Who doesn’t like to see a frog hopping along? Eating bugs? Doing its thing? In the below poem about a frog, you will see a different side of a frog. This poem is inspired by a neighborhood walk with my little girls.
We walk pretty much every day. And we see a ton of wildlife, especially in our local park about a 10-minute walk from our home. In the pond, we see white ibis, great blue herons, turtles, pigeons, ravens, and minnows. You never know what animal will show itself!
On the way to the park one day, we walked down the sidewalk. Usually, animals like birds, squirrels, lizards, and various bugs will move out of the way as my little family comes through. Instead, we had this frog who stood its ground. The closer we got, he still did not move. And finally, we were upon his location, and he would not budge.
Ultimately, I had to step over him.
That got me thinking. There could be many reasons a frog wouldn’t move. Maybe he was dead, but he didn’t look like it. Maybe he was just tired from a long night of hunting bugs. Maybe he was afraid of 3 giants coming towards him. Or maybe he was just stubborn. Who knows?
Keep reading to find out why the frog in the poem did not move!
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A Poem About A Frog
A Frog Who Would Not Move
by Kristin Menke
There was once a frog
Sitting on a sidewalk,
Who would not budge,
Who would not move,
Who would not jump or hop or groove
To the busy beat of the bustling street.
He sat there and he would not move.
A tiny ant came struggling by
With a huge crumb on his back,
Who saw the frog on the sidewalk.
He asked the frog to move aside,
But the frog would not budge.
He would not move.
He would not jump or hop or groove
To the lively beat of the very loud street.
He sat there and he would not move,
So the ant lugged the crumb around him.
A red ladybug ambled by
With her babies in her six hands,
Who saw the frog on the sidewalk.
She asked the frog to move aside,
But the frog would not budge.
He would not move.
He would not jump or hop or groove
To the jocund beat of the jostling street.
He sat there and he would not move,
So the ladybug and family walked around him.
A little boy strolled along
With a large box in his hand,
Who saw the frog on the sidewalk.
He asked the frog to move aside,
But the frog would not budge.
He would not move.
He would not jump or hop or groove
To the crazy beat of the chaotic street.
He sat there and he would not move.
The little boy asked him one more time
To get going or move aside.
He asked the frog,
“Why can’t you move?”
The frog replied,
“My feet are stuck
In this pink muck!
So I cannot move.
I cannot jump or hop or groove to the beat Of this busy street!”
“Can I help?” the little boy asked.
And proceeded to remove the goo
That stuck so strongly to each shoe.
He thanked the boy
And hopped for joy,
For now he could move.
He now could jump and hop and groove With everyone else on this beat-filled street.
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5 Fun Activities for a Poem About a Frog
#1 One-Sentence Summaries
One easy way to help students with their comprehension skills is to help them break up a larger text into smaller chunks. When it comes to poetry, we can focus on the stanzas! Why not have your students write a summary for each stanza instead of a summary for the whole entire poem?
As you reread “A Frog Who Would Not Move,” you could model how to write a one-sentence summary based on textual evidence (words, phrases, and/or lines). Simple enough and effective!
#2 Alliteration Activity
Another activity you could easily accomplish with this poem is to identify alliteration from the poem and then have students come up with their own personal examples! I have always found that students love this type of activity. Here is some help!
Definition: words that are located near each other that have the same beginning consonant (not vowel) sounds to emphasize the sound and meaning
There was once a frog
Sitting on a sidewalk,
Who would not budge,
Who would not move,
Who would not jump or hop or groove
To the busy beat of the bustling street.
He sat there and he would not move.
CLICK BELOW TO GET THIS POETRY PACK WITH DIFFERENTIATED ALLITERATION ACTIVITY OPTIONS!
#3 Visualization:
Visualization is incredibly helpful for students when working to understand poetry. Being able to visualize by reading a detailed description is vital to understanding the most important parts of any text; however, visualization is even more important when it comes to poetry. It can be difficult to grasp a poem’s meaning in this day and age. But don’t despair!
Instead, we can help our students by assigning a visualization activity. Really, who doesn’t like to draw or color once in a while?
Activity: Reread the poem “A Frog Who Would Not Move” by Kristin Menke. Use textual evidence from ONE stanza in the poem to create an image/visual of the moon.
Need some ideas for National Poetry Month? Click below!
#4 Reading Questions
I love to use literature in every part of the language arts classroom. I don’t enjoy standardized tests, but they come up every year, and our students should feel prepared for them.
Instead of using random reading passages, why not use FUN literature with reading comprehension questions that look like standardized tests to get students thinking about what they have read?
EXAMPLE READING QUESTIONS FOR A POEM ABOUT A FROG-
- This question has 2 parts. Part A: How does the tone of the little boy change? Part B: Which 2 pieces of evidence support your answer to Part A? (Tone & Citing Evidence)
- What is the central idea of the poem about a frog? (Central Idea)
- How is the poem about a frog organized? What do you notice from stanza to stanza? (Structure)
#5 Quick Quiz (for this fun poem about a frog)
After your students have taken the time to answer the reading questions, a quick quiz for this poem about a frog is just the ticket! When students answer the questions before looking at possible answers, they will be more prepared to take the quiz!
Why read a poem about a frog?
Well, why not read a poem about a frog? This musical, descriptive poem teaches a life lesson about not judging someone based on her/his actions or lack thereof. And why not have a poem about a frog teach this vital theme?
We could all use a reminder every now and then to hold back our assumptions and work to understand each other a bit better, and what better way than using a poem about a frog 🙂
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