186 Cycles in Nature: Supplemental Guide CA | Culminating Activities
Read the poem with your students a few times, and ask what kind
of feelings or images the poem evokes. Ask whether the poem
uses rhyming words.
You may wish to have students write their own poems about
cycles in nature.➶ Writing Prompts
Students may be given an additional writing prompt such as the
following:- Tadpoles and adult frogs breathe in different ways because...
- The changing seasons affect our lives because
- The shape of a cloud is important because...
- I observe the water cycle when...
- The most interesting thing I learned about cycles is...
Observing Metamorphosis: Frog
Materials: Tadpoles; aquarium with a tight-fi tting cover; rocks;
branches; drawing paper, drawing tools
Note: Collect tadpoles from a local body of water, or order a
native species of frog that can be released back into your area. If
uncertain, check a fi eld guide on amphibians for frogs native to
your region. If using tadpoles collected locally, it is best to release
the froglets back into the body of water or area they were collected
from.
Prepare the aquarium tank with untreated water, placing in it
the rocks and branches you have collected. Make sure that the
branches protrude above the surface of the water for the frogs to
climb on as they develop. Have students observe and examine
the tadpoles’ metamorphosis into adult frogs. Ask students to
describe the stages they see as the tadpoles develop. Have them
draw these stages on drawing paper and write a caption for each
stage of metamorphosis.