Teaching Heart's Froggy Books by Jack London Unit / Theme
Ideas, extensions, and printables to match FROGGY books

August 2008 - Updated
Special Thanks to the Teachers who shared ideas for this page!!!

Froggy books are loved by Kindergarten through Second Grade Students. It's very very difficult not like froggy. Those wide innocent eyes. That wide innocent mouth. He's the cutest frog. Looking for a good read aloud story? Just pick up the nearest Froggy book you can find and start reading it. Children react to Froggy's setbacks and mistakes with smiles and laughter. Most children can relate to a few of the Froggy books and make a text to self connections.

After reading your class a Froggy story of your choice; Make a list together of words that describe Froggy (silly, curious, absent-minded, etc)  

Froggy Goes to School

Froggy has a dream about his upcoming first day at school. He dreams he wears his pajamas to school. Froggy wakes up and realizes it was just a dream. This is a great read for Back To School Time!!!

To Introduce the book:

Have a stuffed frog placed somewhere near by (not too obvious). Have school supplies on the table. Ask the children where you might use these things for. Ask if they have ever seen a frog at school. See if anyone picks up on the frog you layed out. Tell the class, "Today our story is about Froggy and his first day at school. Listen to the story and try to think of how you and Froggy are similar."

Vocab:

Questions Before Reading or During:

Questions After Reading?

IDEA SHARED BY Nicole Farrar  nfarrar44@sbcglobal.net
*Gather your kiddos on the carpet on the first day of school and ask them what their expectiations and fears (or what makes them nervous) are as they start the school year. Being a 1st grade teacher, many kids say that they are afraid they will not be able to read, will miss their mom, or want to know when play time is!!  Talking about these things makes the children realize that many of their peers have the same feelings and fears as they do.  I then read Froggy Goes to School.  We talk about Froggy's fears and see if they relate to any said by the students.  I then give a small plastic fly (purchased at a party store) to each child.  I walk to each one with a mason jar in hand and have them state a fear (or something that made them nervous about starting school today).  As they state it to the class, they place their fly in the jar.  After each child has gone, I close the jar and tell them that it is my job to relieve these fears or make their nervous jitters "fly" away.  I explain my role to them (to make them feel safe, to help them grow and learn, to give them the tools they will need to be successful, etc.).  We discuss things they can do (or their job as I call it) if they have these fears or nervous feelings.  This always calms their jitters!  For instance, if a child said that they worried they wouldn't make any friends the students give heartfelt ideas on what that child can do.  I then turn them loose to
> color a frog picture at their table and continue getting to know their friends.  This also gives me the chance to walk around and get to know my new class.
>   
*This is an extension I am going to try this year...The last week of school I will reread the book and we will talk about things they feared on that first day of school and
> (hopefully!)laugh at all the fun they had and the wonderful things they learned about and did.  We will finish by making brochures about all the wonderful parts of 1st grade for the next years class.

More Great Links to Ideas:

Froggy's First Kiss

AN IDEAD SHARED BY: Susan Young/AL teachr4life@gmail.com
I like to use Froggy's First Kiss around Valentine's Day.  I read the book aloud to the kids and then we make a Froggy or Frogalina using hearts.  I have a finished product hanging on the board at the front of the room.  I also make one with them going step by step.  Each child gets two green 9x12 sheets of construction paper.  They fold one of them hot dog style and the other hamburger style.  Then they use each one to cut a heart.  One heart should be tall and skinny and the other should be short and fat.  Then, they
glue the short/fat one on top of the tall/skinny one with the top of the tall/skinny one being the frog's eyes.  The short/fat one will be the frog's cheeks.  I give each child a small black and white square that they cut TLC style to create the eyes and then draw the mouth on with a black marker. For the Frogalina's, there is an extra step.  I give the girl's strips of yellow construction paper and a pink square.  They take the yellow strips of paper and wrap them around their pencil to make them curly and then glue on.  Then, they use the pink square to make a bow to put in her hair. When they are finished, I tell them that I am going to give each child a "kiss" for Valentine's Day.  I put a heart sticker on each of the frog's cheeks as a "kiss".  This is not originally my idea.  I got it several years ago from somewhere on the internet.  I just added my own variation to it.

