7th to 13th May Amphibian Week

Amphibians are unique. They begin their lives in the water, but most of their adult life is on land. And they are ectothermic, meaning their body temperature relies on external sources, like a rock heated by the sun or a river or lake. Amphibians are sensitive to invasive species, drought, disease, and other changes where they live. So researchers study amphibians because they often show early signs of stressors, like disease and climate change.

Jodi Rowley, from the Australian Museum who was named in The Australian’s Research 2023 magazine as research field leader in zoology, says that amphibians are one of the least understood and most endangered groups of animals on the planet. She notes that, according to the authoritative IUCN Red List, 41 per cent of amphibian species worldwide are threatened with extinction.

Year 2 at my school classify animals into their groups as part of a Unit of Inquiry they are undertaking. The students don't always find this easy as they don't necessarily know a lot about animals beyond their generic name. As they learn more they become fascinated by amphibians, partly because they have no knowledge of any, other than frogs and they really like that they can live in water and on land.

One year while they were doing this unit, in the library we embarked on learning more about salamanders. We started with Minton,  a well-loved series of books about a salamander called Minton which started with The Hottest Boy by Anna Fienberg and Kim Gamble. The students did not know what a salamander was and were curious. There are no salamanders and newts native to Australia, so it wasn't that easy finding nonfiction books at their level to research further.

We found three:

• Salamanders  by Nick Winnick

• Fun Facts About Salamanders  by Carmen Bredeson

• Lifecycle of Salamander by Robin Nelson

There is some fiction as well:

• The Salamander Room  by

• Spike  by Michelle Knudsen

• The Fiery Salamander  by Colin Thiele

Look here for books about the more popular amphibians, frogs and toads.

Of course frogs, toads, salamanders and newts will feature in any book that is specifically about amphibians. See my Pinterest page on Animal Classification for suggestions.

If your students are young, these are perfect:

• Amphibians Living Things and their Habitats  by Grace Jones

• Amphibians Live on Land and in Water by Sarah Ridley

• Do You Know About Amphibians? by Buffy Silverman

• Amphibians  by Angela Royston

Foot note: The Smooth Newt has been introduced to Australia near Melbourne and has started to spread. This probably occurred because a pet salamander escaped or was dumped.