• Introduction to the Five Kingdoms
• The Animal Kingdom
  • Invertebrate - Vertebrate
  • Classified Nomenclature of Zoology (External Features)
    • Word level reading
    • Sentence Level Reading
  • First Knowledge of the Animal Kingdom
  • Body Functions of the Vertebrate Classes
  • Comparative Study - Five Classes of Vertebrates
  • Classification Game - Animal Kingdom
  • First Classification of the Animal Kingdom
• The Plant Kingdom

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Materials:
...10 pictures of invertebrate animals
...10 pictures of vertebrate animals
...Labels: Vertebrate Invertebrate

Note: suggestions for materials: safari cards, Audubon animals

Presentation:
Imagine how you would look if you didn't have a backbone.

We are all sitting here because of a support system in our bodies called a skeletal system.

Put your fingers on the back of your head and run your fingers down the back of your neck and as far as you can. Continue on down to the bottom of your back.

That is your backbone!

Your backbone is one of the most important parts of your body. It is bone that is covering your central nervous system. This is a network that sends signals from your brain to every part of your body. Most animals have a central nervous system, but not all of them have a backbone. If animals have backbones, they are called a Vertebrate. If they do not have a backbone, they are called an Invertebrate. We are going to learn to look at an animal and tell if they are a vertebrate or an invertebrate.

To make things very simple, these animals are always invertebrates:

Sponges

Jellyfish , corals and their relatives.

Worms

Snails, slugs, animals with inner or outer shells.

Animals with jointed feet.; insects, lobsters, spiders, etc.,

Spiny skinned animals like starfish and sea urchins.

Animals with a backbone are the Fishes, Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds, and Mammals.

Lay out the labels: Invertebrate and Vertebrate.

Ask children to place the pictures under the label and check each other's work. As many pictures can be added as they want to do.

Age: from 6-9

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Materials: For each group of animals in the division of vertebrates to be considered, there is a series of materials consisting of: Wall chart of labeled pictures. Folder with pictures, separate reading labels, definition cards, control booklet of pictures and definitions

All of the external parts are taken into consideration for one species of the fish, amphibian, reptile, bird and mammal.

A live animal should be used for the presentation if possible. If not, a large, beautiful, but accurate poster should be used.

Word level reading

Presentation: The fish is in its tank or bowl on the table.

What kind of fish is this? A goldfish.

What do you call that part where you find the mouth and eyes? The head.

Look at slits behind the eyes - they are called the gills.

What do you call those parts that are moving or sticking out from its body? fins. They are used for moving - the fish does not have legs. You use your legs for moving, but the fish doesn't have legs.

The fins on either side closest to the head are called the pectoral fins because they are attached to the breast. Your pectoral muscles are like the fish's pectoral fins. They help you swim and lift.

The pair further back are called the pelvic fins because they are attached to the pelvis. Your pelvis is here....

The fin on the bottom and in the back is called the anal fin because it is attached to the anus. Your anus is your rear end.

The fin at the very back is called the caudal fin. The fins on the top at the shoulders are called the dorsal fins. Those are all of the fins.

Not all fish have the same number of fins. It depends on where the fish feeds in the water.

Look at the fish.... there seems to be a line which divides the fish in half. This is called the lateral line.

Give three period lesson. Third period of this lesson: What do you call the fin that is attached to the pelvis?

Exercise: In the classified nomenclature folder are the pictures and labels only. The child lines up the pictures, reads the labels and matches. By now the child should be able to do this without direction. The wall chart is used for a control and for sentence level reading.

Age: 3-6 year old.

Aims:
...To identify the fundamental external parts of animals that are familiar to the child.
...To sharpen awareness and observation that is necessary to begin classification.

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Presentation: The child lays out the pictures and matches the labels appropriately. The child knows the parts of the fish by name.

The teacher and children discuss where the fish lives and how it breathes. All living things, even plants need to breathe. Fish need to breathe, too. As we breathe air, the fish breathes air. It is a special kind of air that is dissolved in the water. Instead of lungs, which takes the oxygen and other gasses from the air , the gills take oxygen from the water.

Look at the head of the fish. Look at its special shape for going through the water quickly.

The lateral line lets the fish understand the movement and depth of the water around it. IT can tell whether it is in a current or in still water.

The pectoral and pelvic fins help the fish swim and stop when it needs to . They also give the fish stability.

