Montessori Curriculum – Cultural & Language

Books choices for today:

What is an Amphibian?   Robert Snedden
Amphibians   Edward Maruska
About Amphibians   Cathryn Sill
Colors   Alvin Granowsky
Colors Everywhere   Tana Hoban

Zoology: (first circle)

Need for lesson – Pictures of amphibians, Parts of a Frog and if you have available, some tadpoles, or a real frog. Later on in the curriculum we talk about Biomes including ponds. Tadpoles can be purchased then and by the time Spring comes, they should be ready to released.

Zoology 12

Frogs, toads, and salamanders belong to the family of animals called amphibians. Amphibians lay eggs. Their eggs are soft and have no shell over them like a chicken egg does. The mother amphibian lays the eggs in the water so the soft eggs won’t dry out. Most amphibians are born in the water and they do not look like their mother. Does this tadpole look like it’s mother frog?

Tadpoles cannot see right after they hatch from the eggs and they cannot eat for a day or two. They stick to water plants. Since they are in the water, how do you think they breathe? They breathe through tiny gills, like fish. As the tadpoles starts to change, their little mouths form. They begin to eat and eat and grow and grow.

Day by day the tadpoles grow and change. Their heads get larger and the tails grow fat. They swim like fish until their legs start to appear. Amphibians go through this change after they are born. We call this change Metamorphosis.

Additional Works:

Frog Puzzle – Montessori Materials

Frog Sequence Cards – These I made from a book. I just colored them and made them into sequence cards.

Frog Sequence Stamps – I do not remember where I ordered these from. Children can stamp out the frog sequence across their paper.

Frog Counting – This is very old but still good. I used frog stickers and clothespins with numbers 1-6 on them.

Frog Sequence Puzzle

Art:

Frog Sponge Painting – These are just painted from a frog shaped sponge and black eyes added.

Frog Painting – These were frog shape cut outs from a craft store.

Songs:

Amphibians (from a teacher I worked with in California)
5 amphibians sitting in the sun
Can you name them one by one?
One for the tree frog peeping his song
Two for the leopard frog leaping along
Three for the bullfrog croaking “chug a rugs”
Four for the toad on the road catching bugs
Five for the giant salamander with a long tail
Quick! Can you catch them and put them in your pail?

Six Little Frogs
Six little frogs that I once knew
Green ones, red ones, brown ones too
But the one bullfrog with freckles on his throat
He ruled the others with a croak, croak, croak
Down to the blue pond they would go
Hop jump hop jump to and fro
But the one bullfrog with the freckles on his throat
He ruled them all with a croak croak croak

Science: (second circle)

Need for lesson – A book on colors and Color Mixing work. Younger children may enjoy Mouse Paint, but remember to mention it is a fictional story, that can help us learn about colors.

Science 19

We are going to talk about colors today. We have been learning how to say some colors in Spanish. There are so many beautiful colors everywhere all over the earth. What are some of your favorite colors?

Some colors are called primary colors. These colors are unique because when we mix them together they make different colors. The primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. Let’s take red and mix it with yellow. We get the color orange! What about if we try yellow with blue. Those two colors mixed together make green! Let’s mix blue and red – they make purple.

The colors that we made orange, green, and purple are called secondary colors. They are made from two other colors that are mixed together.

What are two kind of colors that we learned about? Primary and secondary.

Book on the Shelf:

Harold and the Purple Crayon – On a tray or basket, have little cut outs of Harold, small purple crayon shapes, paper, and purple crayons. Children can make a purple crayon picture.

Songs:

Primary Colors (tune – Twinkle Twinkle Little Star)
Primary, primary what are you?
I am red or yellow or blue
Primary, what can I do with you?
Mix us into colors that are new
Primary, primary what are you?
I am red or yellow or blue

Secondary
Secondary, secondary,
tell me what it means.
Secondary’s purple and it’s orange
and it’s green.

Song (CD) choices for today:

Colors   Hap Palmer
Parade of Colors   Hap Palmer
Colors   Frank Leto
Color Hoedown   Colors and Shapes – Macmillan
My Favorite Color   Colors and Shapes – Macmillan
Five Green Speckeld Frogs   Raffi
Pollywogs   Animals /  Macmillan