Teaching elementary aged children is a rewarding experience, but as educators and parents, finding the time and resources to create engaging lessons can be a challenge.

That's where this podcast comes in. Welcome to Naturally Teaching Elementary. I'm Victoria Zablocki, a certified elementary teacher turned outdoor educator.

With over a decade of experience coaching teachers on effective teaching methods, I'm passionate about teaching the whole child with authentic and place-based experiences in school and home settings. Join me as we explore strategies for teaching with practical teaching tips, insightful interviews, picture book reviews, and more. So let's grow together.

Hey everybody, welcome back to the Naturally Teaching Elementary Podcast. My name is Victoria Zablocki and I'm your host. So I'm super excited to spend the month of April talking about one of my favorite little ecosystems, vernal pools.

These lesser-known wetlands are such a treasure and are important to the overall health of the forest ecosystem. They also play a huge role in the success of frogs and their life cycles.

[1:01]

But before we get into the vernal pool and frog activities today, I wanted to start with a science snippet about what vernal pools are and why they're important.

Because if we're being totally honest, a lot of people haven't heard of vernal pools before. So let's start with what's a vernal pool. If you're familiar with the spring equinox, you likely know that it's also called the vernal equinox.

With that information, you can probably deduce that vernal pools are spring pools. These little ponds are temporary wetlands that can be found in some forests, often looking like puddles on the forest floor. They're made from snow melting and rain in the spring season, and they generally stick around to early summer, sometimes late summer.

The reason they're important is because these small ponds are not full year-round. They don't support big predators like fish, turtles, and river otters, which makes them a safe place for many different kinds of animals to lay their eggs. They're also the only ecosystem where a freshwater crustacean called fairy shrimp lives.

And after winter, the season of scarcity, vernal pools provide a great source of water for the forest animals. So, with that in mind, in this episode, I'm going to describe vernal pools and frog activities for grades K through 5. For each activity, I'll share the Next Generation Science Standard that inspired that activity, as well as the way it connects to vernal pools or frogs.

And make sure you listen through to the end of the episode, because even though I've paired these activities to particular standards, you may find yourself inspired to use a similar concept for your curriculum, or even use the same activity for a different grade. Also, if you're new to taking your students outside for learning, check out Episode 6: 5 Outdoor Education Safety Tips for Teaching Outside, for suggestions to make teaching outside easier. Now let's get into these vernal pools and frog activities.

[2:49]

So, for kindergarten, the Next Generation Science Standard that I pulled was K-ESS3-3: Communicate solutions that will reduce the impact of humans on the land, water, air, and or other living things in the local environment.

So how does this relate to vernal pools? Vernal pools are special wetlands that need protected from development and misuse by humans. So for this activity, I suggest starting with reading the book The Secret Pool by Kimberly Ridley. This beautiful book does a wonderful job of sharing what a vernal pool is and how it helps the forest ecosystem. And by reading this book first, you're giving your learners background information and context for why vernal pools are so special and deserve protection from human impact.

Once your learners have a little bit better of an understanding of what vernal pools are and the animals that they help, have a discussion about what may threaten vernal pools. Help them think about common ways that people harm nature and try to decide if those could threaten the health of vernal pools. Some examples include littering, dumping harmful substances, collecting too many creatures, turning the vernal pool into a building, etc.

If you have vernal pools in your green space, go and visit them to see if any of these human problems have already started affecting these special wetlands. After your learners have identified the ways that humans could damage vernal pools, work with them on a protection plan for a vernal pool near you. This could be as simple as visiting it every week and picking up trash in and around the pool, or it could be as complex as joining the vernal pool patrol described in last week's episode, episode 46.

This citizen science project would add data for your vernal pool to the database, providing scientists information about your pool and also helping to protect it. And I know not all schools or homes have vernal pools nearby, so if you don't have vernal pools in your green space, create a vernal pool from puddles in your yard and role play what to do to protect the unique ecosystem. You could bring out plastic frogs, insects and crayfish, and then have your learners put them in the puddle to represent a vernal pool.

Then you could have them practice or role play their ideas for taking care of vernal pools. As I've mentioned in previous episodes, role playing can be a great way to get your early childhood learners to connect with your curriculum and activities, and this is one of those opportunities to have your kids practice their plans and revise if needed.

[5:17]

The Next Generation Science Standard that I pulled for first grade was 1-PS4-1: Plan and conduct investigations to provide evidence that vibrating materials can make sound and that sound can make materials vibrate.

So how does this relate to vernal pools? Certain species of frogs use vernal pools to find mates. The males call to the females by sending air through their vocal sacs, creating vibrations and rather loud sounds for their body sizes.

