San Francisco Tadpole Headstart Program
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Introduction
Thanks to a $5,000 grant from the Helen and Allan Ridley Charitable Trust, SAVE THE FROGS! is educating thousands of San Francisco students about the importance of amphibians! Through the San Francisco Tadpole Headstart Program, which is led by SAVE THE FROGS! and our partner Tree Frog Treks, we have already given 21 free presentations on amphibian conservation to nearly 2,100 San Francisco students. Tree Frog Treks compliments the presentations by bringing live native San Francisco tadpoles into classrooms to teach students about metamorphosis and threats to local frogs. Our goal is to get San Francisco kids excited about frogs and interested in protecting them.
About the San Francisco Tadpole Head Start Program
One of the primary goals of the San Francisco Tadpole Head Start Program is to educate the youth of San Francisco by giving them the opportunity to learn more about our fragile planet and how our actions have greatly affected species world-wide. Using amphibians as a model, SAVE THE FROGS teaches students about the threats facing amphibians and what they can do to protect them. The students learn about the importance of amphibians in ecosystems and what consequences occur when they are removed. Students learn fascinating facts about amphibian natural history, including the metamorphosis and how some amphibians use poison to deter predators. They also learn about how amphibians benefit directly human health.
The second component of the San Francisco Head Start Program allows students to be able to witness firsthand how tadpoles become frogs! Interested teachers who have had presentations given to their students are given Pacific Chorus Frog (Pseudacris regilla) tadpoles, a California native species. The tadpoles used for this program are collected from a private pond in San Francisco. Then are delivered to each school by Tree Frog Treks staff and are contained in their own living ecosystems. Detailed instructions are given to teachers in order to maintain the proper husbandry standards required for successful metamorphosis to occur. Once tadpoles metamorphose into frogs, Tree Frog Treks staff return to the school to pick up the froglets and release them back into the wild at their site of origin.
Booking a Presentation
If your school is in San Francisco and you would like a SAVE THE FROGS! presentation, please contact us. Presentations can be for a single class or for the whole school and can be adapted to interest students from kindergarten up through high school.
SF schools that have hosted a SAVE THE FROGS! presentation
Cleveland Elementary School
Sheridan Elementary
Immaculate Conception Academy
Saint Charles School
Alvarado Elementary School
John Muir Elementary
Fairmount Elementary School
St. Gabriel Extendend Care
New Traditions Elementary School
R.L. Stevenson National Blue Ribbon School
Argonne Elementary School
Sanchez Elementary School
Visitacion Valley Elementary School
Visitacion Valley Middle School
Longfellow Elementary School
James Denman Middle School
Redding Elementary School
Aptos Middle School
James Lick Middle School
Downtown Continuation High School
Marshall Elementary School
Lawton School
Francis Scott Key Elementary
Frank McCoppin Elementary
Dianne Feinstein Elementary
Terra Nova High School
Acknowledgments
Thanks to the California Academy of Sciences for advertising our free presentation to the Schools of San Francisco.
Thank you to R.L. Stevenson National Blue Ribbon School for donating $100 to SAVE THE FROGS! Go Dolphins!
Thank you to James Lick Middle School for donating $80 to SAVE THE FROGS! Go Bulldogs!
Thank you to Frank McCoppin Elementary for donating $100 to SAVE THE FROGS!
Thanks to Tree Frog Treks and Helen and Allan Ridley Charitable Trust for making the program possible!
Website design, photos & content by Kerry Kriger unless otherwise noted.
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San Francisco Tadpole Headstart Program