Early Math Project

Why does the frog decide never to sit on a half-sunk log?   

   

Topics: counting, comparison, predicting, sequencing

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Activities To Do Together: 

• While reading A Frog in the Bog, explore quantity by talking about whether there are more snails or flies, more fleas or frogs. Ask your child to show you why they think there is more of one animal than another.

• Count the flies together. After you have counted, ask your child how many flies there are. Count the snails together. After you have counted, ask your child how many snails there are. 

• Count together often and make it fun. Count the number of buttons on a shirt, the number of stairs climbed, the number of crackers on a plate, the number of dogs at the park, etc.

• Point out some of the number words that are included in the story. If your child expresses an interest in knowing what the numbers look like when written as numerals, write the numbers 1-5 on a piece of paper. 

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Questions for Mathematical Thinking: 

1. What happened in this story from start to finish?

2. Why does the frog keep growing bigger and bigger?

3. What does the frog eat that seems to make him grow the very biggest? Why do you think so?

4. Do you think it would be easy to mistake an alligator for a half-sunk log? Why do you think that?

5. The frog screams “gator” and out come all of the bugs, slugs, flies, snails, and the tick. What happens to the frog? 

6. Why do you think the alligator decided not to chomp on the frog?

 

Vocabulary for Building Math Concepts:

big, bigger, five, four, half-sunk, inside, itty-bitty, later, little, middle, one, small, smaller, three, tiny, two, whole, wide 

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Please check out the Book Guide for A Frog in the Bog for more!

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Online External Resources for A Frog in the Bog:

• Helping Your Child See and Show Mathematical Ideas