Frogs

1. Frogs Early Years Numeracy Book 3

2. Frog Story Box • Children can create lots of addition and subtraction number stories using Little Speckled Frogs, e.g. 4 Little Speckled Frogs have jumped into a pool. • How many are still on the log? • How do you know there are 6? • How many are there all together? • How do you know there are 4 frogs keeping cool in the pool? I can see 3 and 1 and that makes 4. 1 and 3 also make 4. I can also see 2 and 2. How many does that make? What do you think?. • So there are 10 all together. What happens if 1 frog wanders off to find a bigger, juicier bug? There would be one less. How many are there now? How do you know? • Children may start their count at one or possibly count on e.g. 6 frogs on the log, 4 in the pool, that’s 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, …7, 8, 9, 10. This activity encourages the child to develop counting on skills. Other resources could be used such as ducks, butterflies, dinosaurs, cows, flowers, fish, etc • This activity can be used to support the following domains at 1 *, 2 ** and 3*** • Number word sequences – Count forwards and backwards as frogs are taken out/put away. • Read and Write numbers - Write the number of frogs on white boards. • Structuring Numbers – Grouping –Using plain and speckled frogs, encourage the children to group them. • Counting and Comparing Collections - Place frogs in two sets - discuss which group has more / less frogs. How do you know? • Counting Strategies , Early addition and subtraction/ facts to 10 – Develop number stories using frogs • Early Multiplication and Division – Can the children share the frogs equally? Try counting in twos. • Mental Agility – Basic Facts -Using 5 frogs find out all the number facts to make five. • Patterns and Relationships – Match and create patterns using different coloured frogs. • Solve Simple Number Stories – Draw a picture of frogs jumping off the log.

3. Frog Stories • The Frog Who Wouldn’t Laugh by Cecilia Egan and Elizabeth Alger. • A native Australian legend about a frog (Tiddalick) who drank all the water, and what the birds and animals decided to do to get the water back. • How many birds are there in the story? How many animals? How many are there all together? Can you show 8 using your fingers? Is there another way? How many ways can you make 8 with your fingers? • Tiddalik was the largest frog ever known. • Which bird is the smallest/biggest? Which animal is the tallest/shortest? • These activities can be used to support the following domains at 1 *, 2 ** and 3*** • Number word sequences - Recite number words forwards/backwards up to 8 in order and discuss number before/after. Which animal is first, second, etc. to try to make the frog laugh. • Read and Write numbers -Draw pictures to illustrate the story. Label the pictures with numbers of animals on the page. • Structuring Numbers – Grouping -Talk about groups of items on each page, ‘how many animals are there now?’ There are 4 here, 3 on this side and 1 up the tree, ‘how many animals do you see?’ • Counting and Comparing Collections - Discuss size of the animals. • Counting Strategies , Early addition and subtraction/ facts to 10 - Talk about one more/less. What if a koala bear came to have a drink, how many animals would there be now? What if one of the animals left to find water somewhere else, how many animals would be left? • Solve Simple Number Stories - Act out the story using props. Use ordinal numbers e.g. 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.

4. Frog Rhyme • Use the cardboard tube as you recite the number word sequences in the rhyme 5 Little Speckled frogs. • How many frogs have jumped into the pool so they can be nice and cool? How many are still on the log? How do you know? • How many frogs would be in the pool if one more frog jumped in? • There are no frogs on the log now. What happens if one jumped back onto the log? How many are left in the pool? • Vary the number of frogs sitting on the log so that the numbers 5 and 10 are not always the focus. Eg, 5 Little Specked Frogs can become 9 little specked frogs, or 7. • Include the children by asking “How many frogs will be sitting on the log this time? • These activities can be used to support the following domains at 1 *, 2 ** and 3*** (Extend numbers to suit) • Number word sequences - Recite number word sequences through the rhyme. • Read and Write numbers - Point to numbers while rhyme is being recited, e.g. show number fans for number of frogs on the log. • Structuring Numbers – Grouping - Make up groups of items using props e.g. frog puppets. • Counting and Comparing Collections - Compare sets / sizes – what is the difference? Are there more/less frogs on the log or in the pond? Give the frogs left on the log a fly each. How many flies do they eat? • Counting Strategies , Early addition and subtraction/ facts from 10 - 1 less than, 2 less than/1 more, 2 more. • Early Multiplication and Division – Feed each frog 2 flies each. How many flies have they eaten? ‘2, 4, 6….’ • Mental Agility – Basic Facts -Develop one to one counting of props/fingers – last number determines size of set. • Patterns and Relationships -Hand clap / predict repeating pattern in rhyme. • Solve Simple Number Stories - Act out rhymes during free play e.g. through use of props.

5. Lily Pad Leap • Cut out giant lily pad shapes and number to 10. Spread the lily pads around the room. • Hop from each lily pad to the next, counting aloud (up from 1-10 or backwards, from 10-1). • Vary the number of lily pads e.g. only have 7 lily pads so don’t always start count at 1 or 10. • Say a number from 1-10 and run to that lily pad. Stand on the lily pad and then hop around the room that many times. Eg, if the lily pad had a number 5 on it... hop around the room 5 times). • Can you find the number before 5? After 5? • Jump to a lily pad, ask ‘what number are you standing on?’ • Instead of saying the number, use 1 die or 2 dice. You rolled a 5 and 2. What does that make? How do you know? • These activities can be used to support the following domains at 1 *, 2 ** and 3*** (Extend numbers to suit) • Number word sequences - Count in sequence forwards and backwards (vary starting points and range up to 30). • Read and Write numbers - Read the numerals on the lily pads and put in correct order (start with 1-5, 6-10, 11-20). Roll dice and place frog on that numbered lily pad. • Structuring Numbers – Grouping – Recognise the dots up to 6 on the die by just looking. Use 2 dice and combine, saying 3 and 2 makes 5. • Counting and Comparing Collections -Who is on the smallest/largest number? (A visual Numicon number line or quantities number line would be useful for child to refer to). • Counting Strategies, Early addition and subtraction/ facts from 10 - Alter the starting number of lily pads. • Mental Agility – Basic Facts -Add or take away a lily pad. How many are there now? • Patterns and Relationships -Use coloured lily pads to represent odd and even numbers or place Numicon shapes on lily pads to show odd/even. • Solve Simple Number Stories – Add frog puppets to encourage story telling.