Welcome to the KingdomName:

Date:

Background: Scientist have created classification systems in order to put organisms into groups for easier study and to observe relationships between each other. One of the most common scheme has five Kingdoms (highest level) which include Animalia, Protista, Plantae, Monera, and Fugi. Historically Protista became a “dumping ground” for organisms that did not fit into any other kingdom. Today, a six kingdom classification scheme is used. Animalia, Protista, Plantae, and Fungi are still present, but Monera can be split into Eubacteria and Archaebacteria. We can furthermore, we can group Protista, Plantae, Fungi, and Animalia into a larger group called a Domain because of some similar characteristics.

Activity: Below are a series of organisms. We are going to start with the traditional five-kingdom system since we will spend more time on the bacterial kingdoms later.

  1. Fill in Table One below with all of the organisms given.

Human / Pine Tree / Mushroom / Bluebird / Crocodile
Chrysanthemum / Bacteria / Algae / Yeast / Euglena
Mildew / Spider / Fern / Streptomyces / Paramecium
E. coli / Staphylococcus / Mold / Amoeba / Grass
  1. Based on what you know about the organisms and their structural features, begin to write down what common characteristics are seen in each kingdom. Include all your ideas in Table Two. (Do worry – this doesn’t have to be perfect, yet)
  2. Use the picture cards to help!

Table One - Examples

Animalia / Plantae / Fungi / Protista / Monera

Table Two - Characteristics

Animalia / Plantae / Fungi / Protista / Monera

Welcome to the Kingdom (Day One) – Teacher Notes

Step One: Begin with warm-up questions based on Classification. Samples include

  1. What do a shoe, shirt, baseball hat, and shorts have in common? How are they different?
  2. What is the benefit of classifying things?
  3. Describe how classification is used in a store such as Target or Meijers.
  • Students should identify several importances of classification, but make sure they identify classification is most important to bring order to a large group. Stores classify products into categories such as beauty, clothing, home products, food, etc. (5 minutes)

Step Two: Read intro paragraph to the assignment. Students should have basic knowledge of Kingdoms from an intro Biology course.

Step Three: Break up into pairs and work on activity. Students each need their own handout and one set of pictures. Picture packets include one of every organism listed with #1. Give students 15 – 20 minutes to work on table one and two.

Step Four: On the chalkboard, write out the five kingdoms. Put the class into five groups (about 4 students in each group) and assign them one kingdom. Give each group several index cards and tape. Have each group write down the organisms they think belong in their kingdom and tape them to the chalkboard under their heading. As a class discus what characteristics they have decided can be assigned to each kingdom. Make sure students have identified major characteristics such as number of cells, how they eat, etc. Students should keep assignment in their notebook to receive credit for assignment at end of unit.

Step Five: Homework

-Students are to read pages 510 – 516, and 522 – 523.

-Using any type of resource, adjust the characteristics you have brainstormed.

*Pop quiz at beginning of day two over reading.

Answers for activity

Table One - Examples

Animalia / Plantae / Fungi / Protista / Monera
Human / Pine Tree / Mold / Ameoba / Bacteria
Crocodile / Fern / Mildew / Euglena / E. coli
Bluebird / Grass / Mushroom / Paramecium / Streptomyces
Spider / Chrysanthemum / Yeast / Staphylococcus
Algea

Table Two - Characteristics

Animalia / Plantae / Fungi / Protista / Monera
Multicellular
Heterotrophic
Eukaryotic / Multicellular
Autotrophic
Eukaryotic / Multicellular (some unicellular)
Eukaryotic
Heterotrophic / Unicellular
Eukaryotic
Auto and Heterotrophic / Unicellular
Cell Walls
Prokaryotic
Auto and Heterotrophic