Cindy Crawford & Melanie Camillieri

Professor Raker

Computers in Education

December 12, 2011

It’s A Frog’s Life

Unit Topic: Environmental Biology

Grade: Fourth Grade

Lesson Theme: Frog Life Cycle

Lesson Objectives: The students will familiarize themselves with the stages in a frog’s life cycle through completing the series of investigations on our question and answer website. Upon completion of the interactive questionnaire, students will be able to correctly label the stages of a frog’s life cycle on the diagram (attached), and will be able to define amphibian in their own words.

Instructional Technique: Students will complete both the online and worksheet portions of this activity independently.

Instructional Materials:

Question and Answer Website

Frog Life Cycle Handout

Theoretical Perspective: It is important for students to understand different aspects of the world we live in. The study of animals and their life cycles is valuable to students, because it allows them to learn about uncommon species of living things that aren’t apart of their daily environment. This activity will also help students make connections to any prior knowledge about animal life cycles, and to understand that the stages of life cycles vary for different animals.

Procedure

A.) We will begin the lesson with a class discussion about animals and their life cycles. As a class, students will help the teacher group different animals into class categories; (Reptiles, Amphibians, Mammals, Fish, Birds, and Anthropods). Together, we will write definitions for each of the animal classes before turning the discussion to focus on frogs and other amphibians.

B.) Outline

After the introductory discussion, students will go to the computers to complete the question and answer activity “It’s a Frog’s Life” individually.

Once students have finished all seven questions they will be given the blank map of frog’s life cycle where they will label each stage using the appropriate vocabulary terms seen in the question and answer activity.

After each student has turned in their own worksheet, we will reproduce the diagram as a class so that students may ask questions and clarify any misunderstandings.

C.) In the wrap – up discussion we will list the five stages of a frog’s life cycle, and make class definitions for each one. The worksheets students completed individually will be checked for completion, corrected and returned.

D.) Students will be working individually on the questions and answer activity, but the teacher will be available if anyone encounters difficulty. If the question and answer activity was not enough for students to fully understand the vocabulary necessary to complete the life cycle map, struggling students will be given a separate sheet with a word bank, and any extra help necessary to complete the worksheet. After each student has completed the sheet individually we will reproduce the map as a class to reinforce the vocabulary and clarify any misunderstandings.

Evaluation

A.) As a result of this lesson, the students will be familiar with the stages in a frog’s life cycle, correctly label the stages with appropriate vocabulary on the diagram and will be able to define amphibian in their own words. Students will demonstrate their knowledge of a frog’s life cycle through completing the map worksheet which we will collect and use as a basis for evaluation. The students will have the opportunity to share what they have learned in the class discussion after completing the question and answer activity.

B.) Not all students will have the same background knowledge of animals and their life cycles. Some students may need a more in depth introductory discussion in order to reach the same understanding as their classmates after the activity.