So for this activity, you're going to take to YouTube to watch videos of frog species that can be found in vernal pools and watch their vibrations passing through the water. This will give your early childhood learners a concrete way to see the sound waves and how they move. Sound waves are such an abstract concept, especially for early childhood learners, so finding ways to let them actually see how sound moves is a very impactful way to teach that vibrating materials make sound.

Species of frogs that can be found using vernal pools are generally Wood frogs, Spring peepers, Chorus frogs, Leopard frogs, Pickerel frogs, and American toads. To save you time, I'll put links in the show notes for some videos that I think are helpful to see sound waves in the water. But keep in mind that this episode was recorded in April 2025, so the links may not work when you go to watch them.

You can always search for a species name plus the word “calling” and you should be able to find a bunch of options. I'll make sure to put a link for Wood frogs specifically since they have paired vocal sacs, meaning that they have two vocal sacs, whereas most other species only have one, so it's kind of cool to compare. But the best example actually to see how sound moves is toads, which you're like, toads, they're not frogs, but actually technically toads are a kind of frog.

So their call actually creates amazing ripples in the water and it looks really interesting and you can see that wave-like movement. After your learners have gotten a chance to watch the frogs and toads calling, talk about what they noticed. They'll probably notice that the vocal sac inflates, but they may miss that the vocal sacs are vibrating and that that movement can be seen in the water.

So rewatch the videos after highlighting these two points and encourage them to watch how the vocal sacs vibrate and how they can see the waves moving in the water. And if you want to add a science notebooking element to this activity, you could give your learners blank pieces of paper and have them draw a frog or a toad in the middle of the paper, add a vocal sac, and then add some sound waves in the water around them, sharing their newfound knowledge with you.

[7:43]

The Next Generation Science Standard that I pulled for second grade was 2-LS4-1: Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

So how does this relate to vernal pools? Although vernal pools are in the forest, they're actually a unique ecosystem that supports different life cycles and animal needs than the forest ecosystem itself.

So for this activity, if you have vernal pools near your school or home, you're going to do a survey to compare and contrast the two different ecosystems. The way that I would set this up would be to bring out two clipboards, one with a piece of paper labeled “vernal pools” and the other with a piece of paper labeled “forests”, as well as field guides and or a smart device that allows you to use the Seek app for organism identification. And if you're not sure what the Seek app is and how to use it, go back and listen to episode 45: 6 Earth Day Projects for Elementary Teachers and Homeschool Parents, and focus on the fifth grade project. I explain the Seek app's awesomeness there.

You'll also want to bring small containers like yogurt cups and spoons to be able to dig in soil and catch critters from both the soil and the water. While outside, remind your learners of your expectations and rules and have them give you lots of examples of how to keep nature safe. When children can generate their own examples, they're more likely to follow those expectations.

Also, you'll want to give your learners an exploration space that includes a vernal pool and a portion of a forest using natural boundaries or brightly colored ribbons on trees. Then have them go around and use the spoons and the containers to collect animals and parts of plants in both the vernal pools and the forest, and use the identification materials to try to figure out what they're finding.

And this doesn't have to go as deep as species name. It could be as simple as frog instead of chorus frog or leaves instead of ash tree. When they do find something and they ID it, they can run to the clipboard and record what they found in the corresponding ecosystem.

They also don't have to catch the critter. They can count a frog that's swimming in the vernal pool and record that. The goal of this activity is to try to see what animals and plants can be found in these neighboring ecosystems, but if we're being totally honest, it's a ton of fun when you can catch them and that's ultimately the goal of each child.

After they've had time to survey the two ecosystems, take your information inside and create a double bubble anchor chart of the two ecosystems. Have your students reference their lists of organisms and make notes of plants and animals that can be found in just the forest, just the vernal pools, and those that can be found in both. This will give them perspective that even though vernal pools are in the forest, they're actually a robust ecosystem that provides habitat to different animals.

And while you're out with those vernal pools, if you followed the second-grade activity from Episode 32: 6 Fun Winter Activities Aligned with K-5 Next Generation Science Standards, now would be a great time to remap your green space, looking for examples of solid and liquid water. And if you have forests included in your winter map, you may end up finding that that snow that they mapped before melted and added water to a vernal pool.

And again, I know that not all schools and homes have access to vernal pools, so if you wanted to do this activity even without vernal pools, you could read some picture books to give your learners the information they need to create the double bubble chart.

So, next week's episode is going to be all about vernal pool and frog picture books, so you could listen to that one to get some ideas for books, but I'm also going to share a few titles if you want to get moving on this activity this week. So for background information on vernal pool animals, I suggest reading The Secret Pool by Kimberly Ridley. I mentioned it for the kindergarten activity, but this book is incredible and includes a ton of information about the amazing animals that use vernal pools for survival.

