Prince of the Pond Study Guide

STUDY GUIDE The Prince of The Pond: Otherwise Known As De Fawg Pin is an old fairy tale with a modern twist.

In this study guide you will find classroom-ready activities relating to the themes and issues of friendship, overcoming adversity, family, community, tolerance, and the science of the pond.

Take time to look over the worksheets before your Book-It All Over experience. Feel free to adapt the activities to fit your classroom needs and the level of your students.

All you need to do is make copies of the worksheets and pass them out to your class!

CREDITS: Concepts by Margaret Carter, Gail Frasier; Edited by Sara Lachman; Curriculum by Margaret Carter Design by Ken Holmes, Rachel Wilsey and Christine Texeira Study Guide Š 2010 Book-It All Over. No parts of this guide may be reproduced without express permission.

Introduction to Book-It All Over

Book-It All Over, the educational outreach program of Book-It Repertory Theatre, is dedicated to inspiring people of all ages to read. We tour a diverse range of stories to schools, libraries, and community centers throughout the Pacific Northwest, conduct long-term residencies in schools, offer teacher professional development for school staff, and present low-cost student matinées of our mainstage shows. What you will see and hear at a Book-It All Over performance is literature spoken by the characters as if it were dialogue in a play. The unique Book-It Style™ preserves the author’s voice by speaking both narrative and character dialogue—including the “he saids” and “she saids.” Book-It takes the written word back to its roots—storytelling!

Arthur Allen in La Mariposa, 2008.

Photo by Chris Bennion.

Our Mission

To provide an interactive relationship between youth and literature through theatrical productions and educational programs that promote the joy of reading, embrace diversity, enhance student and teacher learning and inspire the imagination.

Introduction to the Story

The Prince of The Pond: Otherwise Known As De Fawg Pin, is an old fairy tale told with a modern twist. The story begins with a hideous hag turning a handsome Prince into a frog. As the Prince begins to adjust to his new frog body, he encounters an intelligent girl frog named Jade. Jade is confounded by the Fawg Pin’s inability to perform simple frog tasks, such as talking, walking, eating, drinking, singing, avoiding predators, and mating. Jade is so intrigued by the Fawg Pin’s odd behavior that she decides to stay with him and help him survive in the pond world. When mating season arrives, Jade tells Pin it is time to lay eggs, but Pin has different ideas than she does about being a frog parent; he wants to start a frog family. He soon finds that this is not a good idea because there are too many tadpoles for a tight-knit family. Once the tadpoles turn into froglets, most of them go off on their own. However, one froglet named Jimmy stays with Jade and Pin and they become a family. Unfortunately, the family’s peaceful life is disrupted when the hag captures Jimmy! Jade and Pin save Jimmy and all is well until Pin encounters a Princess who thinks he is awfully cute. She gives him a kiss, which brings the story back to the classic fairytale ending: the Princess kisses the frog and the frog turns back into a Prince.

Author Background

Donna Jo Napoli lives in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, with her husband and their five children. She has received three degrees from Harvard University: a B.A. in Mathematics, an M.A. in Italian Literature, and a Ph.D. in General and Romance Linguistics. She is currently a professor of linguistics and chair of the linguistics program at Swarthmore College, where she also teaches courses in writing fiction for children. Her writing ranges from contemporary fiction, to fantasy, to historical novels. She also writes mathematics tales and science tales, as well as books geared toward helping deaf people learn to read. Her novel The Prince of the Pond (1992) won the New Jersey Reading Association Award for 1997.

Source: http://www.donnajonapoli.com/

Introduction to the Characters THE FAWG PIN HAG JADE JIMMY TADPOLES BULLFROG

SNAPPING TURTLE CRAYFISH WATER SNAKE WATER SCORPION PRINCESS Page 2

Leaping Lily Pad! Where Does Pin Jump Next. . .

De Fawg Pin finds himself in several tricky situations while living in the pond. Individually or with your teacher, fill in the blank spaces with the correct word from the list below. Then, put the events from the story in sequential order by placing a number in the lily pad under each sentence.

KISSES • WATER SNAKE • CRAYFISH • EAT • PRINCE • THISTLE PLANT • DEVOUR

Page 3

WHA HAPPEN? . . . To De Fawg Pin After you read the book or see the Book-It All Over production of The Prince of The Pond, you will be ready to answer the following questions. See how well you remember details of what you saw or read.

Write a few sentences to answer each question.

1. In what ways does Jade help the Fawg Pin adjust to his new

environment?

2. How did Pin get out of the tricky situation with the snapping

turtle?

3. How many tadpoles do Pin and Jade leave in the well?

Why do they do that?

4. Pin finds food for Jimmy like a human would. How does this become a problem for Jimmy in the frog world?

5. How does Pin eventually end up turning back into a human?

Page 4

Humans vs. Frogs De Fawg Pin used to be human, and now he has to adjust to the ways of a frog. The list below includes some behaviors of both humans and frogs. Write the number of each behavior in either the human shape or the frog shape, whichever is appropriate.

1. Eats bugs

11. Feeds infants milk and food

2. Walks

12. Has no emotions

3. Sings through vocal sacs

13. Has a close-knit family

4. Drinks water by absorbing it through their skin

14. Stays at the bottom of a pond

5. Eats cooked food

15. Eats algae as a youngster

6. Cries for help when there is danger 7. Hops 8. Has tadpoles

when there is danger 16. Does not know their Mother and Father 17. Drinks water through their mouth

9. Sings using vocal chords

18. Has emotions, such as pride and 10. Knows their Mother and Father love

Page 5

WORDSEARCH In this puzzle, circle the words on the list below.

