Joy School - Amphibians

My own little Joy Schooler was sick for our last class, so I was home with him. But Joy School went on, and went on well. I got an email that night from the host mom saying she was sorry we couldn't have made it, and that they took pictures for me so that I could still do the blog. Thoughtful!


She sent me the images and had included captions with them so I knew what was going on. The more pictures and captions I looked at, the more I wished we could have been there. It looks like such an awesome day!


Lesson: They began the day by watching an Eyewitness DVD clip on amphibians, then she moved into her very fun lesson.

It looks like she had a demonstration to illustrate just about every topic. This is so great for our little learners who may sometimes have trouble conceptualizing things they've never seen before.

First she taught how amphibians lay their eggs in water. To illustrate, she had made this pond-in-a-bowl. The eggs were poppy seeds in jelly. The cilantro leaves are lily-pads, and also serve as a representation of the kind of food the tadpoles would eat once they hatched.

This set up was to teach how cold blooded animals, like amphibians, are the same temperature as their surroundings. She had set up two bowls of water, each with a lettuce lily-pad. A Littlest Pet Shop salamander was put on each leaf, one left in cold water, the other with a desk lamp 'sun' placed over top. After a few minutes, both salamanders were taken from their environments.

Then the kids got to hold each one and feel how the one that was in the sun was warm, and the one in the cold pond was cold. Such a great idea to get this idea across!

This looks just plain fun. This showed the effectiveness of having a sticky tongue to help catch food. She stuffed the toe of an old nylon and tied the end in a knot. This is the tongue. Then the tip was dipped in paint. (She used a darkish blue paint so that the kids would be able to more clearly see the food once it was on) Then she spread a little oatmeal out on the table to be the bugs, and....

The kids got to take turns using the tongue to 'catch' the flies! Brilliant!

Art Time:

This activity focused on metamorphosis. The kids were given a worksheet that let them colour, cut, and build their own tadpoles.

Snack: Froggy faces!

The children got to assemble their froggies. English muffins for the faces, (with tinted cream cheese for that famous green complexion) cucumber eyes with Cheerio pupils, a fruit roll-up tongue and a dried cranberry fly. How cute is that?

Story Time:

The book on the left was her main source for the lesson's information. The other two were stories. I haven't read either of them, but that middle book looks so adorable I'm sure I'll be checking it out of the library soon.

Science Time: Amphibians don't drink water?

Apparently, amphibians don't drink their water; they soak it into their body through their skin. To demonstrate this principle they watched a dry sponge get wet as it absorbed the water through it's tiny holes...just like amphibians!

Craft Time:

This craft took some mommy-assistance. They worked together to make origami paper frogs that can actually hop.

Wiggle Time:

And then the kids got to race them!

(Here is an extra picture of wiggle time, just because I thought it was so cute!)

And that was their day! I'm told that there were some cute froggy songs planned, but that all the other activities took up the time and the songs will have to wait until we teach the theme again.

It looks like a very successful day, and I wish I could have been there. Missed all you guys!