Life Cycle of the Frog By: Sherri Howard

Objectives Students will be able to determine what a tadpole is. Students will understand the metamorphoses of the frogs life. Students will be able to describe a frog habitat.

Egg Stage 1 Frogs are amphibians, which means that they can live on land and in the water. Frogs begin their life cycle in the water. Female frogs can lay as many as 6,000 eggs in clumps called spawn. Each egg is a ball of jelly. The spawn floats to the top of the pond where the water is warmer and helps the eggs to grow.

Tadpole-Stage 2 After about 10 days the tadpole is ready to wiggle from the egg. Tadpoles breathe through gills on the outside of their bodies for about 5 weeks.

Tadpole-Stage 3 The back legs begin to appear and its outside gills begin to disappear. It can still breathe underwater through gills which are inside of its body.

Tadpole-Stage 4 About 1 week after the legs have appeared the tadpole will begin to develop lungs and then breathes air like us. This means he now needs to come to the surface for air.

Tadpole-Stage 5 At about 10 weeks the tadpole develops front legs and will not need to eat as it will start to absorb its tail and get food from the nutrients that are in it.

Froglet to Frog After about 3 ½ months the tadpole has become a froglet and is ready to eat small bugs and spend time out of the water. The frog continues to grow, it loses its tail completely and leaves the pond. The frog will eat crickets and other insects, bugs, and worms. Frogs need to live in damp places.

The Mature Frog

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Bibliography www.geocities.com/athens/lthaca/4033/frog.htm www.flickit.com/age4.html http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/lvelem/frogsandtoads/lifecycle.html My Weekly Reader. Edition 1. April 2,1999. Issue 23. www.weeklyreader.com