Intro to Science: Animal Classification

On our first day of school, we didn't have any science, geography, or special unit classes. Instead, we established school rules and decorated the kids' writing journals. On the second day of school; however, we dove right into our Science Class. Since I have no intention of buying a set curriculum for science, (or anything else for that matter--at least not for kindergarten) and since the stated curriculum goals for kindergarten are so basic (see Science Core Knowledge Post), we are essentially learning science however I want to. As a result, our approach to science might be, well, quite unscientific. I have developed a general organization for our class though. We will be studying both Plants and Animals in our Science class. (Then topics such as the human body, weather, etc. will be separate special units classes.) This study will extend throughout the entire year, and will coordinate and overlap with our geography and special unit classes. As our point of reference, we created a plant and animal classification notebook. Under plants, we have a section for trees, flowers, and other plants. Under animals, we have divided all of the animal kingdom into five categories: Mammal, Bird, Fish, Reptile/ Amphibian, and Invertebrates. For our introduction into Science, we decided to start with covering the basics of our animal classification system. (We'll discuss tree, flower and other plant characteristics in a few weeks.) In order to do this we covered the basic characteristics of each group as follows:

MAMMAL

warm-blooded

vertebrate

hair on the skin

bear live young

in the female, milk-producing mammary glands for nourishing the young

BIRD

warm-blooded

vertebrates

feathered

forelimbs modified to form wings

egg-laying

REPTILE

cold-blooded

vertebrates

having an external covering of scales or horny plates

breathing by means of lungs

usually egg-laying

AMPHIBIAN

cold-blooded vertebrate

smooth-skinned

hatches as an aquatic larva with gills, then larva transforms into an adult having air-breathing lungs

capable of living both on land and in water

FISH

cold-blooded

vertebrates

characteristically having fins, gills, and a streamlined body

INVERTEBRATES

Lacking a backbone or spinal column; not vertebrate

While this seems fairly complicated for kindergarten, you'd be surprised how quickly and easily the kids picked this stuff up, especially with the right presentation and repetition. For instance, after verbally teaching the characteristics with the help of numerous visual aids, (fur samples, feathers, thermometers to take our temperature, etc.) we then proceeded to collect all of the "animals" in our house including stuffed animals, puzzle pieces, play animals, and so much more. We created a massive pile of all of these animals, and then one by one sorted them into bins labeled with these categories.

The kids loved it, and it really helped them to grasp the similarities and differences between the groups. It also helped them to look for the most visual characteristics as a fast means of grouping the animals, like fur on mammals, or feathers on birds. (Sometimes this can trick you up though, like with armadillos!) Later we also went through tons of magazines and cut out all of the pictures of living things we could find. Then the kids sorted them into groups and we created collages on the cover sheet of each section in their binder.

This took ages, but again, the kids loved it and it has helped them be independent about putting their own work away in the right section. With this introductory class (actually it took several classes) in place, we are now free to go about studying any animal we want, and the kids can use this classification system to organize the animals we study and come to realize that there is truly order and meaning to all plant and animal life. To try and keep the classification characteristics in their minds throughout the year, we also subscribed to a program called Wildlife Explorer. With this program, every three weeks we receive a shipment of 12 animal cards, all of which are organized in this same manner. Each time a delivery arrives, we review the above characteristics list, and then go through the animal cards putting each one of them in their proper category. This helps the kids remember what we've learned, and the cards are a great reference and resource.