Amphibians can be defined by several factors. They are cold-blooded, live their lives on land and water, have scaleless and permeable skin, are without claws, begin breathing through gills and switch to breathing with lungs and skin, and lay eggs that require moisture. This includes frogs, toads, newts, salamanders and caecillians (limbless amphibians).

We began our amphibian week by discussing the differences between reptiles and amphibians. We also created a giant poster with pictures of amphibians and placed it next to our reptile poster. We made paper plate frogs with long tongues and googly eyes, painted and cut out salamander shapes, went on a field trip to a nearby pond to explore an amphibian habitat, played a life-stage matching game and had frog-jumping contests.

While our class studied amphibians we happened to watch a video on YouTube entitled “Herping with Dylan: Frog Calls”. It was one of those moments when absolutely every single child was entranced with what they were seeing.  For the entire 10 minutes of watching and listening to different species of frogs our classroom  was in frog heaven. It was a fun way to end the week and an amazing discussion point with parents! Check out the video at: Video of Frog Calls