A tadpole is a baby frog!

Where do frogs come from?

 

 Children are very curious and want to learn about the world around them. They ask questions that we don't always want to answer like the classic, "Where do babies come from?" Wendy Pfeffer answers the question of "Where do frogs come from?" in her book From Tadpole to Frog. This book describes the amazing metamorphosis of a tadpole into a frog. The setting is at a frog pond and we see how the tadpoles change into frogs throughout the year. On a spring night you hear "Ba-ra-rooooom...ba-ra-roooooom...ba-ra-rooooom...." the male frogs are calling their mates. The female frog lays thousands of soft jelly-covered eggs in the pond. In about ten days the eggs hatch and the pond comes alive with thousands of tiny tadpoles. During the summer and fall the tadpoles are swimming and eating. When winter comes, they burrow under the mud at the bottom of the pond and sleep. Spring comes and wakes up the tadpoles. Tiny hind legs begin to sprout. The legs grow longer and stronger while the tail grows shorter. Tiny front legs begin to grow. All summer the tadpoles constantly change- lungs develop, mouths and eyes grow larger- until they become frogs. Now the tadpoles are frogs that can use their hind legs to swim and hop around on land. All frogs begin their lives as tadpoles but From Tadpole to Frog focuses on bullfrogs.The back of the book describes different kinds of frogs and has a map of where bullfrogs live throughout the United States.

From Tadpole to Frog is a great book to use in your classroom to introduce the frog life cycle. It correlates with the GPS standard S2L1.a Students will investigate the life cycles of different living organisms. Determine the sequence of the life cycle of common animals in your area: a mammal such as a cat or dog or classroom pet, a bird such as a chicken, an amphibian such as a frog, and an insect such as a butterfly, because the book explains the frog life cycle. Pfeffer's book introduces the basic science concept of the frog life cycle and builds on it using a step-by-step method.  From Tadpole to Frog explains how frogs begin their life in jelly-covered eggs, tadpoles hatch, tadpoles grow legs and lose its' fishy tail, and lungs develop. The tadpole has become a frog! The colorful illustrations are great for children to see the tadpole to frog process. From Tadpole to Frog is a stage 1 Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science book. We guarantee children will enjoy reading this book to learn about where frogs come from!