And for a book that's specifically about forest animals, you could consider Forest Bright, Forest Night by Jennifer Ward. This book is filled with fantastic diurnal and nocturnal forest critters for your learners to enjoy.

[11:42]

For third grade, the Next Generation Science Standard that I pulled was 3-LS1-1: Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.

So how does this relate to vernal pools? One of the most important benefits of vernal pools is the fact that they're a fantastic nursery for amphibian and invertebrate young. Since these wetlands are temporary, they can't support those large predators, like I mentioned before, making their waters a safer place for animals that require water to grow and mature.

So for this activity, if you have a vernal pool near you, you're going to go out with your learners and dip for amphibians and invertebrates in different life stages. To be able to collect animals from vernal pools, you don't need anything too fancy. Remember before I mentioned yogurt cups and spoons?

You could also use aquarium nets, white ice cube trays, and Tupperware containers. All of those are usable and fantastic scientific tools. If you didn't listen to episode 46: Vernal Pool Patrol: A Citizen Science Project for Elementary Teachers and Homeschool Parents with Lindsey Harrell, make sure you go back and take a listen.

She gives great advice for what equipment to use to collect organisms as well as how to keep the equipment clean. She shares that keeping your equipment clean is paramount to helping these amazing little ecosystems stay healthy. After you've collected your equipment, make sure to create a data collection sheet for your learners to keep track of what they catch.

I would keep it basic with rows for you to add organisms’ names that you could catch and then columns labeled eggs, tadpole and larva, froglet and pupa, and adults. Again, you don't need to get down to a species name, but you could use field guides and the Seek app again to help you find what group of animals that organism belongs to. This will give you the opportunity to add what you're actually finding without making your learners feel like they're missing something.

I've seen children get pretty upset when they don't find what they're “supposed” to find. Once you have everything gathered, have your learners stand along the edge of the vernal pool and dip into the water with their equipment, and then look closely for different animals they catch. Have them record what they're finding, and then after you've had time, have a discussion about their catchings.

Did they find what they thought they would? Which life stage was most commonly caught? Why do they think that is? If they went back in a month, do they think they would catch the same life stages?

Dipping in vernal pools for life stages can be done now in April and also again in May. And when you visit a vernal pool in different months, you'll find animals in different stages, which is a great conversation to have with your kiddos, and they're seeing life stage changes in real time.

[14:17]

The Next Generation Science Standard that I pulled for fourth grade was 4-LS1-2: Use a model to describe that animals receive different types of information through their senses, process the information in their brain, and respond to the information in different ways.

So how does this relate to vernal pools? Male frogs call to female frogs using their vocal sacs, which the females hear with their tympanic membranes. When a female hears a male calling, she swims to him in the vernal pool to lay eggs. Both male and female frogs use their tympanic membranes to listen and feel for predators, and everybody stops moving and calling when they hear evidence of predators coming close.

So for this activity, you're going to play a frog call game. Have all of your learners gather together to hear the instructions. Share with them that there will be frogs in a vernal pool, and some of them will be Spring peepers, some Chorus frogs, and some Wood frogs.

There will also be three secret predators. Equally split your learners into three different groups and assign them one of the frog species. Have each group work together to come up with a hand clap signal to act as their species call.

Once each group of frogs has developed their signal and has had time to practice it, bring everyone back together and have them mix themselves up within your game space. Say, your carpet inside, an open space outside, or the gymnasium. Have everyone close their eyes, and you, the adult, walk amongst your learners, tapping three children on the shoulder, one from each frog group, to indicate that they'll be the predator.

Have everyone open their eyes and share with the group that the predators will be doing the same hand signal as their assigned group, with a slight twist. So all frogs need to pay close attention to the other frog calls in the pond, otherwise they may get eaten. To play the game, your learners are going to walk around the vernal pool using their frog call to find other frogs of the same species.

When a frog thinks they found someone from their own group based on their call, they turn to face the frog, share their call, and then the other frog returns their call. And if the first frog wants to team up, they return their call again. So to make a successful pair, there will be a series of three calls between two frogs.

If they make a successful pair, they can exit the vernal pool and observe what's happening inside the vernal pool. If a learner calls to a frog and they answer with a different call, the first learner can go silent and walk away. An unsuccessful pairing will result in two calls. The initial call and the response with no response afterwards.

If a frog calls to a predator, that predator responds, and if the frog knows the call doesn't sound quite right, they can go silent and walk away without being eaten. If a frog calls to a predator, that predator responds, and the frog calls again, they were duped by the sneaky predator and they get eaten.

The predator can do this by using their hands to nom nom the hands of the frog they snuck up on. Once eaten, they go to a designated spot outside of the vernal pool showing they were not successful. After giving instructions, have your learners walk around and mingle trying to find successful pairs without getting eaten. The round wraps up when all of the frogs have been paired or eaten.

