A very special frog

A very special frog

Pencil and paperOnline interactive
Overview
Using this Resource
Connecting to the Curriculum
Marking Student Responses
Working with Students
Further Resources
This task is about using details to work out the main idea of the text.
Read "A Very Special Frog", pages 8 to 11 in School Journal Part 1 Number 4, 2005. In this text there are lots of details about:

1.  The Maud Island frog is different from other frogs.
2.  The Maud Island frog is endangered.

Question 1Change answer

a)  First, find details in the text about: "The Maud Island frog is different from other frogs."
     Write down or tell in your own words what the details say:
     Page 8911
     
     Page 8911
     
     Page 8911
     
     Page 8911
     
     Page 8911
     
     Page 8911
     

Question 1Change answer

b)  Second, find details in the text that are about: "The Maud Island frog is endangered." 
     Write down or tell in your own words what the details say:
     Page 8911
     
     Page 8911
     
     Page 8911
     
     Page 8911
     
     Page 8911
     
     Page 8911
     

Question

c)  What is the main idea of this text?

    • The Maud Island frog is very different from other frogs.

    • The Maud Island frog is found in only two places in New Zealand.

    • New Zealand is the home of some very unusual animals.

    • The Maud Island frog is an unusual, endangered frog.

Task administration: 

This task can be completed with pen and paper or online (with some auto marking).

Equipment: "A Very Special Frog" written by Lindy Kelly, photographs by Paddy Ryan, School Journal Part 1, Number 4, Learning Media, 2005. 

  1. To do this task, students need to read "A Very Special Frog", pages 8 to 11 of the journal above.
  2. Teachers may wish to clarify the word "endangered" before reading. See Working with Students.
  3. The word "details" on the student sheet may also need clarification. See 'What's the main idea?'
  4. Remind students that the main idea is what the author wants readers to understand is important.
  5. This task can be done individually or in groups.
  6. Responses can be discussed by teacher and student only, or within larger groups.
  7. Group discussion has the advantage of giving students opportunities to consider others' ideas and to practise justifying their own.
  8. The student sheets could be enlarged for students to work on together.
Level:
3
Curriculum info: 
English, Making meaning, Reading
Key Competencies: 
Thinking, Using language, symbols, and texts
Keywords: 
comprehension, main idea, School Journal, evaluating, synthesis, SJ-1-4-2005
Description of task: 
Students are assessed on their ability to find details that support them to identify the main idea in a text about an endangered species of New Zealand. Reading age 8.5-9.5. SJ-1-4-2005. Text provided.
Curriculum Links: 
This resource can be used to help to identify students’ reading, responding to, and/or thinking critically about texts.
 
Links to the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading
This resource helps to identify students’ ability to:
  • locate and summarise ideas

as described in the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading at: http://www.literacyprogressions.tki.org.nz/The-Structure-of-the-Progressions.

Learning Progression Frameworks
This resource can provide evidence of learning associated with
Acquiring and using information and ideas in informational texts, sets 3-4
within the Reading Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Read more about the Learning Progressions Frameworks.
Answers/responses: 
a) Student finds details in the text about:The Maud Island frog is different from other frogs. For example:Page 8:

  • When the text says there is one frog that isn't like and doesn't do the sorts of things we expect frogs to do.

Page 9:

  • It's tiny (student uses prior knowledge of there being bigger frogs than this).
  • It chirps, rather than croaks.
  • It catches its prey by pouncing on it and then puts it into its mouth with its "hands", rather than catching prey with its tongue.
  • It lives in bush high above any water, rather than in water.
Page 11:
  • It "doesn't have webbed feet".
  • It "doesn't live in water".
  • In water, it "dog-paddles" rather than kicks.
  • Its young go from eggs to froglets, rather than going "through the usual 'tadpole' stage".
  • "Instead, the female frogs lay their eggs"/"The males then look after the froglets".
b) Student finds details in the text about:The Maud Island frog is endangered. For example:Page 8:

  • "There is a very rare and endangered species of frog..."
  • "until very recently, it lived only on Maud Island..."/was only found in one small place.

