Lesson 3
How can animals be grouped?
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Lesson Plan
Preparation
- Have a wide variety of animal pictures from the groups listed in the lesson to discuss throughout (sponges, annelids, fish, etc.).
- Students will need access to the internet and other reference material to complete the classification activity on the investigation sheet.
Curriculum links
- Australian Curriculum: ACSSU044, ACSIS053, ACSIS057, ACSIS058, ACSIS060
- NSW Curriculum: ST2-4LW-S, ST2-1WS-S
- VIC Curriculum: VCSSU057, VCSIS065, VCSIS069, VCSIS071, VCSIS072
- WA Curriculum: ACSSU044, ACSIS053, ACSIS057, ACSIS058, ACSIS060
Suggested teaching strategies
Introduction
- Display the digital lesson on your smartboard to introduce animal classification.
- The student summary and worksheet should be used together.
Development
- Provide students with printable versions of the student summary and worksheet. Have students complete the worksheet.
- Ensure students know how to pronounce all the subgroups of invertebrates and vertebrates.
- Students will need to use the student summary to complete the investigation sheet. Although they should be able to figure out most of the answers, they may need to research the animals they aren’t familiar with.
Differentiation
- Investigation sheet could be completed as pairs, groups or as a class rather than individually.
Conclusion
- Check the answers to the investigation sheet as a class to see if everyone comes to the same conclusion. If there are conflicting answers, help students agree on the correct one.
Assessments
Worksheet answers
1. Vertebrae.
2. (a) V (b) I (c) V (d) I (e) I(f) V
3. (a) have live young/mother feeds young milk/have hair or fur (b) have feathers and wings/most can fly (c) most have scales and fins/breathe all life with gills (d) dry skin and scales (e) spend part of life in water and part on land
4. Live in water/are invertebrates/take in food and expel wastes
5. A carnivore is an animal that eats meat and a herbivore is one that eats plants.
6. (a) it would have an exoskeleton, jointed legs and segmented body, and live in water or on land (b) have spiny skin and live in seawater (c) have a shell on inside or outside of body/live in water or on land
Investigation sheet answers
Fish: cod
Can fly: crow
Mollusc: oyster
Bird: crow, emu
Invertebrate: oyster, ant, earthworm, sea urchin, cricket
Vertebrate: crocodile, frog, lizard, crow, cod, whale, emu, horse, goanna, monkey
Mammal: whale, horse, monkey
Arthropod: ant, cricket
Lives only on land: lizard, crow, emu, ant, horse, earthworm, cricket, goanna, monkey
Has legs: frog, lizard, crow, emu, ant, horse, goanna, monkey, crocodile, cricket
Student Pages





















Scientists group animals by the things they have in common.
This is called classification.
There are many ways animals can be classified.
Here is one way.
Invertebrates are animals without backbones.
Invertebrates can be sorted into these groups:
Sponges
Coelenterates
Echinoderms
Annelids
Molluscs
Anthropods










Science – Unit 1 – Less on 3 – image – jellyfish


Science – Unit 1 – Less on 3 – image – sea anenomes
Coelenterates live in water.
Have hollow bodies.
Mouths take in food
and get rid of waste.
Examples: jellyfish,
sea anenomes.


Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – sea urchin


Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – sea star
Echinoderms live in seawater.
Have spiny skin.
Examples: starfish,
sea urchins.


Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – earthworm
Annelids live in water or on land.
Have soft bodies and no legs.
Examples: worms, earthworms.

Molluscs live in water or
on land.
Have soft bodies and no legs.
Have a shell on the outside
or inside of their body
for protection.
Examples: snails,
squid.


Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – snail


Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – cuttlefish

Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – spider


Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – crab

Anthropods live in water or on land.
Have a hard outside covering called an ‘exoskeleton’, jointed legs and segmented bodies.
Examples: insects (e.g. butterflies), spiders, crustaceans (e.g. crabs).


Vertebrates are animals with backbones.
Vertebrates can be sorted into these groups:
Mammals
Birds
Fish
Reptiles
Amphibians







Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – elphants


Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – mice
Mammals have live young which mother feeds with milk.
Have hair or fur.
Examples: elephants, mice.


Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – owl


Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – penguins
Birds have feathers and wings.
Most can fly.
Examples: owls, penguins.



Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – cuttlefish


Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – fish
Fish usually have scales and fins.
Breathe underwater all life with gills.
Lay eggs.



Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – turtle


Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – snake
Reptiles have dry skin and scales.
Lay eggs.
Examples: turtles, snakes.



Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – toad


Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – frog
Amphibians spend part of life on water and part on land.
Lay eggs.
Moist or slimy skin.
Examples: frogs, toads.



Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – carnivore


Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – herbivore


Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – omnivore
Animals might be meat eaters (carnivores) like sharks, plant eaters (herbivores) like elephants or eat meat
and plants (omnivores)
like mice.



Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – live in water


Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – live on land


Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – live in both
Animals like squid and starfish live in water, some like spiders and snails live on land and others like frogs and toads live in both.



Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – can fly


Science – Unit 1 – Lesson 3 – image – walks
Animals might fly like butterflies and owls or move around on four or more legs like crabs, mice and spiders.

Downloads

Student Summary
Summary of student page information

Worksheet
Activities for students to complete

Investigation Worksheet
An experiment to consolidate learnings