Class Pets

Our classroom pets arrived today!


We are so excited to watch these little tadpoles grow into frogs. We voted on their names today. The final decision was "Snowflake" and "Hopper". After counting the letters and comparing the words, we decided since Snowflake was the longer word, the bigger tadpole will be Snowflake. The smaller one will be Hopper. That's easy to remember!


The tadpoles have a small plastic water plant because they like to sit in the plant leaves or nibble at algae that sometimes grows on the leaves. When the tadpoles become froglets (it grows four legs but still has the tail) I will add a "land" object for them to climb out and rest.

Closeup of Snowflake

Next week we are going to start learning about the life cycle of a frog. In 12 to 16 weeks, we will have two great bullfrogs to keep in our class. I have never seen a tadpole in real life before, so I am equally excited to watch them grow!

6 comments

MAK said...

I'm so glad to get to see what is going on in our sons class! And tadpoles to frogs. So cool!

Mandy's Memories said...

How cool, where did you order these from? I do the butterflies, but think frogs would be awesome too

Janae said...

I also do the butterflies at the end of the year. I was going to get the tadpoles from Insect Lore (where I get the butterflies) but they were cheaper and had a better setup here: http://www.nature-gifts.com/grow-a-live-frog.html

I did still buy frog books and manipulatives from Insect Lore, and I highly recommend the “ I Toad You So! Curriculum Guide”. It has really great activities! She also wrote the “Butterfly, Flutterby Curriculum Guide”, which I love!

Tickled Pink Mandy said...

Ohh so fun! I do butterflies every spring and did the tadpoles once... It was very cool, but they died the minute they turned into frogs! (I think it was our hot AZ classroom).... The kids thought the process was amazing. You will have to keep us posted!! How long did it take for them to arrive? I may try it again!

Janae said...

Oh I hope ours don’t die! I was really worried about that when I put them into the tank, and then drove it to school. I felt like I was driving an infant, by how slow and careful I was. But they survived!

I ordered them on August 24th, they shipped on the 30th, and they got here yesterday. I was impressed with how quickly they came with regular shipping. That’s my one complaint with the butterflies. I always have to do rush shipping. If I don’t, the caterpillars have grown so much that it isn’t as much fun.

futureflstar said...

Oh my gosh! I love this idea and I am so glad I found your blog. We read a story about the life cycle of a frog in our Basal and I have a ton of frog books to go with that week. I am going to have to do this project this year! How fun!!!