AQUATIC ASTOUNDING BURBLED CACKLED CROONING DISCORDANT

FIERCELY FLEXIBLE FRANTIC FRENZY GLEAM HIDEOUS

JAUNTY METAMORPHOSIS MUCUS GLANDS NINCOMPOOPS PREDATORS PROMINENT

QUIVERED REFLECTING SCRUMPTIOUS SPECTACLE VIBRATIONS

Define three of the words on the list, and make up a sentence for each.

1.

2.

3.

Page 6

The Frog Lifecycle

“Ook, ook. No tay, no tay, shouted Pin.” That’s what he said when the tadpoles’ tails started to shrink away. “Ook, ook. Fawg!”

Frog eggs are laid in the water. When the eggs hatch into tadpoles, they breathe with gills and swim using a tail. As the tadpoles mature, they lose their tails, and develop lungs for breathing air. In harsh climates, frogs bury themselves in sand and mud and hibernate through the cold winter. The first true frogs evolved during the early Jurassic period, about 200 million years ago (during the time of the dinosaurs). http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/amphibians/Frogprintout.shtm

Read the out-of-order definitions below, and then label the frog life-cycle diagram with the appropriate term.

TADPOLE: (also called polliwog) Tadpoles spend their time swimming in the water, eating, and growing.

Within 4 weeks, tadpoles breathe using gills and have a tail.

ADULT: Between 12 and 16 weeks, the adult frog breathes with lungs and its tail has been absorbed by the body.

EGG: Tiny frog eggs are laid in masses in the water by a female frog. The eggs hatch into tadpoles within 6-21 days.

TADPOLE WITH LEGS: In this stage, between 6 to 9 weeks, the tadpole sprouts legs and arms, grows a longer body, and has a more distinct head. It still breathes using gills and has a tail.

FROGLET: In this stage, at about 12 weeks, the almost mature frog breathes with lungs and still has some of its tail.

Page 7

Twisted Tales The Prince of The Pond fairytale comes from a long history of storytelling. The first recorded version of the story was titled “The Frog Prince� and was written in 1810 by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. It is one of their most beloved stories and traditionally appears first in their collections. Though the most well-known version of the story was the one told by the Grimm Brothers, it has been told, retold, twisted, and made anew throughout history. The original folk tale took place in a simple setting and the girl who kissed the frog was either a peasant or royalty depending on the re-telling. Donna Jo Napoli’s version of the fairytale takes many twists and turns away from the original story.

Create your own twisted frog fairy tale, inspired by the original story of The Frog Prince. In your version of the story, the three events below must take place. Use additional paper if necessary.

A Spell is Cast A Physical Change Takes Place A Frog is Kissed

Page 8

International Frog Jumping and Ribbiting Contest Take a blue or green sheet of paper or fabric and place it in the middle of the floor to represent a pond. Teach the following frog facts to your students to prepare them for the activity.

How do frogs sing?

• Some frogs have vocal pouches that vary in size and stretch like balloons.

• These sacs serve as a resonating chamber, allowing the frogs to sing!

• Male frogs vocalize by squeezing their lungs with their nostrils and mouth shut.

• Air flows over their vocal chords and into their vocal sacs blowing it up like a bubble gum bubble!

• Other frogs can make noises without a sac.

• For some species of frogs, only the males sing.

• Large frogs have deep voices, meaning they call at a low frequency.

• Small frogs sing in high chirps, meaning they call at a high frequency.

Why do frogs sing?

• Frogs sing when they are trying to attract a mate. “HEY, Baby!”

• Frogs sing to mark their territory. “This is MY Lilypad!”

• Frogs sing because they know the weather is going to change. “Rain!!!”

• Frogs squeak when they are frightened or hurt. “Ouch! Eek!” What sound does a frog make in YOUR language?

Here is a list of some of the different ways people think frogs sing around the world!

Arabic (Algeria): gar gar Chinese (Mandarin): guo guo Dutch: kwak kwak English (USA): ribbit English (GB): croak French: coa-coa

German: quaak, quaak Hebrew: kwa kwa Hungarian: bre-ke-ke Italian: cra cra Japanese: kerokero Korean: gae-gool-gae-gool

Russian: kva-kva Spanish (Spain): cruá-cruá Swedish: kvack Thai: ob ob (with high tone) Turkish: vrak vrak http://allaboutfrogs.org/weird/general/songs.html

Activity! Split the class into groups of four. Tell each group they are frogs and

they will be singing in the language of the country you give them. Teach each group how to say ribbit in a different language. Then, have each student jump over the pond in the middle of the classroom. As they jump over the pond, they should ribbit in their country’s language. You can repeat this until you get through the entire list, or just select a few. You can add on challenges, such as using a particularly type of voice. For example, have them ribbit in a deep voice, a high voice, a frightened voice, a powerful voice, an “I like you” voice, or a warning voice. You can also have each group select a reason why their frog might be singing from the list above.

For example, they might use a Russian voice (“kva-kva”), and speak as if they are trying to mark their territory.

Page 9

Frog Facts Log onto the websites listed below to find the answers to the following questions.

1.

What is the furthest distance a frog can jump?

2.

For how many years have the ancestors of frogs been around?

3.

What are some of the differences between a Bullfrog and a Mink Frog? What are some of the similarities?

4.

What are some threats to frogs that could cause them to become extinct? What are some ways you could help save them?

5.

Are there any kinds of frogs that can fly?

6.

How has studying frogs helped scientists learn more about medicines that could help humans?

7.

What do Northern Green Frogs eat when they live in the wild?

http://www.exploratorium.edu/frogs/mainstory/index.html http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/frogs/field_ids.html http://www.savethefrogs.com/index.html http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/frogs/fact_fiction.html http://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/frogs/medieval_magic.html http://www.rosamondgiffordzoo.org/assets/uploads/animals/pdf/NorthernGreenFrog.pdf

Page 10