Froggy Bakes a Cake

Froggy Learns to Swim

Froggy Gets Dressed

After you read aloud Froggy Gets Dressed, discuss the importance of clothing and why we wear different types of clothing for different seasons. If you live in a warm climate, bring in examples of winter clothing: mittens, snow pants, jacket, scarf, boots, and hat. Then, ask your students to paint their winter wardrobe: help them trace their bodies on a large piece of paper; have them paint winter clothes on their outlined body; and finally, put on a fashion show, so each child could display his/her winter clothes.

Before you read: In what season does this story take place? How can you tell?

As you read: What do you think Froggy forgot to put on this time?

After you read: After you read aloud Froggy Gets Dressed, discuss the importance of clothing and why we wear different types of clothing for different seasons. If you live in a warm climate, bring in examples of winter clothing: mittens, snow pants, jacket, scarf, boots, and hat. Then, ask your students to paint their winter wardrobe: help them trace their bodies on a large piece of paper; have them paint winter clothes on their outlined body; and finally, put on a fashion show, so each child could display his/her winter clothes.

Some Activities to Match the Book:
- Draw a picture of Froggy in his winter clothes.
-List all the things Froggy had to put on to go outside.
-Write four sentences telling me what you know about frogs
Write about a time you went outside and played in the snow.

Questions to ask at the following pages:
PAGE 7 - What do you think Froggy will do?
PAGE 11 - What did Froggy forget?
PAGE 17 - What will his mother tell him next?

Froggy Plays Soccer

It's the day of the big game, and Froggy is ready. But when the ball heads his way, Froggy's busy doing cartwheels and picking daisies! Budding soccer players and Froggy's many fans will welcome his latest hilarious adventure. Full color.

To introduce the book, show the children a picture of a soccer ball. Ask them if they ever played soccer. Do they like it? Explain, "Today in our story Froggy has a big soccer game. Let's read and see who wins."

Activities for after you read:

- Draw a picture of Froggy and the soccer team.
- Think of an exciting game you've played. Write a short story about a time you have been on any team playing anything. Write about what happened. Who won?
-List all the characters in the story. Name which one is your favorite. Explain why. Draw a picture of that one.
- Pretend you are Froggy. Write at least three sentences about what you would have done while playing the game.

Froggy Plays In a Band

Froggy 's Baby Sister

Froggy Goes to Camp

IDEA SHARED BY: Cherylle in CA
For London's Froggy Goes to Camp, The Waterfall, and Dream Weaver, students could show how these books and the characters are alike.

Froggy Eats Out

IDEA SHARED BY: Cherylle in CA
This idea involves Froggy Eats Out and "The Rule" from Stories Huey Tells.  Students could do a compare/contrast activity and then compare/contrast with themselves.

Other Froggy Fun

Ga-goon went the little green frog one day.

Ga-goon went the little green frog.

Ga-goon went the little green frog one day.

And his eyes went blink, blink, blink.

IDEA SHARED BY: Denise
My classroom job chart is called Hoppy Helpers andI have the jobs written on lily pads. Each child has a frog with their name on it and I move them onto the lily pads every Monday. As part of my classroom management I have a large soft toy frog with a crown on his head. He's the King frog and his mouth has a zipper.When a child does something 'wonderful' they get to go to the King Frog and take a 'blessing' from his mouth. The blessings are cards with rewards written on them eg. sit next to a friend, take off your shoes etc.

IDEA SHARED BY: Pat pstine2002@yahoo.com
Attach a drawing of a frog to a small ruler.  Make a number line on a long strip of paper.  I use adding machine tape for my number line from 0-30. (You may extend the number line for older students)I then show the students how to skip count by 2's on the number line by hopping the frog on every other number. 2, 4, 6, 8 etc. as the students count along with me. Once we have memorized the pattern for 2's, we count by 3's, 4's 5's etc.  The number line can also be used for addition and subtraction, odd and even numbers etc.

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