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!

Brown Bag Books... Endless Possibilities

I promised some sharing from the professional development I went to on Friday. Here is one idea I was particularly inspired by... brown bag books. They are made from regular brown paper lunch sacks and some index cards. And the possibilities of their uses are endless. Since my class is studying the wetlands, and inferencing is a skill that students always need practice with, I thought about combining the two. I will be having my students create Wetland Animal Inference Riddles. They will write the clues on the brown bag page, and the answer goes on the index card that slips into the openings of the bag. Here are the directions:

1) Cut off the bottoms of 2 or 3 lunch bags so there are openings at both ends.

2) Stack the bags on top of each other and fold in half. Secure the binding with staples or punch holes and tie the bags together.

3) Slide index cards into each pocket.

4) Write and decorate the book with whatever skill or theme you'd like.

 

I thought they could be used for moon phases, vocabulary, synonyms, antonyms, math story problems, etc. What else can you think of using them for?