www.thesimplehomeschool.com Simple Schooling BUGS MEGA course is ten weeks of all about bugs! This course grabs your student s attention and never lets go! Grades K-3 Get the other MEGA courses! Simple Schooling MAMMALAS MEGA course picks up where BUGS left off. Students learn about diets, habitats, and characteristics. They ll also learn to identify mammal paw prints.
Unit Thirty-Nine Reptiles are one group of animals on our planet. Other groups of animals include birds, mammals, amphibians, fish, and bugs. Each of these groups have things in common such as number of legs, what type of food they eat, how they are born, and whether they have fur, feathers, or scales. These common things are called characteristics. Bugs Fish Bird Mammal Reptile Amphibian 5
Characteristics Reptiles share some common characteristics such as: They are cold blooded They breathe air with lungs They have scales covering their bodies They are vertebrates 6
Cold Blooded Cold blooded means that the temperature of their body changes with their environment. When it is very hot, their body temperature rises. When it is very cold, their body temperature falls. Body Temperature 7
Simple Schooling Reptiles Mega Bundle By J. Anne Huss - 2012 Breathing file Reptiles have lungs like mammals and not gills like fish. All animals on Earth breathe air, but not all animals do it in the same way. Lungs are the body organ used by many animals. They take the oxygen from the air and pass it into the blood to power the body. Sa m ple Gills are the body organ used by fish and some other animals so that they can breath water to get oxygen. Little bubbles of air are floating around in the water and fish use gills to remove the oxygen from the water and put it into their body. 8 Lungs Gills
Scales The scales that cover reptile skin are for protection. Scales are made up of a special protein called keratin. Your hair and nails are also made up of keratin. Scales on a reptile will overlap for protection. Reptiles and fish have scales covering their whole bodies, but butterflies have another version of scales which create the colored portions of the wings. Bird feet also have this scaly covering for protection. 9
Backbones A vertebrate is an animal with a backbone. Animals without a backbone are called invertebrates. Another name for the backbone is the spine. All reptiles have a spine, as do all birds and amphibians. The small bones that make up the spine are called vertebrae, which makes sense because it is part of the word vertebrates. Vertebrae The spine begins at the bottom of the skull and ends at the hips. 10
Simple Schooling Reptiles Mega Bundle By J. Anne Huss - 2012 Amphibians Sometimes amphibians and reptiles get mixed up, but they are actually two very different types of animals. file Egg Sa m ple Both reptiles and amphibians will generally hatch from eggs; however reptiles will not undergo a metamorphosis stage in their life cycle. Baby reptiles look like small versions of adult reptiles. Baby Adult Juvenile 11
Reptiles The reptile family includes: Alligators Crocodiles Turtles Lizards Snakes Reptiles live in all parts of the world with the exception of Antarctica. 12
Dinosaurs At the end of each unit you will learn a little bit about dinosaurs so that by the end of the entire reptiles series you will have good understanding of these prehistoric reptiles. Dinosaurs are one of Earth s greatest mysteries of history. These giant reptiles ruled the planet for hundreds of millions of years, but where did they go? That question cannot be answered but dinosaurs left clues behind for future people to find these clues were bones and tracks! 13
Dinosaurs Everything we know about dinosaurs comes from their bones and tracks. Scientists who study dinosaurs (and other prehistoric things) are called paleontologists. These adventurous people give the rest of us a glimpse into the past when they dig up the remains of ancient animals. Paleontologists practice something we call a historical science, and not an experimental science. This means that they use artifacts from the past to try and understand how, why, and when things happened. Dinosaur Tracks Dinosaur Bones 14
Unit Forty What makes reptiles different from amphibians? For one thing reptile babies look just like adult reptiles, except they are smaller. Amphibians are very special in that they undergo a metamorphosis, much like an insect. Frogs are amphibians Lizards are reptiles Amphibians also begin life living in the water with fins and gills like a fish, but then become land animals with legs and lungs. 15
Simple Schooling Reptiles Mega Bundle By J. Anne Huss - 2012 Metamorphosis Sa m ple file The word metamorphosis means to change. If you have ever studied the frog life cycle you might remember that it starts out as an egg, is born a tadpole, and then grows legs to become an adult. Frogs are amphibians and not reptiles because they go through this change as they mature. Reptiles are born like mini versions of their parents. Are you SURE you re related? I don t see it. 16
Frog Lifecycle 4 1 3 2 Frogs go through a metamorphosis much like a butterfly. They begin as eggs, hatch into tadpoles, mature into tadpoles with legs, then finally become an adult frog. 17
Simple Schooling Reptiles Mega Bundle By J. Anne Huss - 2012 Reptile Lifecycle file Reptiles are born as miniature versions of the adult reptile they will become. Baby snakes look like adult snakes, only smaller. Baby alligators look like adult alligators only smaller. They do not have a metamorphosis stage in their life cycle. Sa m ple Egg Baby Adult Juvenile 18
Characteristics The life cycle is another characteristic that most groups of animals share. Not all animals within a group follow the rules. For example; most mammals give birth to live young but the duck-billed platypus (which is a mammal) lays eggs. Most reptiles hatch from eggs but there are some snakes and lizards that give birth to live young. Duck-Billed Platypus A turtle hatching Picture credit: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/benutzer:mayer_richard 19
Dinosaurs Paleontologists use tools such as picks, chisels, drills, shovels, brushes, magnifying glasses, and air compressors. Digging tools are used to open up an area to be excavated, while brushes and air tools are used to clean dirt and mud from fossils in order to see the details. Fossils are the remains of ancient animals and plants. There are two main types of fossils: Body Fossils Trace Fossils Fossils in a rock 20
Dinosaurs Body fossils include bones, wood, and shells. This is how paleontologists piece together the whole body of a dinosaur. Trace fossils are things like preserved dinosaur tracks. There are many left-over dinosaur tracks in the world and in Colorado there is one especially well-preserved dinosaur track that includes the trail of the triceratops! Dinosaur Tracks 21
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Activity 39.1 Matching Vocabulary Vocabulary is another word for important words to remember! You probably already know all the important words below because you just read about them, but play along all the same. Directions: Match the vocabulary word on the left with the proper definition on the right. Put the correct letter on the blank. Vocabulary Words Definitions A. Things a group of animals have 1. Scales in common 2. Characteristics B. Means body temperature changes 3. Vertebrate C. Made up of keratin 4. Cold-Blooded D. Means Have a backbone 23
Activity 39.2 Alphabetical Order Alphabetical order means to look at a list of words and then organize the list of words into ABC order. Words that start with A go first, then B words, then C words and you keep going through the alphabet. Directions: Look at the first letter of each vocabulary word, then list the words in ABC order. Reptile Scales Lungs Cold-Blooded 1. 2. 3. 4. 24
Activity 39.3 Name the Reptiles Which of these animals are reptiles? Write YES on the blank if it is or NO on the blank if it is not. 25
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Activity 40.1 Reptile Life Cycle Name each stage of development. Use the word bank below. Egg Baby Juvenile Adult 27