Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Leap Into the Year of the Frog

Did you know that the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) is highlighting 2008 as the Year of the Frog? In an effort to raise awareness and mark a major conservation effort to address the amphibian extinction crisis, the AZA has created a series of educational activities and resources.

Starting February 29th (Leap Day), more than 70 members of the AZA will be holding fun, family-friendly events and programs to educate people about amphibian conservation. Zoo and aquarium visitors can take part in a variety of activities including leapfrog contests, frog calling, zookeepers and aquarist talks, amphibian scavenger hunts, investigating salamander habitat, and close encounters with our colorful frog friends! Learn more about events near you.

In support of Year of the Frog, National Environmental Education Week has developed a section on amphibians and reptiles for its EE Week Curricula Library.

This year we'll not only be jumping into froggy activities, but reading these froggy titles.
What are you doing for leap day?

5 comments:

  1. This is such an awesome idea. I think I'll wear my FROG/TOAD bracelet that day and leap into a new book. (Or re-read Frog and Toad. You can't read any of those books too many times.)

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  2. What a fun idea. I also recommend A Toad for Tuesday Russell E. Erickson and Lawrence Di Fiori.

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  3. Tricia,

    I'm not sure what I'll be doing on leap day--maybe looking through my library collection for all my frog and amphibian books!

    Here are a few more book suggestions:

    - "Red-Eyed Tree Frog" by Joy Cowley

    - "The Frog Prince Continued" by Jon Scieszka

    - "The Prince of the Pond" by Donna Jo Napoli. It's a chapter book with a frog prince motif--but it's much more than a play on the traditional tale.

    - "Lizards, Frogs, and Polliwogs" by Douglas Florian. This collection contains several poems about frogs--including The Polliwogs, The Glass Frog, The Spring Peepers, and The Poison-Dart Frogs.

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  4. I LOVE Scieszka's book and completely forgot about it. We also have Florian's book, so I'll need to add those to the list. Thanks for the additional suggestions. I just may need to put an annotated list together!

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  5. What a timely post! There's a tv series about reptiles and amphibians on in the UK at the minute, and the stories about disappearing frogs are awful, so sad. I'm currently reading You Darkness by the Haitian author Mayra Montero, which is largely about the search for disappearing frog species. I'm going to review it on my blog when I've finished and would like to link to this post of yours if that's okay?

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