Once there was a young frog named Lily. She was a lonely frog. All the other young frogs in the pond had brothers and sisters except her. All she wanted was to be a big sister.

"Mama, when will I have brothers and sisters to hop with like everyone else?" Lily asked, sadly.

"Well actually Lil, I just laid eggs last night. But they have to go through their life cycle before they will become frogs." Mama said.

Lily was confused. "Life cycle? What is that?"

"A life cycle are the stages that an animal goes through where they change and grow. Us frogs, go through 5 stages. This is Stage 1, EGGS." Mama pointed. "They stay in these jelly-like clusters for 1-3 weeks before they hatch." Mama explained.

Lily was intrigued. She wanted to know more about the life cycle. "Can you teach me more? I want to know all about it!" Lily leaped.

"Of course I will!" Mama Frog replied. 

Lily was so happy.

As a big sister, Lily wanted to help Mama look after the eggs. She patiently waited until one day... *CRACK* the eggs hatched. Lily was so excited, she could hardly wait to met them.

But Lily was puzzled when she saw what came out of the eggs. "They don't look like frogs, they look like fish! Mama are you playing a joke on me?"

Mama shook her head and chuckled. 

"This is Stage 2, TADPOLES. They have gills 

like fish and can only swim under water. They 

don't have lungs like you and I yet."

Lily began to grow impatient. "How long until they will look more like me?" Lily questioned.

"They will be tadpoles for a couple more weeks. Be patient Lil, I know it is exciting, but this is part of the life cycle. There are a lot of changes happening so they need time to grow." Mama replied.

"Okay Mama, I understand." Lily waited. She watched as her brothers and sisters grew over the next couple weeks. She watched as they swam around, eating plants and algae under

water.

A couple more weeks had past. Lily woke up one morning and noticed something different about the tadpoles. They now had arms and legs!

"Mama, look!" Lily shouted. "The tadpoles have changed. What does this mean?"

"This means they have reached Stage 3, FROGLETS. In this stage, they prepare for life on land. They have lungs

 and legs so they can now leap and go on land, but they still 

have that long tail."

Lily was over joyed. She loved watching her brothers and sisters grow. She took them on the land and taught them how to use their legs. Being a big sister was her favorite thing in the whole world. 

But, soon enough, Lily started to notice their tails shrink and they were growing much bigger. Almost as big as her! 

She skipped over to Mama to tell her 

what had happened.

"Look at them Mama! They look like me now!" Lily croaked. 

"That's right, Lil. They have made it to Stage 4, the YOUNG FROG. This is the last stage before becoming an adult frog, like me. There is something else that is really special about this stage. Do you know what it could be?" Mama asked.

Lily sat on a log and thought real hard.