The dorsal fins help the fish swim and jump.

The anal fins help it swim fast and keep its balance.

The caudal fin helps it swim rapidly and also lets it change direction.

(Look at fish for these movements)

Use three period lesson for this. Which fin helps it jump?, etc.

Exercise: The child takes the definition cards, reads them and matches them to the pictures. The definition book is used for control if necessary.

Activity: The children can draw pictures and write the definitions.

Age: 6

Aims:
...to identify and define the fundamental external parts of animals that are familiar to the child.
...to practice reading sentences.
...to organize thoughts and express them orally and written.

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Note: This material is preceded by the Classified Nomenclature of Zoology, external features and parallel to the Botany First Knowledge cards.

Materials: Box containing pictures of animals (including all of the animals that will be pictured on The Animal Kingdom Charts), corresponding reading labels with the animals' names, and cards with stories about the animals.

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Introduction:

This material parallels the Time Line of Life and shows the evolution of the vertebrate classes. This work along with invertebrate studies should go along with the Time Line. This work should be re-presented after the presentation of the Classification charts to show the breakdown of characteristics of these animals. Its format of movement, protection, support, circulation, respiration, reproduction will be seen over and over in the study of Montessori Biology in the questions we ask the children to ask themselves.

Materials:
Either: Cards and an illustrated chart, one of each of the five classes, showing the
Classified nomenclature: wall chart, folder with pictures, reading labels and definition cards, wall chart movement, protection, support, circulation, respiration, reproduction and control booklet.

Presentation: example: Amphibian

Using a chart and possibly a real amphibian, the teacher presents the internal and other parts of the amphibian. The child recognizes the animal, recalls the class: Amphibia and the meaning of the word: two lives. It is also one of the vertebrates.

Put the names movement, protection, support, circulation, respiration, reproduction
down in front of a group of children. Place each picture one at a time under the correct function.

This is the amphibian moves. Some amphibians, the frog and toad, have very strong back legs.

The amphibian's skin is it's protection. It has to stay wet or it will die.

The amphibian has an internal skeleton. So do all the other animals in this material that we will study.

The amphibian has a three chambered heart. You may remember that a fish only had a two chambered heart. They must need more blood to circulate.

The amphibian has two different kind of respiration. As a tadpole, it has gills, but when it changes shape and craws up onto land, it develops lungs.

The amphibian reproduces by laying jelly-like eggs similar to a fish. It hatches out looking somewhat like a fish with a long tale. It develops legs and can crawl on the land. When it finds a mate, the female lays her eggs back in the water.

Go over the paragraphs describing the movement, skeleton, reproductive system, respiratory system, circulatory system and the skin or protection of the animal. Look at the age of the amphibian on the Time Line of Life and think of the fish that came before. What was different about the frog and fish?

Age: 7-8.

Aim: To learn the characteristics of the five vertebrate classes.

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Materials : The wall charts of the five vertebrate classes ( or one set of function labels from one of the classes) . The names fish (or Pisces), amphibian, reptile, bird ,, and mammal on the side going down.

Presentation:
Have a group of children lay out the loose pictures of the fish in order of their function. Next a group of children can lay out the pictures of the amphibian, then the reptile, then the bird, then the mammal.

The elements are compared, discussing the characteristics of each class and how this contributes to the evolutionary process.

Example: The fish lay many eggs in the water and the young when they are born are abandoned. The same is true for the amphibians. The adult who lives on land, returns to the water to lay many eggs. The young are abandoned and live for a time in the water.

The reptile also lays eggs and abandons them. But reptiles are land animals, so their eggs are laid on land. A damp environment is needed for the egg, so Nature put water inside the egg and a hard shell on the outside. The mother sometimes leaves the eggs on the sand to warm.

With birds, we see the first real caring for the young. The male and female sometimes build a nest together where the eggs are laid. The female keeps the eggs warm by sitting on them. When the eggs hatch, the male or the female goes to find food for the young. The young are taught how to search for food and to escape danger. The mammals do not lay eggs. The female keeps the egg inside her body and the young are born alive. The female cares for the newborn, and changes some of the blood into milk to feed it.

Aim: To examine the process of evolution through animal characteristics. To give children a sense of the process scientist go through in classification).

