Grouping and Classifying

This term, children learn about classification and the essential classification skills of observing and questioning. They explore classification keys and how they are constructed.

Children learn about the animal kingdom. They understand the characteristics of five vertebrate groups (amphibians, birds, fish, mammals and reptiles) and six invertebrate groups (annelids, molluscs, arachnids, crustaceans, insects and myriapods). They classify animals into these groups and look for patterns in their observable characteristics. Children also learn about vascular and non-vascular plant from the plant kingdom, sorting and classifying vascular plants into three groups: flowering, cone-bearing and spore-producing. They examine and classify real plants and create a classification key based on their observations.