Chandler unified School district
Suggested Resource Guide for Required Texts
Extended Text: Frog and Toad Together Arnold Lobel 987-0-7607-6503-6
Title Author ISBN
GRADE LEVEL: 1st Grade
Synopsis:
Frog and Toad Together is a collection of five short stories in which Frog and Toad do everything together. From helping to plant a garden, eating cookies, or being brave together, Frog and Toad demonstrate the qualities of friendships.
Background:
Arnold Lobel was born May 22, 1933 in California but was raised in New York. After graduating from art school he married his wife Anita who is also a children’s author and illustrator. At first Arnold started out illustrating children’s books for other authors. His first self-written and illustrated book, Prince Bertram the Bad, was written in 1963. He is best known for his Frog and Toad series of books. Arnold changed the standard way early readers were written. He included interesting vocabulary, appealing animals, and collections of short stories. Arnold Lobel died on December 4, 1987.
Fables (Caldecott Award 1981)
Mouse Soup
Mouse Tales
Small Pig
Ming Lo Moves the Mountain
Frog and Toad
Frog and Toad Are Friends
Frog and Toad All Year
Days with Frog and Toad
This story can tie into Health Standards (mental, emotional, and social health) as well a Life Science Standards (characteristics of living things).
Link to an interview with Arnold Lobel
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/uni/summary/v001/1.1.natov.html
Text Complexity Analysis:
Quantitative: 330L (Scholastic Book Wizard) Grade Level Equivalent 2.3 (Scholastic Book Wizard), K-1 Grade Band is not identified but the 2-3 Grand Band starts at 420L.
Qualitative: Using the Kansas Qualitative Measures Rubric, there is middle-high complexity for meaning in this book. The stories in Frog and Toad Together are all about friendship. However, a few of the stories, “Cookies” and “The Dream, have more complex and levels of meaning that must be inferred. The structure of the stories is middle-low complexity. The narrative structure is simple however the stories can shift from Frog’s to Toad’s view point. In addition there are some stories that the students would need to be able to identify when the character is dreaming. The language demand of the story is low complexity. There is no use of figurative language and for the most part the text is contemporary. Frog and Toad Together also has middle-low knowledge demands. Each sub story explores a single theme and some are complex. The story is clearly fantasy to which students can easily relate. There are occasional references, such as a person feeling small, that would be more difficult for students.
Reader and Task: Using the Kansas Reader and Task Considerations List, the students will have the attention and ability to make connections to the characters in the text. The students will need to be supported with some of the critical/analytical thinking skills that can be incorporated when teaching the text. Students, mid-year, should possess the decoding and questioning skills to support their comprehension skills. Students will most likely need support in order to make the necessary inferences. The story is told through interesting and fun characters that will engage students. The situations the characters are involved in are easily connected to students’ everyday lives. Frog and Toad Together does not possess any concerning elements or themes that would cause concern for teachers, students or parents. The tasks that could be asked of students will help students stretch their understanding of the text.
Motifs and Themes:
friendship, overcoming your fears, self-discipline/ will power, life cycles (plants and animals),
LANGUAGE:
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use
Tier 2 Vocabulary / Tier 3 Vocabulary· remember p. 1
· crossed p. 2
· strong p. 9
· garden p. 15
· seeds p. 15
· afraid p 19
· frightened p. 24
· will power p. 31
· brave p. 39
· leaping p 41
· costume p. 49
· peeped p. 54 / · swamp p. 12
· cave p. 42
· avalanche p. 44
· theater p. 49
· note p. 52
· high wire p. 53
Conventions of Standard English or Knowledge of Language focus standard:
Standard Code / Standard Text / Description of where and how it fits with the extended text1.L.4.a / Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 1 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies.
a. Use sentence-level context as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase. / p 31 will power, p 39 brave and p 44 avalanche
There are both picture clues and clues within the context that will help students determine the meaning of these words.
Companion Texts:
1-3 Short Informational Texts
Text Title and Author / A short description of the textand how it relates to the extended text / Label Difficulty:
· Advanced
· Grade Level
· Meant for Scaffolding
1. Frogs By Gail Gibbons
2. Frogs and Toads by Bobbi Kalman / 1. The text takes the reader through the life cycle of frogs, from tadpole to adulthood. Illustrations present their anatomy, daily activities, and the different types. Scientific terms are presented phonetically. A double-page spread explains the difference between a frog and a toad, and the last page provides a few odd and interesting facts about frogs.
2. This primary non-fiction text compares and contrasts frogs and toads. The text is supported with photographs that help with comprehending the text. / 1. Grade level
2. Advanced
1-3 Short Literary Texts
Text Title and Author / A short description of the textand how it relates to the extended text / Label Difficulty:
· Advanced
· Grade Level
· Meant for Scaffolding
1. Other texts in the Frog and Toad Series by Arnold Lobel
· Frog and Toad
· Days With Frog and Toad
· Frog and Toad All Year
2. Best Friends by Steven Kellogg / 1. These texts extend the story of Frog and Toad.
2. Kathy and Louise are best friends and do everything together. When Louise goes with her aunt and uncle to the mountains all summer, Kathy is afraid that she has lost her friend Louise. She becomes very angry with her, but at the end of the story their friendship remains solid. / 1. Grade Level
2. Grade level
Standards-Based Activities:
These activities will assist in the instruction of the extended text.
