Learn, Experience, Explain: Kindergarten Jumping Into The Frog Life Cycle

Working on the Popplet Flow Map

Students in Mrs. Slimmer's Kindergarten class at Hughes elementary recently learned about the life cycle of a frog. Rather than simply reading about the process in a book, these students got to create their own frog habitat, take care of their own class frogs, and create a collaborative flow map explaining what they've learned. This project allowed the students to explain their learning through visuals and voice over using SeeSaw and Popplet. Popplet gave students the opportunity to draw their learning and connect different parts of the life cycle, which is great for visual learners. Mrs Slimmer pointed out, “This project gave my students exposure to the technology in a very meaningful and purposeful way. They are used to playing games on the iPad, but this project allowed them to create and be producers rather than consumers.”

Owen, Kalynn, Mason, and Alliah had a lot to say about this experience. When asked what they learned throughout the project Kalynn's face lit up as she stated, "I learned that frogs actually live in land and in water." Owen quickly added, "And they need food. They need lots of crickets." Mason adds, "Did you know that frog's eggs look like eyes? They start as eggs and then turn into tadpoles." The group all agreed that their favorite part of the experience was taking pictures of their frog habitat and drawing each step on the iPad. They especially liked drawing the frog eggs and the tadpoles. They also enjoyed being able to use SeeSaw to explain their learning with voice over.

When asked what the most challenging part of the project was, Alliah comments, "I had a hard time drawing the water and finding the best picture of eggs to take from our book." At a young age these students are learning how to gather, organize and sequence their information. They are also able to explain their learning, and work together to create a published product.

Students Take Pictures of Their Frog Habitat
for Their Flow Map

Primary Student ISTE Standards:

• 3C: Students curate information from digital resources using a variety of tools and methods to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions.
• 6B: Students create original works or responsibly repurpose or remix digital resources into new creations.
• 6C: Students communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively by creating or using a variety of digital objects such as visualizations, models or simulations.

Crazy and Unpredictable Weather Right Here in North Texas

In Mrs. Briseno’s 2nd grade class at Justin Elementary, students are learning just how extreme and unpredictable our weather can be.  

"Our teacher gave us a choice of weather topics like flash floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, and heatwaves.  We brainstormed different avenues to collect our research using graphic organizers.  We were also charged with how are we going to share our knowledge with a global audience.  When our information was presented in class we asked for feedback from our class peers.  Mrs. Briseno then posted the projects on her class Twitter to share."

Project 1 -  Grey wanted to showcase his learning using the graphic organizer about Tornadoes.  He chose the app on the classroom iPad called Corkboard.  He found his free educational images on Google.  Grey states, “Did you know right here in Justin, TX, we are in what is called Tornado Alley? The weather trackers find the storms and send the data back to the news or home base to protect the people in our community.”

Project  2 - Tyler and Gracie wanted to learn about Flash Floods.  Their collaboration and research began with several questions: How do flash floods form?  How do they stop? How can you protect yourself if you are in a flash flood?  They chose to culminate their research in a document with images that were converted into a flipbook using a tool called FlipSnack.  

Click here to see the book in action

Tyler mentions that Oklahoma, Mississippi, and China are more prone to flash floods due to their weather habits and the soft land.  Gracie stated that her dad is always looking at his radar on his smartphone when bad weather is approaching.  He is a paramedic/policeman and he needs to protect people.

These are just a few examples of projects that will be showcased at Night of No Limits in May.  

This post was written in collaboration with Grey, Tyler, Gracie, and Mrs. Briseno