Lesson video

Hello everyone.

How are you today?

I hope you're feeling really good.

My name is Miss Avsal, and I'll be your teacher for this lesson.

I'm feeling really pleased about that because we've got quite an interesting topic ahead.

We're gonna be looking at living things and their characteristics.

Our lesson is called "Comparing Characteristics of Living Things", and it comes from the unit of work, Why We Group and Classify Living Things.

So if you're ready with some focus, energy and enthusiasm, we'll begin our exploration of this topic now.

The outcome for today's lesson is I can compare the characteristics of living things and describe their similarities and differences.

We have some keywords in our lesson.

Let's go through them one at a time, saying them out loud, my turn, your turn.

Observable, characteristic, compare, similarity, difference.

It's good to hear these keywords out loud.

Pause here and share with someone.

Have you heard of any of these keywords or know what they mean?

Thanks for sharing.

Let's find out about what these keywords mean.

Observable, something observable is something that we can see or describe using our senses.

A characteristic is a feature or quality of something that we can see or use our other senses to observe.

We compare things by looking at what is the same and what is different.

A similarity is something two or more objects have in common.

A difference between two objects or things is something that is not similar or the same about them.

These are our key words, observable, characteristic, compare, similarity and difference.

Let's look out for them and listen out for them and think carefully about them.

They'll be coming up in our lesson today.

Our lesson is called Comparing Characteristics of Living Things, and it has three learning cycles, observable characteristics, comparing living things and identifying living things.

Let's begin by exploring observable characteristics.

Sofia has been learning about classifying and grouping living things.

She wants to practice her skills at putting things into groups, using her friends.

What characteristics could she use to divide her friends into groups?

Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing your ideas, let's hear some.

Aisha says, you could sort us by our hair color.

You could put us into groups based on our eye color.

You could put us into groups of boys and girls.

These are all observable characteristics.

An observable characteristic is a feature or property of a living thing that we can see or use our other senses to observe.

This can include information about color, size, shape or structure.

Eye color is an example of an observable characteristic.

Let's have a check for understanding, which of these are observable characteristics of an object?

Choose from the following, A, its color.

B, how much it costs, C, its shape, D, its size.

Pause here while you decide which of these are observable characteristics of an object.

Well done if you selected A, C and D.

Color, shape and size are all observable characteristics of an object.

Some observable characteristics of Alex's mom are, she has ginger hair, she has straight hair, she has blue eyes, she has freckles.

Some observable characteristics of Alex's older sister are, she has ginger hair, she has curly hair, she has green eyes, she has freckles.

These are all observable characteristics.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Which of these are observable characteristics of Jun?

A, he has dark hair.

B, he has a pet goldfish.

C, he likes cheese sandwiches.

D, his name is Jun.

Pause here while you decide which of these are observable characteristics of Jun?

Well done if you selected option A.

Indeed, he has dark hair.

This is an observable characteristic.

Sofia has sorted herself and her friends into groups according to an observable characteristic.

We have children with curly hair and children with straight hair.

Someone is in the wrong group.

Can you see her mistake?

Pause here and share with someone.

Alex should be in the first group because he has curly hair.

When sorting things into groups, the groups do not need to be equal in size.

Let's have a check for understanding, how has Sofia sorted her friends into groups?

Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing.

Sofia has sorted her friends into groups of boys and girls.

Now it's time for your first task.

I would like you to choose six people in your class or the people below and sort them into groups using observable characteristics.

Find at least two different ways to sort them.

So you could go with Andeep, Sofia, Alex, Jun, Aisha, and Lucas, or you could choose six people in your class.

Pause here while you have a go at this task.

So how did you get on with that task?

Choosing six people in your class or the people below and sorting them into groups using observable characteristics.

Here's Izzy.

Here are some ways you could have sorted your people, into girls and boys and into people with light colored hair and dark colored hair.

And now we're onto our next learning cycle, comparing living things.

When we compare things, we look at their similarities and differences.

Scientists use observable characteristics to compare living things.

This helps them to sort living things into groups and work out what they are.

What similarities and differences can you see between these two types of plant?

A holly bush and a bramble.

Pause here while you discuss this with someone nearby.

Let's see what Aisha and Sam came up with.

"I observed some similarities.

They both have green leaves and berries.

" "I observed some differences.

The berries are different colors and shapes.

The holly has spiky waxy leaves and the bramble doesn't.

" Perhaps you notice these similarities and differences.

All right, let's take a look at these tulips and buttercups.

Aisha says, "The flowers on these plants are different to each other.

" Izzy says, "The flowers on these plants are similar to each other.

" Who do you agree with?

Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing, both children are correct.

The flowers are similar to each other, as they both sit at the top of long green stems and they both have yellow petals.

The flowers have differences in their shapes and sizes.

Let's have a check for understanding, which of these things are similar and which are different between these two plants?

The water lily and lily of the valley.

Choose from these options.

A, leaf shape, B, leaf color, C, flower shape, and D, flower color.

Pause here while you decide which of these things are similar and which are different between these two plants.

Perhaps you noticed that the leaf shape is different between these plants.

The leaf color is similar, the flower shape is different, and the flower color is similar.

Well done if you noticed these similarities and differences.

Which of these is the odd one out?

Think about what is the same and what is different about each one.

The penguin, the butterfly, and the macaw.

Pause here while you select the odd one out.

Aisha says, "I think it's the penguin because it can't fly.