ACTIVITY #1
RESOURCES:
· Copies of the text for each student. This activity will focus on the first chapter/ short story “The List”
· Tree Map or story map organizer labeled with chapter, characters, setting, problem, events, solution
· Sticky notes
· LCD Projector and document camera so students can see the teacher modeling thinking tracks
STANDARDS ADDRESSED:
· 1.RL.3 Describe characters, settings, and major events in a story, using key details
DESCRIPTION:
1. Introduce the text Frog and Toad Together and pass out the books to the students. Have them browse through the book to see how it’s organized. Be sure to point out the different chapters or short stories that make up the text. Have students also look at the illustrations. Ask students what type of story they think they will be reading (fantasy), and why (animals don’t wear clothing and talk).
2. Tell the students that this is a story about two friends that do a lot of different things together. Ask the students to think about activities that they like to do with their friends. Then have them pair-share with someone close to them. Ask the students to think about what makes a good friend. Again, have students pair-share with their neighbor.
3. Explain to the students that for this first short story, you will be working together to model what they will do with each of the other stories. Students will be using sticky note/thinking tracks to mark where they find the story elements. Review the vocabulary terms of character, setting, problem, events, and solution and before passing out the post-it notes.
4. Read the first two pages of “A List”. Stop and think aloud how you see evidence of the character and setting. Ask the students if they can find where the author introduces us to the character and setting. Have students respond and share with their neighbor. The teacher should listen into their conversations.
5. Place the book under the document camera and use a sticky note on the page to write a C for character. Next to the C, write the word Toad and show the students where you found this information.
6. Next, on the same or a different sticky note, mark an S for setting. Read the first sentence “One morning Toad sat in bed.” Record next to the S, morning and bed. Remind the student that the setting describes both where and when the story takes place.
7. As you are modeling recording on your sticky note(s), have the students record on their sticky notes as well.
8. Finally, for this page, ask the students what is the first thing that Toad did. Have the students pair-share.
9. On the sticky note write an E for event and write, “he wrote a list of what he wanted to do”. Students write the first event on their sticky note as well.
10. Continue to model for the rest of the story. Be sure to model your thinking by recording your thinking on a sticky note.
11. When done, have students record their notes on a Tree Map or Story Map.
· Have students independently leave story elements thinking tracks on one or more of the short stories on another day. If a student is struggling with identifying story elements, you can pull students into a small guided reading group for re-teaching.
ACTIVITY #2
RESOURCES:
· Multi-Flow Map or other graphic organizer to show cause and effect relationships.
STANDARDS ADDRESSED:
· 1.RL.4 Identify words and phrases in stories or poems that suggest feelings or appeal to the senses.
· 1.SL.4 Describe people, places, things, and events with relevant details, expressing ideas and feelings clearly.
· 1.L.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiple-meaning words and phrases based on grade 1 reading and content, choosing flexibly from an array of strategies.
c. Identify frequently occurring root words (e.g., look) and their inflectional forms (e.g., looks, looked, looking).
DESCRIPTION:
This activity will be focused on the different meanings of the word small (size and feeling small or insignificant) and how it is used in the chapter/short story “The Stage”. You can also focus on the suffix -er and how it affects the meaning of the word small and other words.
1. Start with a mini-lesson that demonstrates cause and effect. You can start with either the cause or effect and have the students identify its match. For example, you can ask students to share an effect of playing outside on a summer day (hot, thirsty, sweaty). Ask students what could be the cause of feeling tired (woke up too early, went to bed too late).
2. Next, explain to the students that their job is to read “The Stage” and find out what causes Frog to get smaller and smaller in the story. You may want to model how to make the multi-flow map or graphic organizer on which the students will be recording their findings.
3. Have students read “The Stage” and complete their map or graphic organizer. Each time Frog becomes smaller, they are to record the cause.
4. When students have finished, have groups of students share their recorded findings. Give them 5 minutes to discuss and additional time as needed to revise or add to their map.
5. Have students come back together as a class and share the causes that they found. Record the causes on the class map.
6. Lead a discussion as to what causes Frog to get smaller. (Each time Toad brags and asks Frog if he can do something like him, he gets smaller.) You can read aloud the questions Toad asks and have the students act out what happens to Frog.
7. Ask the students: Besides getting physically smaller, how do you think Frog is feeling? How does this relate to the word small? Does the word small have a meaning that doesn’t have to do with size? Have you ever felt the way Frog is feeling? When? You can do any speaking protocol that you feel would work for your students. You will also want to draw attention to the word small and smaller and discuss how adding -er affects the meaning of the word. You can do a mini-lesson on the concept if you feel it’s appropriate.
8. Finish with discussing the end of the short story and have the class clarify any misunderstandings.
9. Finally have the students turn in a literature response that explains how Frog is feeling.
ACTIVITY #3
RESOURCES:
· Large Venn Diagram or Double Bubble Map labeled with the characters Frog and Toad for each group of 4 students
· Sticky notes and colored pencils or markers (optional--pick 3 colors for all students to use: one color for Frog, one color for Toad, and a third color for both)
STANDARDS ADDRESSED: