So our classroom has had two little aquatic frogs as our classroom pets - until today. Mister Hop died today, sometime during the school day. I realized it during the morning, but didn't say anything, just kind of moved their tank a little behind a flower vase, hoping the kids wouldn't notice. Which was, of course, not to be. So the kids realized it in the middle of the afternoon, and we all crowded around to see the dead frog. Anyhow, the ultimate outcome was that we had a frog funeral after school today. L and her two friends, M & B, planned the funeral during my staff meeting after school, and they were all ready to go when my meeting got out. They were longing to dissect it, but since it was only about 1 inch long, I ruled out dissecting. We rounded up a few plastic spoons to serve as dead frog transport as well as grave digging tools and headed outside. The girls decided on the "reading garden" beside our playground as his ultimate resting spot, and used the spoons to dig a hole. Then L read the eulogy she had written for him, which was truly one of the proudest moments I can remember in recent history. I asked her if I could borrow her writing journal so that I could copy it here:
"We stand here today to honor Mister Hop. He was a good frog. But sadly he has passed on without us. So we only got to know him for a short while before we bury this young frog. His pages have been turned and his story read so that we could fully understand him."
For a child who has never been to a funeral, I thought that was a pretty good eulogy!
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| Laying Mister Hop to rest |
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| The mode of funeral transport |
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| L reading the eulogy |
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