Twenty-four interdisciplinary lessons on marine vertebrates (fishes, seahorses, whales, dolphins, sea turtles, and birds) are provided in this unit designed for students in kindergarten and in grades 1 and 2. These lessons are divided into four sections, each centered around a specific reading book. Each lesson includes lesson concept, competency goals, objectives, materials needed, background information, teacher preparation, and activities. Activities are designed to foster development of manipulative, communicative, inquiry, creative, organizational, and measurement skills to enable students to understand that water provides habitats and protection for living organisms and that aquatic organisms are adapted to their environment in different ways. A packet of materials to be duplicated and four supplementary reading books are included. These books are: (1) "Longfin"; (2) "The Lighthouse Party"; (3) "Cecil's Journey"; and (4) "The Riddle Coloring Book." Material in this unit may be incorporated into science, language arts, mathematics, art, and music lessons. (JN)