photo of a bright red frog
© THOMAS MARENT/ARDEA/EARTH SCENES/ANIMALS ANIMALS

Don’t Lick This Frog!

The poison dart frog is teeny tiny. But it is very dangerous!

By Monique D. Hall
From the September 2020 Issue
Featured Skill: Text Features,
Vocabulary: poisonous
Common Core Standards
  • RI.2.1 Key details, RI.2.4 Vocabulary, RI.2.5 Nonfiction text features, RI.2.10 Read grade 2-appropriate informational text, SL.2 Participate in conversations about grade 2 texts, L.2.4.a Use sentence-level context as a clue to a word’s meaning
TEKS Standards
  • Science
    (10) Organisms and environments. The student knows that organisms resemble their parents and have structures and processes that help them survive within their environments. The student is expected to: (A) observe, record, and compare how the physical characteristics and behaviors of animals help them meet their basic needs
  • Social Studies
    (6) Geography. The student understands the locations and characteristics of places and regions in the community, state, and nation. The student is expected to: (A) identify major landforms and bodies of water, including each of the continents and each of the oceans, on maps and globes

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MEHGAN MURPHY/SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

The frog can fit on a dime!

Awww! Could this tiny red frog be any cuter?

It may be cute, but stay away! This teeny-weeny frog is the most poisonous (POY-zuhn-us) animal in the world! Its skin is covered with poison. That helps keep the frog safe from animals that want to eat it.

The frog’s poison is very strong. It could kill 10 grown-ups—or 2 really big elephants—in just five minutes.

But don’t worry. You won’t find this frog hopping around your town. It lives very far away!

JIM MCMAHON/MAPMAN

Activities (2)
Skills Activities
Activities (2) Download All Quizzes and Activities
Skills Activities

More About the Article

Science Focus

Animal adaptations

Step-by-Step Lesson Plan
Download the Lesson Plan

1. BEFORE READING

Preview the Nonfiction Text Features (5-10 minutes)

  • Our Mini Reads warm up kids’ reading muscles with short, easy-to-tackle reads on high-interest topics.
  • Start by previewing the nonfiction text features. First, focus on the big photo. Ask kids to share what they notice about the frog.
  • Can they find the orange caption pointing to the big photo of the frog? A caption is words that give information about the photo. What does the orange caption say? (the name of the kind of frog)
  • Now ask them to look for the little photo. What fact does the caption give us? (The frog can fit on a dime.)
  • Where is the map? Look at it together. Where do we live? (the U.S.) Where do poison dart frogs live? (South America)

Introduce Nosey (3 minutes)

  • Point out our doggie character Nosey at the bottom of page 3. Ask someone to read her voice bubble.
  • Explain that Nosey is going to be popping up throughout Storyworks 2. Not only does she have a long nose to sniff out facts, but she’s also nosy! She’s curious and wants to know about everything.

2. READ THE ARTICLE (10 minutes)

  • You can read this short article aloud together as a class, in small groups, or individually.
  • Point out the context clue that helps define the bold word poisonous. After the word, you can find the sentence “Its skin is totally covered in poison!” What is poison? (It is dangerous; it can kill you.)

3. AFTER READING

ELA Focus: Quiz (10 minutes)

  • Pass out the quiz for a quick comprehension check

ELA Focus: Key Details (20 minutes)

  • It’s time to help Nosey fill out her Fact File! Print out Nosey’s Fact File. Kids can find three facts from the article.
  • The fact boxes are each scaffolded to help kids know what to write.
  • Kids can share their facts with a partner, the other students at their tables, or the class.

Enrich the Learning: Paired Text Opportunity (time amount varies)

Vocabulary words are repeated throughout Storyworks 2 to give kids practice with new words in different contexts. This article pairs with our “Word Play” activity “Five Ways to Say Little.”

  • Vocabulary: The Word Play activity on page 12 gives kids five new words for the word little. It teaches shades of meaning and adjectives.
  • Can kids find two ways of saying “little” in “Don’t Lick This Frog!”? (They are tiny and teeny-weeny.)
  • They can look at the Word Play to see more ways of saying “little.”

Text-to-Speech