Hop into Frog Life Cycles

I found another creative use for the Brown Bag Books I posted about a couple of weeks ago. We all had a million ideas on how to use them, and I loved them all. Here is another one I came up with and had to share. My third graders spent two days studying frog life cycles. We had done all the basic lead-ups... watched a video, read in the textbook, observed a live tadpole, and took notes in their science journals.

As a creative assessment of their frog life cycle knowledge (and a way for me to work in more writing), I had them use the Brown Bag Books for a science writing activity. The instructions were to tell the story of the frog cycle from the perspective of the frog. In other words, pretend they were a frog and telling their life story to a child. They got to wear their perspectacles (again from a previous Sub Hub post), and I set the mood by playing Kermit singing "It's Not Easy Being Green" (which is an amazingly calm song in a classroom, by the way).

The stories went on the pages of the Brown Bag Books, and the life cycle explanations went on the index cards tucked into the pockets. The students had fun showing their learning, and I loved the creative results!