AlphaWorld

Teacher Edition

Frog Alert

Written by Keith Pigdon

How to use this bookHorwitz EducationA Division of HorwitzPublications Pty Ltd55 Chandos StreetSt Leonards NSW 2065Australia

Horwitz Gardner Limited168e High StreetEgham, SurreyTW20 9HPUnited Kingdom

Published edition © Eleanor Curtain Publishing 2005Text © Nicole di MarcoPhotographs © EleanorCurtain Publishing

First published 2005

Apart from any fair dealing forthe purposes of study, research,criticism or review, aspermitted under the CopyrightAct of Australia, no part of thisbook may be reproduced byany process, or transmitted inany form, without permissionof the copyright owner. Wherecopies of part or the whole ofthis book are made under PartVB of the Copyright Act, thelaw requires that records ofsuch copying be kept and thecopyright owner is entitled toclaim payment.

Developed by Eleanor Curtain PublishingText: Nicole di MarcoConsultant: Susan HillDesigned by Alexander StittProduction by Publishing Solutions

Printed in China

ISBN 0 7253 3062 7

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 905 06 07

The AlphaWorld teacher editionssupport teachers as they guidechildren’s reading and thinkingduring one or more guided readingsessions. Teachers can observechildren as they read and choosefrom the given suggestions to suitindividual needs.

Before readingSetting the context, front coverand title page:The suggestions help teachers to setthe scene and prepare children forreading the book. Prompts help todetermine children’s priorknowledge. Where necessary,background information isprovided. Teachers are encouragedto check that children understandthe vocabulary listed and to discussthe meanings and/or the structuresof these words. Previousexperiences with similar text typesmay also be discussed.

During readingPredict, Read, Reflect:Questions encourage children toengage with the text by makingpredictions. The children then reada section of the text and reflect onwhat they have read. The focus ison the content, language and textfeatures of the book.

Observe and support:Prompts help teachers to focus onthe strategies children use as theyread. Teachers can then select fromand adapt the suggestions accordingto the needs of the individual child.The suggestions aim to develop achild’s reading abilities.Interruptions to the child’s readingshould be minimal.

After readingA selection of reading andwriting activities:The last pages of the teacher editionprovide follow-up activities andinclude the assessment focus.

Selected text features Vocabulary• Introduction• Colour photographs support the text• Glossary

chemicals, detergents, disappearing, forests,frogwatch, introduced, habitats, lakes, ponds,pollution, protected, recycle, sensitive, streams,suffer, swamps, tadpoles, thin, waterways,wetlands

Setting the contextWrite the word ‘Frogs’ on a chart and askthe children to brainstorm as many wordsas they can think of in response. Thesewords could be listed under variousheadings, for example, where frogs live;what they look like; facts about frogs.

Background informationThis book argues a case for looking afterfrogs. Frogs are important indicators ofthe health of the environment. Becausefrogs live in the water and on land, theyare vulnerable to both air and waterpollution. Therefore, changes to a habitatoften have an early impact on frogs.When frogs are active in a habitat theysing. Their songs tell us that the habitatis probably a healthy place.

Front coverShow the front cover.Read the title and the name of theauthor.What does ‘alert’ mean? Why might theauthor have used this word in the title?What might he be trying to say?

Title pageTurn to the title page.What can you see in the picture?

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Frog Alert Pages 2–5

PredictThis is the contents page. Let’s read through it together tosee if it helps us work out what this book is about.Discuss any words the children have difficulty with.Turn to page 4.This is the introduction. It says that frogs live in manydifferent places, such as forests and wetlands. Whathappens to frogs if people make changes to wetlands andforests?

Read to the end of page 5.

ReflectAre frogs sensitive to changes in their habitats? How do youknow?

Observe and supportCan the child use the contents page?Can you find the section on ‘jelly eggs’? What page is iton?What section starts on page 18?

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4

Frog Alert Pages 6–9

PredictFrogs spend the first part of their lives as tadpoles living inwater.What is a tadpole? Have you ever seen one? What was it like?When tadpoles become adults, where do they live?Turn to page 8.Look at the photos of the frogs. What does their skin looklike?Have you ever touched a frog? What did it feel like?Frogs have very thin skins so that they can take water intotheir bodies. They don’t drink water through their mouths.How could living in polluted water affect frogs?

Read to the end of page 8.

ReflectHow can frogs live on the land once they become adults?The photos may help you to answer this question. (Theysprout legs, lose their tails and breathe air.)Why can frogs become ill and die quickly in a pollutedhabitat?

Observe and supportCan the child understand the inferences in the text?Why are frogs more sensitive to pollution than manyother animals?

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Frog Alert Pages 10–13

PredictMost frogs lay their eggs in water. Look at the photo of frogs’eggs. What do they look like? What protects them?Turn to page 12.Many frogs live in forests. Why do you think tree frogs aredying?

Read to the end of page 13.

ReflectWhat does ‘harmed’ mean? How can frogs’ eggs beharmed?How does cutting down trees affect frogs?Why do you think frogs are disappearing?

Observe and supportDo the children use a range of strategies to work outnew vocabulary?How did you work out ‘rainforests’? Can you see a wordyou know in ‘rainforests’?

