March 3-March 7: How are organisms classified? What makes an animal an animal?
Key ideas:
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Organisms are living things.
Scientists classify (organize) living things into categories based on their similarities.
Large categories of organisms are called Kingdoms.
The most specific group of organisms is called a species.
A species is a group of similar organisms that can mate and reproduce AND their offspring can reproduce. (In class we discussed lions and tigers being different species, even though they can produce offspring; their offspring CANNOT produce offspring.)
The Animal Kingdom is a group of organisms that:
-are made of many cells
-have cells that have a nucleus and other organelles (parts with specialized functions)
-have to eat their food (they can't make food in their cells)
-can move around to find shelter, escape predators, find food
March 10-March 15: Using physical characteristics to classify animals. Using a dichotomous key to identify organisms.
