Hoppameleon/Frogs for Kinders

This past week my kindergarten students were learning about amphibians in their classrooms. I try to be interdiscplinary when I can, so we did a project to correspond with it.  I cannot recall where on the internet I found this idea, but credit is due to someone out there! We created Frogs on a Log. I first read them the story "The Hoppameleon" by Paul Geraghty.

Then I showed students how to put lines and shapes together on their paper to create their own "Hoppameleon Frogs".

These are the steps from my lesson plan.

We drew in black crayon. Students then colored their frog's body green, the log brown, the sun yellow, and the eyes red or yellow. They could also leave them white if they chose to.  Lastly, we did a blue watercolor wash over the sky.

I had several compliments on these this past week and today. I'm not sure why since I find this to be a rather simple project, but its been a bit hit. This took 1 forty minute class to complete.

On another note, I have a piece of equipment in my classroom that my co-worker purchased for us. I... just don't think I am a fan. This machinery just isn't working for me.

Believe me... the idea is awesome. The execution... not so much at least on my part. If I have even a smidgen of paper on the crayon I'm sharpening in this machine the whole thing jams. Then getting in to clean it out is a messy and difficult process (especially with black crayons). Don't get me started on the stubby crayons and the ones that break while sharpening...

Until the day the crayons are made longer and less brittle, this is a piece of equipment that collect dust in my classroom. Perhaps I'm the only one who has issues with it, but this is one thing I won't buy for the other classroom I teach in at an intermediate school. Too much grief.