Our sweet little A-Girl is 4! We had a wonderful family birthday with all of the Grandma's and Grandpa's and Great Grandma's. We now have two new friends at home who live in the Montessori classroom area and have become the object of much study! Grandma and Grandpa T purchased two African Dwarf Frogs (Hymenochirus Curtipes) at a great Educational/Toy store in Vernon BC called Vernon Teach and Learn.
Their classroom habitat
They live in harmony with Living Gravel TM (a bacteria infused gravel) and a Lucky Bamboo Plant. Essentially, the unique “Living Gravel” is acting as the natural filter for the water, filtering the dangerous ammonia left from waste material and converting it into nutrients for the aquatic plant. The plant feeds off of those nutrients and converts them into nutrients for the water and the wildlife. The wildlife then converts those nutrients into nutrients (waste material) for the gravel. It is a balanced ecosystem environment that is constantly cleaning and conditioning the water. Not only can A. learn about aquatic frogs but when she starts learning about ecosystems this habitat will be a simple example for her to understand. She can also learn about aquatic plants and bacteria! It's a 4 in one learning tool and the frogs are so cute too!
I call them Tiny and Mini but according to A. they don't have names!
Physical Science and Zoology shelf.
The top two shelves are dedicated to learning about our new friends.
Frog Life Cycle.
The images are from Montessorimom.com's frog lifecycle cards
Laying out the Life Cycle with cards and little froggy miniatures
Frog Coloring Page courtesy of www.first-school.ws
Beautiful Bull Frog!
I long to find some frog eggs that we can nurture to frog maturity and then let go back in the wilderness. I was very fortunate to be able to experience that when I was young and I'll never forget taking care of those little guys from egg to adult frog! We've heard of a park fairly nearby that has an explosion of frogs every year. So many that there are signs posted telling cars to slow down or they may skid off of the road due to the thousands of car tire frogicides. Maybe we can save some from that fate. Will keep you posted!
2 comments:
Wow they are soo cute! Do they just stay under water or is there something for them to perch on?
We are heavily into frogs and life cycles around here as well. Our tadpoles are in the third stage of the cycle at the moment. L can't wait until they get gills!
Your classroom looks awesome! Looks like you've been busy.
How does it feel to have a four year old?
belated bday wishes aayla! I wouldn't dare to have a frog/tadpole in my house!
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