" Lucas, "The butterfly is the odd one out because it's the only one that's not a bird.

" And Izzy, "I think it's the macaw because the other two are just black and white.

" What do you think, which did you go for?

Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing.

Which of these is not an observable characteristic we could use to compare animals?

Choose and following, A, the shape of their tail.

B, their body covering, C, their color, or D, the date they were born.

Pause there while you decide which of these is not an observable characteristic we could use to compare animals.

Well done if you selected D, it indeed is the date they were born.

This is not an observable characteristic.

And now it's time for your next task.

I would like you to choose three animals and complete the comparison table.

You can pick animals that you are familiar with or use these pictures.

Choose your own characteristics to compare in the empty boxes in the first column.

So here are some examples of animals you could use, the tapir, blue tit, tiger, fly and salamander.

And you could complete a table in this way.

You can choose which key fact you would like to compare.

For example, color, how does it move, body covering.

And then write in the names of your three animals and complete the comparison table.

Pause here while you have a go at this task, choosing your three animals and completing the comparison table.

I'll see you when you're finished.

It's good to be back with you.

How did you get on with that task?

Choosing three animals and completing the comparison table.

So here we can see that Lucas chose the fly, the blue tit, and the tiger.

And the key facts he chose to compare were color.

How does it move?

Body covering, number of legs and tail.

So let's take a look, color, fly is green, blue tit is blue, black, yellow, and white.

The tiger is black, white, and orange.

How does it move?

The fly walks and flies, the blue tit walks and flies.

The tiger walks, runs and climbs.

Body covering, the fly has very short hairs.

Blue tit has feathers and the tiger has fur.

All very different.

Number of legs fly, six, blue tit, two.

Tiger, four.

Also very different and tail fly, no tail.

Blue tit, thin, made of feathers and tiger, long, has black rings.

Great completion of that comparison table from Lucas.

And he asks, how are the animals you chose similar and different to mine?

Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing and for having a go at this task.

And now we're onto our final learning cycle, Identifying Living Things.

Scientists can compare similarities and differences between living things to help us work out whether they belong in certain groups.

Alex has found an animal in his backyard and is curious about what it is.

Take a look at this animal, very interesting.

He looks at the observable characteristics.

It has six legs and a pair of antenna.

I think it must be an insect.

Alex compares his insect to other types of insect, compares it to bees.

What similarities does it have with this group of insects?

Pause here and chat with someone.

Thanks for sharing.

He compares it to butterflies.

What similarities does it have with this group of insects?

Pause here and share with someone.

Thanks for sharing your ideas.

And he compares it to moths.

What similarities does it have with this group of insects?

Thanks for sharing.

Which group of insects do you think Alex's animal has the most in common with?

Bees, butterflies, or moths, pause here while you decide.

And here's Alex, "The shape of my insect's body and wings is most similar to the moths.

I think my insect must be a type of moth.

" I wonder if that's the group of insect that you also came up with.

Now he knows what kind of insect it is likely to be, Alex can carry out research using secondary sources to identify the type of moth he has found.

Let's have a check for understanding, which group does this unknown animal have the most similarities with?

Take a good look at that unknown animal and then look at the animals in group A, reptiles or in group B, amphibians.

Which group does this unknown animal have the most similarities with?

Pause here while you decide.

Well done if you selected group A.

Indeed, this unknown animal has the most similarities with reptiles.

And now it's time for your next task.

Laura has seen a bird in her garden.

Help her to identify it by comparing it to different types of birds.

Carefully observe each group of birds and decide which group it belongs to by seeing which it has most observable characteristics in common with.

And explain your reasoning.

And there we can see Laura's bird.

So pause here while you have a go at this task of identifying Laura's bird by comparing it to other groups of birds.

Let's take a look at these different groups of birds.

So here we have pigeons and Laura's bird, pause here while you draw your comparisons.

The next group of birds are finches.

Pause here while you take a look at Laura's bird and finches.

What observable characteristics does Laura's bird have in common with the finches?

And here are the wagtails.

What observable characteristics does Laura's bird have in common with the wagtails?

So now decide which of those three groups of birds does Laura's bird have most observable characteristics in common with?

The pigeons, the finches or the wagtails?

And explain your reasoning.

So how did you get on with that task?

Carefully observing each group of birds and deciding which group it belongs to by seeing which it has most observable characteristics in common with.

Here's Laura, "I think it's a type of finch because it has a similar body shape.

It also has a very similarly shaped beak as the other finches, and a short tail made of feathers like the others.

The pigeons have longer necks so it doesn't look like a pigeon.

And I don't think it belongs in a group with the wagtails because its tail and beak are shorter than theirs.

" I wonder if you came up with a similar answer to this.

Well done everyone for having a go at this task.

In our lesson Comparing Characteristics of Living Things, we've covered the following, observable characteristics are properties about things that we can describe using our five senses.

Living things have many observable characteristics we can use to compare similarities and differences between them.

Comparing and grouping living things can help us to identify them.

Well done everyone for joining in with this lesson.

It was so interesting to explore observable characteristics, to compare them, find the similarities, find the differences, and then to identify an unknown animal by comparing observable characteristics with various other groups of animals.

Perhaps you can now take your skills of comparing characteristics of living things with you as you come across different birds, flowers and creatures.

I really enjoyed teaching you.

I hope you've enjoyed this lesson too, and I'm looking forward to seeing you at another lesson soon.

Until then, stay curious.