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Overview: After the children predict what the book The Wide-Mouthed Frog is about and the teacher reads it to the children, the children will describe what the frog eats, identify predators and the prey, and construct a model of a frog's tongue catching a make-believe fly.
Booklink: The Wide-Mouthed Frog by Keith Faulkner, Dial Books for Young Readers, 1996. ISBN 0-8037-1875-6
Science Activity Link: Using Velcro, children construct model frog's tongues and flies, to simulate, predict, and count the number of flies caught by the frog.
Objective: Children will use models to describe and infer animal characteristics, food acquisition, predator-prey relationships, and energy flow in a food chain.
Science Processes and Content: Processes-observing, predicting, inferring, measuring, constructing models, gathering data and displaying data, and communicating. Content-characteristics of organisms, food preferences, form and function, predator-prey relationships, animal adaptations, and energy flow in a food chain.
National Science Education Standards: Unifying Concepts and Processes, (1) Science as Inquiry, (3) Life Science, (5) Science and Technology
Materials: Book The Wide-Mouthed Frog, book Old Black Fly, Velcro, soda straws, chenille strips or pipe cleaners, string, scissors
Procedure:
1. Begin by displaying the cover of the book, The Wide-Mouthed Frog, asking the children to predict what the book is about. Discuss their ideas.
2. Now read the book and ask the children what animals the frog eats. You may wish to have the children record their ideas on a chart or table.
3. Discuss and identify the frog as a predator and what the frog eats as the prey. Energy goes from the prey (the fly as food) into the predator, the frog. Discuss the frog's tongue and how it is adapted for catching food. (It is attached in the front, flips out, and is sticky).
4. Distribute materials for having the children construct and model a frog's tongue and a fly. First construct the make-believe fly. You will need 2 Velcro squares (the fuzzy part) each about 15 mm square, ½ pipe cleaner or chenille strip, and one piece of string 30-40 cm long. Fold the chenille strip into the shape of a figure 8. Remove the backing from the Velcro to expose the sticky part, then attach the chenille to it so the Velcro square is in the middle of the 8 . Attach one end of the string to the sticky part of the square. Now attach the other Velcro square over the first square, with the chenille and string between, like a sandwich. Have the children hold up the fly by the opposite end of the string. Have them set the fly aside for a few moments.
5. Now have the children construct the frog tongue. Have them cut a Velcro rectangle (the bristly part) about 30 mm long, take the backing off the Velcro, and attach this piece to the end of the soda straw. Have the children practice with the frog tongue by holding the end of the straw opposite the Velcro and with the other hand, bend the straw back 5 to 10 cm, releasing the straw with a "flick." This motion mimics a real frog's tongue, which is attached near the front of its mouth and flips out to catch insect prey.
6. While one child holds the fly, or moves it about, another child "flicks" the tongue at the fly. After a bit of practice, have the 'frog child' take 10 turns flicking at the fly, counting the number of catches. Then have them switch, so the other child gets 10 turns. Discuss the results. Remind the children that a frog's tongue is adapted for catching insects but that it, like they, do not always successfully catch a fly with every try.
7. An interesting ending for this lesson is to read to the children the humorous alphabet book, Old Black Fly, after first having the children predict what it's about.
Related Books:
Old Black Fly by Jim Aylesworth, Henry Holt and Company, 1992. ISBN 0-8050-3924-2
A Most Unusual Lunch by Robert Bender, Dial Books for Young Readers, 1994. ISBN 0803717113
Blue Sea by Robert Kalan, Mulberry books, 1979. ISBN 0-688-11509-8
Toad by Ruth Brown, Puffin Books, 1996. ISBN 0-14-056550-7
Frog's Day by Catherine James, Harcourt Brace. ISBN 0-15-306730-6
It's a Frog's Life by Steve Parker, Reader's Digest Children's Books, 1999. ISBN 1-57584-250-5
It's Mine! by Leo Lionni, Dragonfly Books, 1986. ISBN 0-679-88084-4
The Icky Sticky Frog by Dawn Bentley, Piggy Toes Press, 2000. ISBN 1-58117-042-4
A Fly Went By by Mike McClintock, Beginner Books, 1958. ISBN 0-394-80003-6
Once There Was a Bull…(Frog) by Rick Walton, The Putnam and Grosset Group, 1995. ISBN 0-698-11607-0
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