Week 09 · Life Cycles

Friday

A frog: water to land

// Birth, growth, reproduction and death, in four very different lives

⏱ about 15 min

Friday: A Frog, Water to Land

At the creek edge, Raven points to a clump of clear jelly with black specks.

"Eggs," she whispers. "Frog eggs, I think."

Rocket squints. "Those will be frogs? They look like tiny dots in jelly!"

Nova projects a cyan tadpole wiggling above the water. "Not yet," she hints.

"Something lives in the water first. What might it look like?"

Rocket reaches for his notebook.

Life begins in water

Frogs are amphibians. Amphibians start their lives in water.

A frog lays its eggs in water, often in a jelly clump.

A tadpole hatches from each egg. A tadpole has a tail and no legs.

It breathes with gills, like a fish, and swims to find food.

As the tadpole grows, back legs appear. Then front legs grow.

Its tail gets shorter. Lungs grow inside so it can breathe air.

Now it is a froglet, a small frog with a bit of tail left.

Soon the tail is gone. The adult frog can live on land and in water.

Adult frogs return to the water to lay eggs. The cycle starts again.

Stage	Where it lives	How it breathes	Legs?
egg	in water	none yet	no
tadpole	in water	gills	no
froglet	water and the edge	lungs growing	four, with a short tail
adult frog	land and water	lungs	four, no tail

FROG CYCLE CHECK

Read the question.
Tap your answer.

Where does a frog lay its eggs?

How does a tadpole breathe?

What happens to a tadpole's tail as it grows?

Four lives side by side

Now you have followed four life cycles. Here they are together.

All four are born, grow, reproduce and die.

But the way each one does it is different.

Living thing	Birth	Young stage	Adult stage	Reproduces by
bird	hatches from an egg	chick, then fledgling	feathered adult	laying eggs in a nest
butterfly	hatches from an egg	larva, then pupa	winged adult	laying eggs on a leaf
plant	sprouts from a seed	seedling	flowering plant	making seeds
frog	hatches from an egg	tadpole, then froglet	adult frog	laying eggs in water

A young frog with a tail and gills is a ____.

Frogs belong to the group called ____.

An adult frog breathes air with its ____.

Statement	True or false?
A tadpole has legs when it hatches.	?
An adult frog can live on land and in water.	?
A plant is the only one of the four that does not hatch from an egg.	?
A frog has a pupa stage like a butterfly.	?

WHY THIS EXERCISEEach cycle has its own stages. All four share birth, growth, reproduction and death.

A FROG'S LIFE, IN ORDER

?a froglet with a short tail
?a tadpole with a tail
?eggs in a jelly clump
?a tadpole with back legs
?an adult frog

WHY THIS EXERCISEEgg, tadpole, froglet, adult: the frog changes from swimmer to hopper.

Which of the four living things is born from a seed, not an egg?

WHY THIS EXERCISEPlants sprout from seeds. Birds, butterflies and frogs hatch from eggs.

Try it

With a grown-up, look at the edge of a pond, puddle or creek.
Look for jelly clumps, tadpoles or small frogs. Watch from the bank.
Write what stage you saw, or write that you saw none today.

Safety first

Stay back from the water's edge and hold a grown-up's hand near water.
Never touch frog eggs, tadpoles or frogs. Watch from the bank.
Wash your hands well when you get home.

Draw two life cycles side by side: a frog and a butterfly. Circle what they share.

Pick two of the four living things. Write one way their cycles are alike and one way they differ.

Four cycles compared, explorer! Tomorrow is Explorer Day. Your family hunts for life stages.

Grown-up checked my answers

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