A Swim Through the Sea A B Sea Crinkleroots Guide to Knowing Animal Habitats

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1 HABITAT - Children ages 5-8 The Magic School Bus Hops Home: A Book About Animal Habitats by Patricia Relf, Scholastic Trade, 1995 ISBN: Ms. Frizzle is up to her adventurous ways of teaching once again. When Wanda s best friend Bella the bullfrog disappears, the children take a ride on the Magic School Bus to find out where she has gone. Hop on board as they find out all about animal habitats. Before the story If the children are not familiar with the Magic School Bus series, you may want to provide a little background on the crazy antics of Ms. Frizzle! There are many topics that the series covers as well as the videos that are also available to show the children. Ask the children if they know what the word habitat means. (The neighborhood in which a group of plants and animals live and interact.) During the story Although the story stars Bella the bullfrog, the book covers the main features of animal habitats. As you read, extract the components of habitats such as environment, food, changes in habitat made by the animal or particular preferences of the animal. Point out how Ms. Frizzle and her class are transformed in order to experience life as a frog! Discuss some of the challenges that they face as they go on their search and rescue mission for Bella. After the story Ask the children if they have ever seen any animals, reptiles or birds in their natural habitat. Ask them to describe what they have seen and if the habitat was disturbed by anything. Talk about the habitats of humans. What kinds of needs do we have and how are some people s habitats different from others. Discuss how climate, occupation and the part of the country can affect these differences, but also how human preferences can also determine habitat. Because the book does not feature sea turtles, take the habitat components that you and the children have extracted from the story and try to fill in the same information for sea turtles. The books from the additional titles list should be uite helpful in completing this task. In addition to the ocean habitat of the sea turtles, they also spend a small part of their life on the beach when they are born and during the nesting period. Sea turtles often return to the same beach where they were born to nest their own eggs. Only the females nest and most often they lay and bury their eggs at night. Discuss this interesting process with the children as well as the fact that the habitats in which they nest are becoming endangered due to coastal armoring, beach nourishment and pollution. 3-Dimensional Displays Use the additional resources and have the children use shoeboxes or plastic box containers to make colorful dioramas. Use clay, paint, markers, pebbles, twigs, and whatever else you can find that might simulate a sea turtles habitat. Give them plenty of time to create their habitats and leave the books out so that the kids can refer to the illustrations and the information. Leave the three dimensional constructions out for display or have the children present them to the group. Ask them to point out things that they have included that are particular to the sea turtles environment. Another less time consuming 3-D option is to make mobiles depicting the sea turtles environment. Look Ma, No Teeth!

2 Included in the subject of habitat is the matter of food. Discuss what sea turtles like to eat (seaweed, fish, crabs and jellyfish). Ask the children if any of them have ever seen or tasted any of these items. Have a taste test! Try to get a hold of some seaweed or some fish for the kids to taste. *If you are not able to do that, grab some gummy candy fish and ask the kids to try eating it without their teeth. Since sea turtles do not have teeth, they bite and tear their food with their strong jaws, ask the kids to try this process of consuming their food, they may have fun pretending to be sea turtles! Family Involvement Try your own habitat study! Get together with your whole family and take a look at your home, what kinds of things are part of your habitat? What is necessary for you to survive and what is a habitat preference? Discuss why you live where you do, take a look at the structure of your home, is it particular to the climate or part of the country you live in. Distinct species of sea turtles like to eat different things. Their mouths and jaws are built in different ways in order to consume the food they prefer. Similar to sea turtles, humans have teeth that help them chew food and taste buds to determine which foods they choose to eat. Make a list of all the foods you and your family like to eat. Find out which are made or grown locally and which come from another part of the country or the world. Does your habitat affect if you are able to get certain foods and does that influence where you choose to live? Take a walk through the local market or grocery store and find out what foods are indigenous to your habitat. Taste or cook some of the goodies you find! Community Connection If you happen to live near the ocean, take a walk along the beach and become a beach detective! Look for signs of pollution, pick up garbage that you find on the beach. Check to see if there are any large buildings or hotels that have bright lights shining at night that might mislead the hatchlings away from the ocean, ask the local businesses to turn off or dim their lights during the nesting season. Additional Titles This Is the Sea That Feeds Us by Robert F. Baldwin, Dawn Publishing, 1998 ISBN: X A 1999 Teacher s Choice List of the International Reading Association, this book tells young children about sea life in cumulative verse. Across the Big Blue Sea: An Ocean Wildlife Book by Jakki Wood, National Geographic Society, 1998 ISBN: The story chronicles a small toy boat and all that it encounters as it sails to California, Australia and to the Indian Ocean. All Kinds of Habitats by Sally Hewitt, Children s Press, 1999 ISBN: A book for young readers that explores several different kinds of environments that are home to animals and plants. The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor by Joanna Cole & Bruce Degan, Scholastic, 1992 ISBN: There is nothing like a hot school day to make the children in Ms. Frizzle s class want to go swimming and Ms. Frizzle want to take one of her famous class trips. Join the adventurous teacher and her pupils as they venture to the bottom of the ocean.

