Present Tense with The Frog’s First Song

$3.00

Teach present tense through authentic literature with this engaging lesson based on The Frog’s First Song by Jazz Money and Jason Phu.

Students investigate how Verb Processes express time by identifying present-tense verbs, exploring how tense influences meaning, and rewriting the story as a recount in the simple past tense. Through games, mentor text analysis and purposeful writing, students develop a deep understanding of tense in context.

Aligned with the Australian Curriculum: English (Version 9) for Years 3–6, this ready-to-teach lesson includes explicit instruction, printable classroom resources, differentiated writing scaffolds and engaging learning activities.

Description

Help students understand why tense matters with this engaging grammar lesson inspired by the beautiful picture book The Frog’s First Song by Jazz Money and Jason Phu.

Rather than simply memorising verb endings, students explore how Verb Processes carry meaning through time. By analysing the author’s language choices, they discover how changing a verb from present tense to past tense transforms both the perspective and meaning of a text.

Beginning with the interactive Tomorrow and Yesterday storytelling game, students experience how events shift across time before becoming Verb Process Detectives, identifying present-tense verbs throughout the mentor text. They then apply their understanding by transforming the story into a recount, rewriting it in the simple past tense.

Aligned with the Australian Curriculum: English (Version 9) for Years 3–6, this lesson combines functional grammar, quality literature and purposeful writing.

This lesson plan includes:

An engaging Tomorrow and Yesterday oral language game
Explicit teaching of Verb Processes and present tense
Guided mentor text analysis using The Frog’s First Song
Whole-class “Verb Process Detective” activity
A scaffolded recount writing task
A printable Tense Tips classroom poster
Optional recount starter strips for differentiation

Perfect for teaching tense, recount writing and author’s craft, this lesson helps students understand how they can use tense purposefully in their own writing.