Researching to Build Knowledge and Teach Others: Adaptations and the Wide World of Frogs

In this module, students will use literacy skills to become experts--people who use reading, writing, listening, and speaking to build and share deep knowledge about a topic. The module begins with students reading poetry and pourquoi tales about different kinds of frogs to generate "why" questions. At the end of the unit, they write their own fictional pourquoi narratives to attempt to answer some of their "why" questions.

In Unit 2, students research to find out the real answers to their frog questions and write paragraphs to communicate their research.

In Unit 3, students will form research groups to become experts on various "freaky" frogs--frogs that have unusual adaptations that help them to survive in extreme environments throughout the world. Students will build their reading, research, writing, and collaborative discussion skills through studying their expert frog. Throughout the module, students will consistently reflect on the role of literacy in building and sharing expertise. They will demonstrate their expertise through a Freaky Frog book and trading card to educate students in grades 2 and 3.

Big Ideas & Guiding Questions

• How does an author engage the reader in a narrative?
• An effective narrative has a beginning that establishes the character and situation, a middle that introduces a problem with character response, and an ending that resolves the problem.
• How do experts build knowledge and share expertise about a topic?
• Experts build knowledge by studying a topic in depth.
• Experts share information through writing and speaking.
• How do frogs survive?
• Frogs have unique adaptations that help them to survive in various environments.

Performance Task

Freaky Frog Book and Trading Card

Throughout this module, each student will generate writing to include in a Freaky Frog book to engage and educate students in grades 2-3. The book will contain:

• Pourquoi narrative written in Unit 1 to engage readers in the unique adaptations of frogs
• Informational writing from Unit 2 to educate readers about frogs in general
• Four-paragraph informational writing from Unit 3 to amaze readers with the unique, sometimes freaky, adaptations of frogs
• A Freaky Frog trading card from Unit 3 for readers to play a game with. The front side of the trading card will include a detailed scientific illustration or digital picture of their freaky frog as well as basic facts about the frog collected through their research. The other side of the card will score their frog on different features--color, camouflage, and size, for example.

For the performance task, students will create their trading card and compile all of their writing from the module into a book with a front cover and table of contents.

How can you support your student at home?

• Talk to your student about the frog poems he or she is studying and the things he or she is wondering about frogs.
• Talk to your student about his or her narrative text and the structure of an effective narrative text.
• Choose sentences or paragraphs in an excerpt of a narrative text and invite your student to tell you the plot structures he or she can identify.
• Read narrative and informational texts about frogs.
• Watch documentaries about frogs on television.
• Watch videos on frogs on Discovery Education!!

What will your student be doing at school?

In unit 1, students read and write narrative texts about frogs. They closely read poems about frogs and develop “why” questions about frogs. They read and write narrative pourquoi tales that answer these “why” questions. When reading, students analyze the plot structure of a narrative.

​Students learn that narrative texts have a clear sequence of events that makes sense and are easy to understand. Specifically, they have:

■ A beginning that establishes the situation and introduces the characters and/or narrator

■ A middle that describes the central problem and explains how the character(s) respond to the problem

■ An ending that has a solution/resolution to “wrap up” the problem and explains the message or purpose of the narrative

The Language standards that students will be focusing on in this unit requires them to:

• Form and use comparative and superlative adjectives.
• Form and use regular and irregular verbs in the simple verb tenses (past, present, and, future.
• Use simple, compound, and complex sentences.

Useful website to research about various frogs: