Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Mehrin and I am really excited to be learning all about grouping animals with you today.

Let's begin.

Welcome to today's lesson from the unit, Living Things in Their Environment.

Your learning outcome is I can use observable characteristics to classify animals in different ways.

Now, I know that learning can sometimes be a little bit challenging, but that's okay because it just means that we are going to work really hard together and we are going to learn lots of fabulous new things.

Let's begin.

So, here are your four key words for today, along with the definition to those keywords.

Now, I am going to be referring to these throughout today's lesson.

However, if you find it helpful, you can pause the video here and you can jot them down.

Off you go.

So, our lesson today is split into two parts.

Let's begin with the first part, Observable Characteristics of Animals.

Now, Sophia and her friends observe their similarities and differences to sort themselves into different groups.

So here, we have the two different groups, and it says in this example, we are grouped by size.

So, group one has the shorter children, and group two has the taller children.

Now, Sophia says, "I know that humans are living things and they can be grouped in different ways, but can other animals be sorted into groups too?" And Laura says, "I think all animals are so different to each other.

They do not have features in common to be able to group them together." What do you think? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

So, these animals are very different, but can you observe any features that they have in common? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Fabulous.

Well done.

So, they have wings.

Are there anything else that you observe about them that are in common? I'll give you five seconds to think about any other observable characteristics that they have that are the same or similar.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

So for me, I would say that I can see that they are all dark coloured as well, and the butterfly and the bird also have some white markings on them too.

Now, although animals can be very different from each other, many have similar features that allow us to sort them into groups.

Now, what similarities do you observe between all these animals? So remember, the word observe means to look at something really closely.

So, have a really good look at all of these pictures.

What similarities do you observe between all of them? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

So Sophia says, "I think all of these animals belong to the group of animals with two eyes." And Laura says, "I think all of these animals belong to the group of animals that have a tail." Did you observe any other ways these animals could be grouped? You may have said the colour of them as well.

They're all kind of a greyish colour too, so you may have said that.

Now, for animals to be grouped together, which of these would be true? A, the animals need to look exactly the same, B, the animals need to have at least one similar feature, or C, the animals need to have no similar features.

I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

The answer is B.

The animals need to have at least one similar feature.

Now, animals can be grouped by their observable characteristics, and Sophia says, "An observable characteristic is a feature or property of a living thing that we can see or use our other senses to observe." Now, observable characteristics can include information about the colour, the size, the shape, or the structure of an object.

Now, which observable characteristics could you use to group these animals? So, we have a frog and a duck.

Okay, so I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

So Laura says, "I think they both belong to the group of animals that live near water." Now, do you think Laura is correct and why? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

So Laura is incorrect.

So Laura says, "I've grouped the animals based on where they live." But Sophia says, "Where they live is not an observable characteristic.

We can't always see where animals live just by looking at them." Now, Laura tries to group the animals again.

This time she looks for observable characteristics.

So, "I can observe the structure of the animals.

They both belong to the group of animals that have webbed feet." Now, Laura is correct.

They both do have webbed feet, and that is an indication that they live near water, because they need their webbed feet to help them to swim.

Now, are there other observable characteristics that these animals have in common? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Fantastic.

Well done.

So you may say another observable characteristics is that they both have two eyes.

Now, which observable characteristic do these animals have in common? So, we've got a mole, a bearded dragon, and a bear.

Now, is it A, that they all have fur, B, that they all have scales, or C, that they all have claws? So think really carefully, which observable characteristics do these animals have in common? Okay, I'm going to give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

So the answer is C.

They all have claws.

Now, true or false? When we group animals by their observable characteristics, we only look at their size.

Is that true or false? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Fantastic.

Well done.

The answer is false.

Now, let's see if you can justify your answer.

Is it because A, observable characteristics include where animals live, or B, observable characteristics can include information about the colour, size, shape, and structure of an animal? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

The answer is B.

Observable characteristics can include information about the colour, size, shape, and structure of an animal.

Now, it says observe these three different animals and explain to a partner one reason why each animal may be the odd one out.

So, I'd like you to pause the video here and have a go at doing this activity.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

So, your ideas may be different to these ones, but here are some.

So, the pigeon is the odd one out because it has wings and the lion and the cobra don't, the cobra is the odd one out because it has no legs and the line and the bird do have legs, and the lion is the odd one out because it has whiskers and the bird and snake do not have whiskers.

Now, you may also say that the pigeon is the odd one out because it's the only one that can fly, for example.

Now, here is your second part to today's lesson, which is Classifying Animals.

Now, Sophia and Laura want to learn more about grouping animals, and Sophia says, "My neighbour is a scientist called a biologist.

He studies living things and his job involves classifying animals but I'm not sure what this means." Do you know? Do you know what it is to classify animals? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fabulous.

Well done.

So Laura says, "At school we classify different materials including rocks, by sorting them into groups." Now, classification is sorting objects into groups, and we can classify animals based on their similarities and differences.

How do you think these animals have been classified? I'll give you five seconds now to have a good think.

If you need longer, that's okay.

You can pause the video and then you can come back once you are ready.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

So, one way that these animals have been classified is the ones on the left-hand side, so the lion, the wildebeest, the antelope, and the horse, all have a mane, and the lizard, the bear, the crocodile, and the lioness do not have mane.

Now of course, the lion and the lioness are of the same breed, however, you don't always have to classify animals based on that, so here, for example, they've classified it into two different groups because the lion's got a mane and the lioness doesn't have one.

Now, if you were to put all of these together and reclassify them, you could find different ways.

So, let's do a quick check-in of your learning, and it says the process of grouping animals based on the similarities and differences is called A, multiplication, B, classification, or C, communication.

I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fabulous.

The answer is B, classification.

Now, Laura's family has lots of pets.

They really do have a lot of pets, and Laura says, "I am going to use observable characteristics to classify these animals in different ways." Now, do you have any ideas? How could Laura use their observable characteristics to classify these animals? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

So, Laura uses observable characteristics to classify her pets by size, so she is saying that the snake, the dog, the cat and the horse are large animals, and the budgie, the gerbil, the goldfish, the rabbit, the guinea pig, the gecko, and the tortoise are all small.

Now, how has Laura classified her pets this time? What do you think? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

So this time, she has classified her animals by their structure.

So, the budgie has wings and can fly and the others cannot.

Now, Laura says, "I wonder if I can use observable characteristics to classify my pets as mammals, fish, birds, amphibians, and reptiles." And Sophia says, "You will need to know the common features of animals in these groups." Now, can you help Laura to remember what some observable characteristics of these animal groups are? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer, but if you need longer, you can pop the video on pause and you can come back once you are ready.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

So, animals can be classified into groups such as mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and birds, by observing body covering.

So Laura says, "The body of most mammals is covered in hair or fur, and birds have feathers.

Amphibians often have smooth skin.

Most fish are covered in scales, and most reptiles have tough, dry, scaly skin too." Now, Sophia has one final question for Laura.

She says, "How will you know which pets are fish and which are reptiles if they both have scales?" What other observable characteristic could Laura use to classify her pets as fish and reptiles? So, Sophia has asked the question how will you know which pets are fish and which are reptiles if they both have scales? So what do you think? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fabulous.

Well done.

So Laura says, "I will also classify the animals by structure.

So most fish have scales and fins, but most reptiles have scales, but they don't have fins." Now, which of these animals would be classified as fish? Would it be A, B, or C? And remember, there may be more than one answer here, so I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

So it would be the lionfish and the arowana fish.

Now, which of these could we use to classify animals as mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and birds? Could it be A, their habitat, B, their structure, C, their body covering, or D, their age? I'll give you five seconds to think about your answer.

Off you go.

Fantastic.

Well done.

The answer is B and C.

Now, here is task B.

It says classify Laura's pets as mammals, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and birds by observing or researching their body covering and structure.

So, I'd like you to pause the video here now.

You will have some research to do as well for this activity, and then I want you to come back once you are ready.

Off you go.

Fabulous.

Well done.

So, none of Laura's pets are amphibians, but we do have mammals, which are the cat, the dog, the rabbit, the guinea pig, the gerbil, and the horse.

We have one fish, the goldfish.

We have one bird, which is the budgie, and then we have the tortoise, the snake, and the gecko, which are all reptiles.

Now, we are on to the summary of our learning for today, and it says although animals can be very different from each other, many have similar features that allow us to put them into groups.

Animals can be grouped by their observable characteristics, including information about colour, size, shape, and structure.

The process of grouping animals based on their similarities and differences is called classification.

Animals can be classified into mammals, reptiles.

amphibians, fish, and birds, by observing body covering and structure.

You have worked really hard on classifying animals today.

I'm really proud of your critical thinking and hard work.

Well done.