If You Hopped Like a Frog

Did you know a frog can jump twenty times its body length?  If you could jump 20 times your body length how far could you jump?  Well, if you are 4 1/2 feet tall you could jump from home plate to first base!  That would be super cool.  


The book If You Hopped Like a Frog by David Schwartz shares what you could do if you possessed the abilities of animals!  This book is one of my all time favorites.  It really gets kids (and adults) thinking.  Not only does it get you thinking, it gets you thinking about MATH!  This is such a great book to share with your child during summer vacation because it will help keep their math skills fresh!

As you read the book with your child, take time to just marvel in the fun facts.  It is such a fun book with great illustrations!  After reading the story, be sure to read the explanation pages.  The explanation pages hold all the interesting information.  The author does a great job of asking probing questions to get your child thinking! 

You and your child will naturally use your schema (background knowledge) when reading this story.  In fact, the author counts on you using schema to enhance your understanding.   

A great extension activity to this book is to figure out each scenario with your child's statistics and with your statistics!  Compare your results and talk about why the results are different.  This is such a fun way to practice math!   Taking it one step further, you can even write your own version of the book! 

Get ready to have fun with ratios and proportions!