3 A Swim Through the Sea by Kristin Joy Pratt, Dawn Publications, 1994 ISBN: If Seamore the seahorse, who lives beneath the sea, one day went exploring, what do you think he d see? Read this beautifully illustrated book and find out! A B Sea by Bobbie Kalman, Crabtree Publishing, 1995 ISBN: Similar to the latter listing, this book offers an alphabetized guide through the sea. Crinkleroots Guide to Knowing Animal Habitats by Jim Arnosky, Simon & Schuster Children's, 2000 ISBN: A fun, colorfully illustrated guide to animal habitats, including wetlands, cornfields, grasslands and woodlands.

4 HABITAT - Children ages 8 12 One Small Suare Coral Reef by Donald M. Silver, McGraw-Hill, 1997 ISBN: The One Small Suare series by Donald Silver are colorful, informative and fun to read. Young and older children will find these books a great source of information and learn plenty about the various auatic environments. Before the story The book opens with the author making a comparison between the coral reef and the circus. Discuss the reasons why the author may begin the book by making that comparison. Ask the group what they already know about coral reefs and seashores. Point out that coral reefs and seashores, in addition to the vast ocean, are the natural habitat for many different animals and fish, the sea turtle being one of them. During the story The book has great illustrations and detailed descriptions of the creatures and plants that thrive underwater. The text also describes some of the dangers that the sea creatures face on a daily basis. After the story Although this book only features a sea turtle on one page, it covers in detail some of the world in which the sea turtle inhabits. After you have finished reading about the coral reef, try some of the books from the additional titles list to enrich a discussion about the sea turtle s habitat. Add to the discussion some of the facts from the Sea Turtle Survival League s web site such as: Sea turtles are solitary creatures for the most part. They tend to remain under water for a large part of the time that they are at sea and only interact with other sea turtles when they intend to mate. Sea turtles are known to eat and rest on and off throughout a typical day. They can sleep floating on the surface of the water or tucked away under reefs or rocky areas. Sea turtles can migrate hundreds or even thousands of miles when they are not nesting or mating. The book discusses the concept of damage to the environment only briefly; however, you may want to touch on this subject with the children as it pertains to the habitat and survival of the sea turtles. In addition to the ocean habitat of the sea turtles, they also spend a small part of their life on the beach. Sea turtles often return to the same beach where they were born to nest their own eggs. Only the females nest and most often they lay and bury their eggs at night. Discuss the process of constructing the nest, laying and burying the eggs, incubation and the emergence from the nest of the baby sea turtles as well as the fact that the habitats in which they nest are becoming endangered due to coastal armoring, beach nourishment and pollution. Feeding on a Food Chain! Part of what determines an animals habitat is the availability of the food that it tends to consume. Sea turtles like to eat seaweed, fish, crabs and jellyfish, discuss what the sea turtle likes to eat and how and where they can find these things. Unfortunately, there are also predators that like to eat the sea turtles themselves, create a food chain and see where all the different sea creatures fit in.

5 Picky, Picky, Picky. Habitat Preferences Each species of sea turtles eats, sleeps, mates and swims in different areas. Have the kids do a bit of research and find out more about the specific habitats of each type of sea turtle. (Loggerhead, Green turtles, Hawksbills, Kemp s Ridley, Olive Ridleys, Flatbacks, and Leatherbacks) HINT: The Sea Turtle s Survival League and the book Turtles by Anita Baskin-Salzberg & Allen Salzberg offer easy to find information about the specific habitats of the various species. Family Involvement Take a look inside your garage or under your sink. Tally up the amount of motor oil, lawn fertilizers, cleaning supplies and paints that contain chemicals, and see if you can try to reduce the use of these chemicals. Toxins and chemicals that are not disposed of properly sometimes end up washing up on beaches or coastal lagoons. The pollution then harms the inhabitants of the waters and the beaches. Community Connection Write a letter to the local newspaper informing the community of the importance of protecting the sea turtles habitat. Encourage readers to do their part by keeping the oceans and the beaches clean. If you happen to live near a beach community, ask the people with beach front lights to keep them off during nesting season and to keep the beaches free of coastal armoring or anything that might prevent the sea turtles from successfully nesting. Additional Titles On the Trail of Sea Turtles (Barron s Educational Series) by Bernard De Wetter, Incorporated, 1999 ISBN: This book serves as a guide to those who want to follow and observe sea turtles. It also provides great information about the sea turtle s anatomy, feeding habitats, global location and ecological status. Sea Turtles by Emilie U. Lepthien, Children s Press, 1997 ISBN: Yet another sea turtle book that offers good information for somewhat older readers. One Small Suare Seashore by Donald M. Silver, McGraw-Hill, 1993 ISBN: The One Small Suare series by Donald Silver are colorful, informative and fun to read. Young and older children will find these books a great source of information and learn plenty about the various auatic environments. MacMillan Animal Encyclopedia for Children by Roger Few, Simon & Schuster Children's, 1991 ISBN: A beginning reference book that tells of 11 major habitats and the various animals that live there. Adapting to the Environment by Fulvio Cerfolli, Raintree Steck-Vaughn Publishers, 1998 ISBN: The title tells it all, this book describes how animals in different regions adapt to their environment in order to survive.