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Frog Alert Pages 14–17

PredictMany frogs live in wetlands, such as swamps, lakes, pondsand streams.What will happen if people damage wetlands?Turn to page 16.People have put new kinds of fish, like trout, into riverswhere frogs live. Why would this be dangerous to frogs?

Read to the end of page 16.

ReflectWhy are frogs that live in wetlands disappearing?How are new animals dangerous to frogs?

Observe and supportAsk one child to read aloud to you while the othersare reading silently.Does the child read the text fluently?I liked the way you read that. It sounded like talking.

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Frog Alert Pages 18–21

PredictFrogs help us to understand more about the health of ourenvironment. How would frogs do this?Turn to page 20.Male frogs sing or croak. Have you heard the sound a frogmakes? When we hear a frog song we know that there arefrogs living in the area. What could it mean if the songsstop?

Read to the end of page 20.

ReflectCan you tell me in your own words why frogs are important?

Observe and supportAfter reading the text, can the child make inferencesabout frogs and their relationship with theenvironment?Why would frog songs stop in an area?

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Frog Alert Pages 22–23

PredictThere are many things we can do to help frogs. We can tellpeople about frogs, join a frog watching group and recyclepaper. Look at the photo on this page. What else do youthink we can do?

Read to the end of page 23.

ReflectHow do the things suggested in the book help frogs? Pickone of the suggestions and tell me in your own words howit helps frogs. You may need to re-read the information first.

Observe and supportCan the child understand the purpose of the text?Why has the author written Frog Alert? What does hethink about frogs?

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Frog Alert Page 24

PredictThis is the glossary. What does it tell us? Let’s read throughit and find out.

Read to the end of page 24.

ReflectPoint out that the words in the glossary are inalphabetical order.What does ‘recycle’ mean?What does ‘pollution’ mean?

Observe and supportCan the children explain how to use the glossary?How do we use a glossary? How would the authorchoose the words to be included? What other wordscould have been included? Why?

Responding to text

The children could construct adiorama of a frog’s habitat

providing information about how theylive. Labels or captions could be addedto remind people of ways they can helpfrogs. For example, a diorama of a treefrog could include a message aboutrecycling and reusing paper.

Provide the children with a seriesof words about frogs from the text

and ask them to use the words insentences describing important factsabout frogs.

The children could look throughthis book and other familiar text to

list words ending in ‘ed’, for example,cried, damaged, destroyed, discovered,drained, hopped, wished. These could belisted on a chart with their base wordbeside them.

Writing links

Investigate the structure of an argumentusing the framework below. Examplesfrom the book could be written in theright hand column.

In their personal learning journalchildren could write down what theyhave discovered about frogs.

Title (Gives reader a broad idea of the topic)

Introduction (States the problem and the author’s point of view)Frogs can live in water and on land (Gives first argument and evidence)

Frogs have very thin skins (argument and evidence)

Jelly eggs (argument and evidence)

Frogs in forests (argument and evidence)

Frogs in wetlands (argument and evidence)

New animals (argument and evidence)

What can you do to help frogs? (Concludes by discussing ways to help)

‘ed’ ending base worddestroyed destroydamaged damage

Possible assessment focusCan the children:• use a glossary?• share extra information gained from the photographs?• make inferences about frogs and their relationship with the environment?

whole text activity sentence activity word activity

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After reading

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Being a meaning makerEncourage the children to supporttheir answers with evidence fromthe book as they discuss thesequestions:Where do frogs live?Why are frogs special?Why are frogs disappearing?What can we do to help them?

Being a code breakerExplore the following languagefeatures:• Using contextual information tounderstand unfamiliar vocabulary:chemicals, habitat, recycles• The suffix ‘ed’: damaged,destroyed, discovered, drained• The prefix ‘re’: recycle, reduce,reuse• Compound words: harmful,rainforest, tadpole, waterway,wetland

Being a text userWhat kind of book is this?You may like to return to the chartbegun prior to reading.Ask the children to consider thewords listed.Did these words appear in the book?Do you still agree with all of thesewords? What other words could beincluded?What have we learned from readingthis book?

Being a text criticWhat did the author need to know towrite this book? How might he havelearned this information?Why did he choose to call the bookFrog Alert?What does he think about frogs? Doyou agree with him?

Frog Alert

Topic: Conservation/Environment/Science/

Animal Kingdom

Curriculum link: Natural Science

Text type: Report – problem/solution

Reading level: 18

Word count: 452

Vocabulary: chemicals, detergents,

disappearing, forests, frogwatch, introduced,

habitats, lakes, ponds, pollution, protected,

recycle, sensitive, streams, suffer, swamps,

tadpoles, thin, waterways, wetlands

Possible literacy focus:• Interpreting the photographs of frogs.• Using the text to make inferences about frogs

and how they are affected by theirenvironment.

ESL possibilities:• Recognising the different pronunciations of

‘ch’ in catch, change, chemical, such.• Understanding that subheadings help the

reader to predict the content of the text.

ISBN 0- 7253- 3062- 7

9 780725 330620

AlphaWorld

SummaryThis book describes the features of frogs andfrog habitats and explains how these habitatsare being changed or destroyed. It suggests wayswe can help to protect frogs, frog habitats andour environment.