An important science skill is being able to sort or "classify" different things according to their characteristics or features.  Today, we will look at classifying animals.  The best way to classify animals into groups is to look for features that are the same and different between the different animals.

Please watch the video from Discovery Education to explore different ways animals can be grouped.  You can click the link below but will be asked to put in the username and password which was emailed out to you towards the end of last week.  In case you are unsure whether it has taken you to the right page, it should take you to the page in the picture below once you have inputted the login details.

Once you have watched the video, please have a go at sorting the animals in the Word document below into different groups.  Try to think about different features, eg. number of legs, can they fly, where do they live.  Once you have sorted them into groups one way, can you mix them up again and find a different way of classifying them?  If you are not able to print, you could write the names of some animals on to pieces of paper to be able to sort them.  Remember, this is the general term "animals" so include birds and insects too! As an extension challenge, can you think of other animals to add to each group?

You do not need to record anything in your green book for this activity.

You could take a photo (make sure your groups are labelled, eg. animals that fly) and send it to us to put on the Wonderful Work page - how many different ways of classifying the animals do you think we will find as a year group?!