The Frog and Toad stories are some of our favorites here at Castle Learning! Many of our employees’ most early adventures in reading were thanks to these wonderful stories written by Arnold Lobel. Others also fondly recall teaching their children the joys of becoming engaged readers through these stories. The Frog and Toad stories are key parts of the early reading curriculum for so many schools, and because of these traditions, our units of study questions are very popular.
There are plenty of substantial reasons why the tales of Frog and his best friend Toad are so valuable to children learning to read today, whether they are flying a kite, cleaning the house, or learning the importance of patience. Those reasons, combined with our own early reading experiences, make these lessons some of our favorite offerings.
Themes
The key theme throughout the stories is friendship. This universal theme resonates with early readers, who are simultaneously learning to socialize with other children as they develop their reading skills. It teaches them to understand that, like Frog and Toad, all friends are different and all friends need to be kind to each other. Frog and Toad share the most important of life’s lessons in their stories.
Development of Skills
The stories are written in simple, engaging ways that allow a teacher to pay careful attention to a young reader’s development. Young readers can practice reading sight words and high frequency words while repeated readings improve early reading fluency.
Identity
Frog and Toad are individual characters with different points-of-view and reactions to situations. While Frog tends to be more open, friendly, and relaxed, Toad can be more serious and uptight. The stories show that even though they are different, they can help each other through kindness and caring for one another. Children will laugh at the humor that the differing viewpoints create and will understand that everyone is different but capable of caring for others.
It’s easy to see why the stories written in the early 1970s have universal themes, problem-solving, characters, and humor that continue to make the series a golden choice to engage, inspire, and teach young children how to read.