Page 11:

  • People took three hundred of the frogs from Maud Island to a nearby island so that the frogs could live in two places rather than one. This would give this frog species a better chance of survival if one island's population was threatened by fire or disease.
  • "Maud Island frogs are protected by law".
  • "they must not be handled or disturbed".
  • Efforts made by people should mean that "these rare creatures will still be around in another hundred years...".
c) Student identifies the main idea:The Maud Island frog is an unusual, endangered frog.
Diagnostic and formative information: 
This resource was trialled by 35 Year 5 students. The trial involved small groups of students across 5 primary schools.

Details identified by students

Students generally had difficulty finding details in the text that related to the two groups of details identified for them.

At a), the most commonly identified details were those where more explicit comparisons were made, e.g., "Most frogs..., but the Maud Island frog...".

At b), the word "endangered" helped some students to select a detail that had this word in it or words that they identified as relating to it, e.g., "protected".

  Incorrect responses Likely misconceptions
a) Many students gave evidence from the text that referred solely to frog features. Students did not understand that a comparison is being asked for in the task and is made in the text.
b)
The Maud Island frog is endangered because:
i) they dog-paddled so they are slow swimmers/they were "chucked" into chilly bins/the father frogs look after the babies.
ii) 300 of them had been wiped out [by fire and disease].
i) Students may be bringing inappropriate prior knowledge to these interpretations. In doing so, they are confusing "endangered" with "in danger".
 
ii) Students appeared to have misunderstood the meaning of the conjunctive "even if" (page 11, paragraph 3), perhaps confusing it with 'even though'.

It is interesting to note that about two-thirds of trial students identified the correct main idea at task c), even though tasks a) and b) proved mostly difficult for them. It cannot be assumed that these students can articulate the main idea themselves, as this resource provides considerable scaffolding. Nor can it be assumed that these students are coming to the main idea through the appropriate process of finding, grouping, and combining important details.

Next steps: 
a) To build awareness of when comparisons are being made
Compare two known, similar objects, for example an apple and an orange. Brainstorm their similarities and differences. Connect some of the students' ideas and identify the words you use to connect them and therefore make a comparison, e.g., They both have pips, but apple pips are brown and orange pips are white./ Rather than peeling an apple, as you would an orange, you can eat an apple as it is./ Apples have thin skins instead of thick ones like oranges./ Unlike apples, oranges...Photocopy the article, and give students highlighters so they can identify words in this text that indicate a comparison is being made.

b) i) To clarify the concept of "endangered"

Refer students to the second paragraph on page 8 and the key words used before the term "endangered", "very rare". Brainstorm what this might mean. Confirm by reading on to last phrase on this page. Clarify that the term "endangered" applies to the species, not to individual frogs. See technical language section in https://arbs.nzcer.org.nz/research-and-articles#language-of-science--specialised-language-. 

b) ii) To build understanding of conjunctions

If students are confused by the second sentence in paragraph 3 on page 11 and misunderstand the meaning of "even if", try rewording and rearranging the order of the information. For example:By taking 300 frogs to Motuara Island, there would still be a chance that this species of frog might survive, even if all the frogs left on Maud Island were wiped out by fire or disease.See conjunction section in Part Two of https://arbs.nzcer.org.nz/research-and-articles#thinking-about-how-language-works .

Also see What's the main idea? .

For a science ARB about the life cycle of frogs, see Life Cycle of a Frog  

Duffy, G. (2003). Explaining reading: A resource for teaching concepts, skills, and strategies. New York, NY: The Guildford PressMinistry of Education. (2006). Effective literacy practice in years 5 to 8.  Wellington: Learning Media Limited.Derewianka, B. (2005). A Grammar Companion for Primary Teachers. Newtown, NSW: PETA.