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In what element do they live?
on the ground
in the water
in the air

What do they eat?
plants / herbivorous
animals / carnivorous
plants and animals / omnivorous

How do they move?
by flight
by walking
by swimming
by creeping
in other ways

How do they care for their young?
they provide for their young
they take no care of their young
they suckle their young

How do they reproduce themselves?
born alive / viviparous
by means of eggs / oviparous
in other ways

How are they considered in relation to humans?
useful to humans
neither useful or harmful
harmful to humans

In what climatic regions do they live?
in a hot region / tropical zone
in regions which have changing temperatures / temperate zones
in regions that are very cold / frigid zones

Does this animal live in our region?
It did at one time.
It does not live in our region.
It does live in our region.

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Introduction to the Animal Kingdom
Re-introduce the FIVE KINGDOM work that was the beginning of the child's work in Biology.

In biology, we study life. Here we begin to study the animals in relation to the history of life, the story of evolution. Only after the children have understood the history of the past lives of these animals, can they fully understand and appreciate their existence.

Materials: 2 Animal Kingdom charts backed on red (which stands for animals): A blank chart, pictures and word labels. Folders for each of the phylum of the Animal Kingdom.

Presentation:
These are all the kinds of animals that you already know, but now, they are arranged in a special order.. The further up we move on this chart, the more complex the animals become.

This is the Animal Kingdom. If you remember from the time line of life, the sea covered the world for millions of years. Think of yourself floating in a pool of water. Animals in the ocean did not need an inner skeleton when they first evolved. The sea held them up - or the sea provided them with calcium to build their own houses around their bodies. This first group of animals have no backbone. (make sure that with each presentation, you are referring to the time line - showing where the animal developed.

...The Porifera, or pore-bearers, are the sponges. They are very primitive animals that are like thousands of Protists all working together as one. They are able to glue onto the bottom of the ocean or on a rock and absorb the water as it washed over them. Organisms wash through them, are absorbed (or eaten) and the sponge squirts the water back out the top. I guess we can't really say that, as animals, sponges "go out looking for food", but luckily the food finds them because it grows where food is plentiful.

...The Cnidarians are stinging jelly-like animals. Cnidarian comes from a Greek word meaning stinging nettles. All Cnidarians have stinging cells called nematocysts. They sting their prey with the tentacles surrounding their mouth. Then it pulls its anesthetized prey into its mouth. The Cnidarians used to be called Coelenterata which means "stomach mouth" because they have only one opening into its body. It is all stomach! For the first time, animals seem to have some kind of symmetry or mirror image of itself on its body. The Cnidaria's symmetry is called radial symmetry. Hydras, Corals, Jelly fish, and Sea anemones are Cnidaria.

...When you think about a worm, you think about earthworms. But there are three phyla of worms: flatworms, called Platyhelminthes, roundworms, called Nematodes, and segmented worms, called Annelida. Planarians and tapeworms are examples of Platyhelminthes. Tricinella and hookworms are example of round worms. Earthworms and leeches and seaworms are examples of segmented worms.

...Mollusks are soft-bodied invertebrates. They have a thick, muscular foot. Some mollusks have a shell. All mollusks have a soft mantle which covers most of its body. The mantle produces the materials which make up the shell. There are three main groups of mollusks: snails and slugs: two shelled mollusks; and tentacled mollusks.

* At this point, you should do a three period lesson on the animals. You can work with the folders containing the classes of these three phyla. This is enough work for one day. Make sure the children understand about these animals. See if they would like to find out more about them before going on.

...Arthropods are the largest group of animals. Arthropod means jointed feet. They include insects, crustaceans, and spider relatives.
...Echinoderm means spiny skin. Even through echinoderms are called invertebrates, they do seem to have an internal skeleton of calcium plates. They also all have a five part body, a water vascular system and structures called tube feet.

...The Chordate phylum must have three important characteristics at sometime during their lives: a nerve cord, a notochord and a throat with gill slits. There are four subphylum of chordates: Two without a brain: the tunicates and the cephalochordates.
Two with a brain: the Agnatha (no jaws - like the lamprey), and Gnathostomata, (jaws and paired limbs). The Fish, Amphibians, Reptiles, Birds and Amphibians are Gnathostomatas.

*Introduce these animals with a three period lesson and their classes. At this point, when the child is able to understand and give a definition for each animal, she is able to work with the labels for a matching exercise.

The next step is working with the mute chart and folders without looking at the controls.

Aim: to understand the development of animals at a very basic level.

To understand which characteristics are common to these groups.

Age: 7-8

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