10 - Vertebrate or Invertebrate? Make a Taxonomy

Description:
The student will generate a taxonomy by classifying vertebrates and invertebrates that live in a pond.

Educational Objectives:

Vocabulary:
Vocabulary:
taxonomy
classify
vertebrate
invertebrate
backbone

Aldine Benchmarks:
7,8,9

Materials:
1. pictures of invertebrates and vertebrates that live in a pond
2. two shoe boxes; one labeled vertebrates and the other invertebrates

Teacher Background:
Taxonomy is the science, laws, or principles of classification.

The key to a taxonomic system is its specific hierarchy. For instance:
The Classification of the Domestic Dog
PHYLUM CHORDATA
fish, frog, lizard, bird, dog
CLASS MAMMALIA
opossum, dog, cow, boy
ORDER CARNIVORA
bear, weasel, dog, cat
FAMILY CANIDAE
wolf, fox, dog
GENUS CANIS
dog, wolf
SPECIES FAMILIARIS
dog

Carolus Linnaeus devised the taxonomic system for classifying living things.
Benjamin Bloom devised the taxonomic system for classifying levels of thinking.
Students will generate taxonomic systems for classifying familiar things as a beginning step toward understanding specific hierarchies in taxonomic systems.

Any animal that has a backbone is a vertebrate. Birds, frogs, salamanders, fish, snakes, turtles, and beavers are examples of vertebrates. Many of them are found living in a pond.
An animal without a backbone or an internal skeleton to support their bodies is an invertebrate. Instead of a skeleton, invertebrates may have a hardened body (for example, beetles) or a protective shell (for example, snails). Other invertebrates have soft bodies, such as grubs and worms. Crayfish, insects, spiders, and snails are common in ponds.

Advanced Preparation:
Gather materials for sorting and classification.

Procedures:

1. Start a web with the heading Animal Kingdom.
2. Tell the students that the Animal Kingdom is divided into two groups: vertebrates and invertebrates. Add this information to the web.
3. Sing to the tune of "Lazy Mary, Will You Get Up?" from Carson-Dellosa's Hands-On Science Fair:
There are five kinds of vertebrates,
Vertebrates, vertebrates.
There are five kinds of vertebrates,
They're animals with backbones.

Cold-blooded fish have fins and gills,
Fins and gills, fins and gills.
Cold-blooded fish have fins and gills.
Sometimes they have scales.

Tadpoles live in H20,
H20, H20.
Grown-up frogs on land do go,
They're amphibians.

Snakes and turtles are reptiles,
Are reptiles, are reptiles.
Alligators and crocodiles are reptiles.
Their blood can get real cold.

Birds have warm blood, feathers, wings,
Feathers, wings, feathers, wings.
Birds have warm blood, feathers, wings.
Not all birds can fly.

Mammals all have fur or hair,
Fur or hair, fur or hair.
Mammals all have fur or hair.
They feed milk to their babies.

4. Ask the students to list the animals they sang about. Add the names to the web under vertebrates.
5. Sing to the tune of "Oh, Christmas Tree:" I suggest using insects, snails, and spiders instead of some of the big words.
Invertebrates, invertebrates,
You poor things have no backbones.
Invertebrates, invertebrates,
You poor things have no backbones.
No backbone for a sponge or worm,
No backbone for echinoderm.
Invertebrates, invertebrates,
You poor things have no backbones.
Invertebrates, invertebrates,
You poor things have no backbones.
Oh, arthropods and jellyfish
And mollusks, it won't do to wish.
Invertebrates, invertebrates,
You poor things have no backbones.

6. Ask the students to list the animals they sang about. Add the names to the web under invertebrates.
7. Divide the students in groups of four.
8. Pass the pictures of animals living in a pond and ask them to classify them in two groups: vertebrates and invertebrates. Place them in the correct box.

Formative assessment:
Students will be able to classify animals into vertebrates or invertebrates.