{REVIEW} The Good and the Beautiful Science: Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fish

This last spring, we completed the REPTILES, AMPHIBIANS, AND FISH science unit from The Good and the Beautiful. This was a new unit for each of us and we really loved it! I will say, when it comes to the animal kingdom, this is probably at the bottom of my interest level – but all of us genuinely enjoyed it! We learned a lot, as always!

Topics

The topics covered in this unit were:

Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fish (overview)
Turtles
Snakes
Lizards
Crocodilians
Tuataras
LOTS about Frogs and Toads
Newts and Salamanders
Caecilians
Fish (overview)
Saltwater Fish
Freshwater Fish

Vocabulary

Vocabulary for this unit included:

Reptiles
Amphibians
Fish
Vertebrate
Ectotherm
Venom
Constrictor
Molt
Nocturnal
Diurnal
Extinct
Permeable
Semipermeable
Tadpole
Frogspawn
Terrestrial
Nares
Dorsal
Caudal
Camouflage
Anadromous
Catadromous
Diadromous

Supplies

This was another pretty light supply unit. I’ve noticed that the “updated” units seem to have a lighter supply list – which I love! There was only one or two lessons where I needed to make sure I had what I needed – and even then, the supplies were very common for a “homeschool” supply.

Student Journal

My kids have seemed to enjoy the new student journals that accompany the science courses. I think they are organized very well and reinforce nicely what is being taught in the course. For our family, the only thing I wish was that there were more additional blank pages, or better yet pages meant specifically for, the vocabulary. My kids have just glued in lined paper in the back of their journals, which works, but I like them to write the vocabulary definitions in their student journals.

Videos

The videos that accompany certain lessons are very well done and we have enjoyed watching them. They are visually appealing and the information is wonderful. It is nice to get more information from a different source than just me reading it to them. There were six videos in this course:

The Journey of a Hawksbill Sea Turtle
Sensational Snakes
Crocodilians
What Are Amphibians?
Frogs and Toads
Fish Features

Books

We read two books together as we worked through the unit:

Curious Reptiles and Amphibians by Nyree Bevan
Buzztail – The Story of a Rattlesnake by Robert McClung

We also had several books in our family library that were fantastic resources for us. We have so many animals books. My kiddos are obsessed and so those are a constant resource. The ones we specifically used in this unit were:

Follow the Moon Home: A Tale of One Idea, Twenty Kids, and a Hundred Sea Turtles by Philippe Cousteau and Deborah Hopkinson
Snakes by Melissa Stewart
The Reptiles, Amphibians, and Fish Questions and Answers Book by The Good and the Beautiful Team

I also like to assign the kiddos additional reading to do on their own. Buzztail – The Story of a Rattlesnake (that I listed above) would make a great individual read for ages 9-11 or Grades 3-5. Since we read that one together, I had Jacob read Sea Turtle Swims the Ocean by Peggy Stephens & William M. Stephens. I would recommend this for ages 10-12 or Grades 4-6. I had Sarah read two books. The first was Dave and the Frog by Jenny Phillips. I would recommend this for ages 6-8 or Grades K-2. The second book I had her read was Facts About Frogs & Snakes by Sue Stuever Battel. I would recommend this for ages 7-9 or Grades 1-3.

Mini Books

There were no mini books included in this unit.

Length of Unit

This was a pretty easy unit to go through. We were able to complete one lesson each day we planned to do science. So for our family, this took seven weeks (completing two lessons a week).

Our Favorite Activities

Hiker Hunt: The kids pretended they were hikers in the rainforests of Costa Rica looking for interesting vertebrates. I hid pictures of various animals, read a description, and then they would have to go and find it. It was a good starting activity for the unit.

Take Your Temperature: This was such a fun activity to learn more about animals that are “ectotherm”.

What’s Under the Shell?: This activity in their student journals helped them learn the anatomy of a turtle!

Snake Shuffle: A fun board game to learn more about snakes!

Molting: While learning about lizards, we learned about molting. Using glue we were able to see how molting works!

Locate-a-Lizard: My kiddos are big fans of animals – and they are big fans of MAPS! This was a fun activity where I would read a description of a lizard and its habitat and they would have to match where it belonged on the map.

Compare-a-Croc: This was an activity in their student journals where we filled out a Venn diagram comparing crocodiles and alligators. It was really helpful! Plus, we were able to bring out our scrapbook from when we went to Louisiana and held alligators!

Frogs and Toads Around the World: We learned that frogs and toads make up 88% of the amphibian species! It was neat to read more about the various kinds around the world.

Frog Life Cycle: Life cycle diagrams are always so helpful – and the kids loved making their frog life cycles!

Catch a Frog Fact Fly: Using straws to pretend to be a frog’s tongue – the kids caught flies that had the correct word to fill in the blank of various questions. It was a hit!

Discovering News and Salamanders: The kiddos had to read a statement about newts and salamanders and decide if it was true or false.

Surviving the Cold – Brumation: This was probably the biggest activity of the unit and went over two days. But was very easy to put together! It was really great to show how amphibians survive the winter in below-freezing temperatures.

Caecilian Puzzle: I was about to say that my kiddos are big fans of puzzles – but I’ve said they are big fans of a lot of things already! They are pretty easy to please and I love that about them. But this was a great way to learn some interesting characteristics about caecilians through a puzzle.

Permeable Skin: Another great activity to help demonstrate some new vocabulary! This compared human and other land animals’ skin low permeability with that of amphibians – with a high permeability! We used hard boiled eggs to demonstrate this.

Fish Anatomy: Similar to the turtle anatomy, the kids got to do an anatomy page about fish in their student journals.

How Fish Breathe: We talked about how fish need oxygen to breathe and they do that by moving water across their gills which then work as a filter to take oxygen from the water. We used some pepper and a coffee filter to demonstrate this.

Fantastical Fish: We learned about some CRAZY fish! The kids each picked their favorite and sketched a picture and wrote down what they found most interesting.

Field Trip

Anytime you can add a field trip – it is a good time! Animal units are pretty easy to add a field trip to the zoo! It is one of my kiddos favorite places to go. CLICK HERE for our full post about our trip.

Also, if you live in the Colorado area, a couple months after we finished this unit, we went to the Colorado Gator Park near Alamosa in south central Colorado. They have so many reptiles, amphibians, and fish! It would be a great experience to add onto this unit. And my kids loved it! CLICK HERE for our full post about this crazy place!

And, as I mentioned earlier, we spent some time reminiscing about our time in Louisiana when we went on a swamp tour and got to hold some baby alligators. Traveling is such a blessing to experience new things! Also, why are the kids growing up so fast?!

Final Thoughts

This was a great unit! It was fun and engaging and full of learning. The animal kingdom is fascinating and full of such diversity. I have a feeling my family will never get tired about learning all things ANIMALS!

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