Curated OER
Freshwater Fish Anatomy & Taxonomy
Tenth graders use a classification key to identify organisms. In this classification lesson students identify freshwater species of fish and document their observations.
Curated OER
Classification Schemes
Junior biologists journey through the hiearchy of living things with these activites. Using a dichotomous key, they identify common algae, plants, and fish. They design their own key for a mixture of seeds and a collection of...
South Gloucestershire Council
Animal Classification: A Collaborative Sorting Activity for Key Stages 2 & 3
Introduce the logic behind a dichotomous key or administer a group performance assessment with a fun and challenging classification lesson. With explicit instructions for the teacher and for collaborative groups, as well as engaging...
Larson Lab
Animal Classification
How are animals classified? Scholars explore animal classification by observing non-living and living specimens. They learn how to organize animals into vertebrates and invertebrates and identify the five vertebrate groups: mammals,...
Curated OER
Fish Sorting
In this classification activity, learners are given nine pictures of different types of fish. They cut them out and use a key to classify each into a category based on their characteristics.
Curated OER
Reading the River - Biological Classification
Youngsters create a list of grocery store items and then work together to categorize them as if they were setting up the shelves of the market. Then they are given a box of miscellaneous objects to practice categorizing. With these two...
Curated OER
The Five Classes of Vertebrates
What a terrific lesson! Learners discuss the animal kingdom, and classify them as vertebrates and invertebrates. They also identify them as fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. There is even a taxonomic breakdown of popular...
Curated OER
An Introduction to Classification
Sixth graders explore, analyze and study the history of classification systems and the scientific processes that influenced modern classification methods. They evaluate why classification and binomial nomenclature are necessary to the...
Curated OER
Do You Have the Key?
Students practice using a dichotomous key. For this classification lesson, students read an article about scientific exploration and identification of new species. They use a dichotomous key to identify objects and create their own key.
Curated OER
Classification and Identification
Students, after exploring and analyzing diagrammatic and taxonomic keys and their association to marine sciences, identify and classify objects and organisms based on visual attributes/characteristics. They research and create their own...
Curated OER
Vertebrate Classification Challenge
Learners determine which animals belong to the vertebrate phyla. In this classification lesson, students are given large papers with the names of the phyla of vertebrates. They must work together to place organisms into their correct...
Curated OER
What Do Fish Look Like?
In this fish worksheet, students study the characterisitcs associated with all fish. Students study the 5 given facts about all fish and what they have in common for classification.
Curated OER
Leaf - It's What's for Dinner
Students discover correlations in food preferences of invertebrates, and assess stream health through use of kicknets, invertebrate keys, CBL systems and probes.
Curated OER
Aquatic Safari
Students use an Internet Web site to locate the scientific information about various marine species. They use the Internet to find the scientific information about marine animals.
Smarter Balanced
Classifying Vertebrates
What features do scientists use to classify animals into groups? Class groups examine a series of paired images of vertebrates (a bass and a trout, a toad and a newt, a crocodile and a tortoise, an owl and a robin, a tiger and a bear)...
Alliance Theater
The Jungle Book Post-Show STEAM Lesson
An ecosystem is really just the flow of energy through many different living organisms. A study of Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book leads to an environmental science activity in which learners study how various factors can affect...
Curated OER
Fun with Fictitious Animals
How can one differentiate between a dweezlebub and nessie? Use this fictitious creature dichotomous key to find out! Biologists of all ages will enjoy this creative way to learn about classification, including a chance to draw the...
American Museum of Natural History
What's This? Breathing
Crazy fact: Some animals can survive months without oxygen. An online resource describes some unique ways animals collect oxygen and even live without it for an extended time. Learners read about these special animals and use pop-up...
Curated OER
Academic Raceway: Animals
This animals PowerPoint provides a race car game in which students answer a variety of questions about animals, the majority of which are based on ways in which animals adapt to their surroundings and behave to survive.
Shmoop
ELA.CCSS.ELA-Literacy.SL.11-12.1
You want your class to meet all of the Common Core standards, and here is one way to tackle the first speaking and listening standard. Given a theme to focus on from "How Much Land Does a Man Need?" by Leo Tolstoy, small groups come up...
Curated OER
Reptiles and Amphibians
Fourth graders explore biology by viewing animal videos in class. In this amphibian and reptile lesson, 4th graders identify the key differences between reptiles, amphibians and other animal classifications. Students view video clips in...
Curated OER
Ecology and the St. Lawrence River
Ninth graders complete a unit of lessons on ecosystems, organism interactions, and energy flow. They create a key for known species of fish, diagram the movement of energy through an ecosystem, and create and present food chains and food...
Curated OER
The Journey of the Pacific Salmon
Students examine the journey of the Pacific salmon. In this salmon species lesson, students review the stages of the salmon life cycle and conduct an experiment to determine how the water and habitat changes during each stage.
Curated OER
Into the Pond
Seventh graders use a pond to explore macroinvertebrates and other organisms. They use a dichotomous key to classify the organisms and maintain a journal recording their findings.