science/faq1.html#anatomy
• Frog Dissection- http://members.tripod.com/~NachFamily/Joe
• Frog evolution – Growing Frogs by Vivian French

1. Find partners for this project. (Student #1= Dart Frog, Student #2= Bull Frog, Student #3= Houston Frog, and Student #4= Tree Frog)
2. Using the first link above (the words in blue), pick one frog from the pop-up menu.
3. Investigate the characteristics of the frog you chose.
4. Fill out the "Frog Characteristics" activity sheet with your partner.
5. Repeat steps 2, 3 and 4 to complete the activity sheet.

1. Decide what your new frog will look like and make a drawing of it. Suggestion: take one of the frogs you studied in task one and just change one characteristic. (This can be done in the classroom away from the computer.)
2. Label your frog with its new scientific name.

With your partners, begin your Multimedia presentation. You will need three cards total:

1.      card 1: title, authors.

2.      card 2: a written description of your new frog.

3.      card 3: draw a picture of your frog using a Multimedia presentation.

Your teacher will arrange a time for you and your partners to present your Multimedia presentation. Decide who will present which part, for example:

"Dart Frog" presents the first card (title, author, frog).
"Bull Frog" presents the second card (description of your new frog).
"Houston Frog" presents the third card ( a Multimedia picture of your frog).
"Tree Frog" concludes the presentation with his or her opinion of the project.

The authors of Frog Features would like to see what you liked and what you didn't like about this unit. Then they can make it more interesting for other students.

Complete the Student Assessment Form.

Print a copy of it and give it to your teacher.

You will be graded by your peers and your teacher at the end of the project. After you and your partners present your frog project, your peers and your teacher will fill out a Rubric (like a report card) so you know what grade you earned. You will be graded on the following three areas:

1. Your Multimedia project has three complete cards.
2. Your oral presentation is clear (posture, diction, projection and speed).
3. Your project is completed on time.

After completing this project, you can call yourself a true frogologist. Now you know a lot about frogs anatomy! If you want to tell the authors what they can do to make this unit more interesting for the next students, click on one of their names up at the top of this page.

http://www.countryclipart.com/