Classification Unit

As part of our organization trait unit study, we did a section on animal, plant, and rock classification.  The first part of the unit was on animals.  For one of the activities, King Phillip Came Over For Good Spaghetti.  No, we do not personally know any regents, however, this one can be used as a mnemonic device to remember the classification parts of all animals (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species).  We learned about the 5 characteristics that an animal must have to be classified:

1. Must have many cells
2. Cannot make it's own food
3. Must have eukaryotic cells (they have a true nucleus)
4. It must move about
5. It must digest food

We went deeper and talked about the 9 different Phyla of animals

1. Porifera (sponges)
2. Cnidarians (jellyfish, coral, anemonea)
3. Platyhelminthes (flatworms)
4. Nematoda (roundworms)
5. Annelida (segmented worms)
6. Mollusca (clams, oyster, squid)
7. Arthropoda (insects, spider, lobster)
8. Echinodermata (starfish, sand dollar)
9. Chordata (vetrabrea)

Then we talked about all the different areas and aspects of each of those 9 Phyla. We talked about how they were different from each other.  We talked about specific animals and fish.  We would look at pictures or go on walks and look for animals and the kids would classify them.  We discussed how the animal classification system came to be with it's origin in Aristotle, through LaMarck, and finally to our current system started by Linnaeus.  We even classified stuffed animals.

For plant classification, we started with flowers and what each of the different parts were and the 5 sections of a tree which are:

1. Heartwood
2. Sapwood
3. Cambium
4. Phloem (Inner Bark)
5. Outer Bark

This is a poster that I made to help the kids review that material.

We talked about vascular v. non-vascular (water distribution systems) and gymnosperms (no flower) v. angiosperms (flower).  Then we went into leaves and their classification.  There are three types of leaf edges:

1. Lobed
2. Serrated
3. Smooth (or Entire)

There are also two types of leaves (simple and compound).  Then we talked about how there are two types of veins a leaf can have: parallel (moncot) and palmate (dicot).


Then we went to the Lubbock Memorial Arboretum and collected plant specimens.  Once home, the kids created posters displaying their specimens and the classification characteristics of each specimen.

I had never thought the kids would be excited to learn such things, but on one of our later trips to the Public Library for more source material, the kids were pointing out the leaves on the trees in the Library yard and talking about their characteristics, completely un-coaxed by me.  It impressed me how I didn't have to quiz them, they were applying the learning all on their own.  It's not much, but it was one of those moments you look for as a teacher to tell whether your students are "getting it".

For the rocks portion of our study, we talked about igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary rocks and the difference between rocks and minerals.  We discussed mineral properties which are:

• Luster
• Streak
• Hardness
• Cleavage

We discussed Mohs hardness scale.  We went into the layers of the earth's crust and finally the rock cycle (shown below).

Luckily, we have a son who likes to collect rocks, so I was able to go into his collection and pull out samples to use to teach with and for the kids to examine and classify.

With me being the perfectionist that I am, I wanted to make sure that they were indeed learning the concepts that I was presenting so when I tested them, I did so several grade levels above where they are in order to see if they had picked up the advanced concepts that we had discussed.  The kids both exceeded all expectations.

We also incorporated other subjects into our study.  For example, during the plant unit, I had the kids write a persuasive letter to a deciduous tree to try and convince it to not lose it's leaves in the winter.  We also did a celery experiment where we put a celery stalk in water with food dye and watched the progress as the celery "drank" the colored water and how it changed.  In our rock unit, the kids did an oral presentation about a specific type of rock, and Meagan created a song to help us learn about rose quartz.  In the animals unit, the kids wrote a fictional story about animals.

The kids learned a lot of information, and even now (a month later), they still seem to retain much of that information.  I truly believe that it is due to the hands-on approach we are taking with their schooling rather than just learning from books and paper.  They get out and actively engage with the world around them and it helps them to remember and appropriately apply the information that they have learned.  Even though they still frustrate me with the frequency which they are unable to focus to my standards, I am incredibly proud of them and the work they are doing.

- Sarah