CEClang.44


TITLE:    Frog and Toad

AUTHOR:   Jonna Epps, Moss-Washoe County School District,
          Reno, Nevada  (ICE)

GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT:     A Mini-Unit for 2nd grade GT

OVERVIEW:  Adapted from a unit written by Marcella Embry,
Washoe County School District, Reno, Nevada.  Adventures
with Frog and Toad

Based on Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad are Friends.  These
activities have been designed around the story "A Lost
Button".

PURPOSE:  The stories in this book Frog and Toad are Friends
by Arnold Lobel and these activities allow for creative
thinking and writing, reading and analysis of characters,
affective education, mathematics beyond computation,
inventing, geography, biological science and development of
research skills.

OBJECTIVE(s):
1.   Students will learn vocabulary and use of words, set,
     attribute Venn diagram
2.   Students will learn to describe character attributes.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS:
buttons for sorting
Venn diagram sheets or central set of Venn diagrams.
Copy of Arnold Lobel's Frog and Toad Are Friends
(See Overview for other materials needed.)

ACTIVITIES:
1.   The teacher begins reading aloud the story of "A Lost
     Button".  Stop in the middle of page 30 and give each
     group of students a bag of buttons.  Tell them they are
     to help Toad look for his lost button.  It might be in
     their bag!
2.   Continue the story skipping page 30.  Read page 30
     after page 36.  Did anyone have Toad's button?  Discuss
     Toad's character after the story is finished.  What
     kind of person (animal) is Toad?  Is he a good friend?
     What about Frog? etc.
3.   Introduce the students to the terms set and attribute.
     Have them sort their buttons into different sets based
     on different attributes of the buttons (i.e., number of
     holes, shape, size, color).
4.   Play "What's My Attribute?"  The teacher has a group of
     students with a common attribute (such as hair or shirt
     color) stand in the front of the room.  The other
     students try to determine the attribute the group has
     in common.  The student with the correct answer selects
     the next group of students and play continues.  This
     will now be a fun and fast thinking game.
5.   Introduce the students to Venn Diagrams.
     Use their buttons for the first several Venn Diagrams
     you do (so they may quickly and concretely create the
     diagram).  Now that the students understand sets,
     attributes, and Venn diagrams, they may use them with
     other problem solving.