Have a discussion afterwards about how easy it felt or how difficult it felt to find pairs. Was their group's call loud or quiet? Did the kind of call make a difference in their ability to find frogs of the same species? Did any of the frog calls sound too similar to tell apart? Did they find it easy to detect the predators or not?

First-hand experience will give your learners a better understanding of how animals receive different types of information through their senses, how they process it, and how they respond to it.

[17:56]

The Next Generation Science Standard that I pulled for fifth grade was 3-5-ETS1-3: Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved. (This is an engineering standard)

So how does this relate to vernal pools? Scientists use tools to collect organisms from the vernal pools for study and data collection. So for this activity, your learners are going to design and test a scientific tool for collecting creatures from vernal pools.

As the educator, you'll gather clean recyclables from your home, from caregivers, and or from a collection bin in the teacher's lounge, and have those available for your learners to use for their creations. To begin this lesson, put all the clean recyclables out on a table and give your learners grid paper to plan their scientific collection tools.

Give them permission to come to the table with the clean recyclables to see what sorts of materials they have to work with, and also let them know that they'll have access to masking tape, yarn and materials from nature. Then they use this information to draw their ideas on their grid paper. After everyone has had a chance to design their collection tool, set aside time for your learners to build their tools.

If you want them to build inside, make sure you have an outdoor collection period for your learners to grab sticks and other natural materials they plan to use. Start their build time by letting them collect the recyclables they plan to use from your table and go around and give them a length of masking tape and yarn that they can use. If they run out, they'll have to ask other learners if they have extra and if they can have it.

This will help you budget your materials and also keep your learners from using an unnecessary amount of tape. In my experience, children like to use as much tape as possible, so being upfront with how much they have to use will help both you and your learners have a positive experience with this build. Give them time to put together their creations and rebuild if their original plan doesn't work.

If you have a vernal pool near your school or home, you could have your learners take their tools out to the pool to test it. If you don't have vernal pools you can test the tools with, you could use a bucket of water with dried parsley floating inside for those students to try to collect. If your students are dissatisfied with the way their tool is performing, you can have them make note of what they don't like so that they can redesign and try again.

And if you like the sounds of this lesson and you're interested in other ways to engage your fifth graders with vernal pools, check out my mini unit on Teachers Pay Teachers called the Citizen Science Lab: Vernal Pools. This made-for-you mini unit has information about how to sign up for an iNaturalist account and project, helpful tips for surveying Vernal Pools, and ELA and science activities aligned with the Common Core State Standards and the Next Generation Science Standards.

Activities include a vernal pool informational reading with questions, mapping vernal pools near you, researching vernal pool organisms and creating an ID sheet, graph paper for designing their scientific tool, a recording sheet for their final scientific tool after building, a vernal pool data collection sheet, a class results sheet, a graphing page for the class results, and an opinion writing about whether your learner thinks this project was helpful to the scientific community or not.

[21:05]

So in a nutshell, we talked about six vernal pools and frog activities you could do with your learners this spring. For kindergarten, we talked about creating a vernal pool protection plan. For first grade, we talked about watching videos of frogs calling from vernal pools.

For second grade, we talked about conducting an ecosystem survey and creating a double bubble chart. For third grade, we talked about dipping for different animal life stages. For fourth grade, we talked about playing a frog call game.

And for fifth grade, we talked about designing and testing a scientific tool for collecting from vernal pools. And don't forget, if you're interested in getting your fifth graders more involved with vernal pools, check out my mini unit, Citizen Science Lab: Vernal Pools. And if you're finding these science activities helpful, but you're having a hard time keeping track of which activity is in which podcast episode, make sure to sign up for the free Science Activity Index.

It's organized by Next Generation Science Standard and includes the name of the activity, the name of the episode you can find it in, the link to the episode, and a timestamp so you can skip ahead to the information you need when you need it. So thanks for taking time to listen today. I know you're busy and I truly appreciate the time you take to tune in.

If you have any questions, wonderings, or vernal pools and frog activities that you use, get a hold of me on Instagram at Naturally.Teaching, or you can email me at victoria@naturallyteaching.com. Don't forget to check out the show notes for this episode at naturallyteaching.com/episode47, where I'll have the links to the Science Activity Index, the frog calling videos, the episodes that I mentioned, and my Citizen Science Lab on Teachers Pay Teachers. So thanks again for joining me today.

And until next time, keep exploring, keep learning, and keep naturally teaching. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's episode of the Naturally Teaching Elementary Podcast. I hope you found it informative, inspiring, and full of actionable insights to enhance your teaching journey.

Connect with me on social media for more updates, science tidbits, and additional resources. You can find me on Instagram and Facebook at Naturally.Teaching. Let's continue the conversation and share our passion for teaching elementary-age children together.

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