Creative Classification

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Think about how you organize a closet: maybe placing pants, shirts, and coats together.

Some people even go farther, color-coding items of clothing within each section. Living organisms have been classified in a very similar way.

Classification starts with three broad categories, called domains. These consist of Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya, each with identifying characteristics, shown in the chart below:

Blu-green algae (bacteria) in Lake Erie:

_{Image is in the public domain because it contains materials that originally came from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, taken or made as part of an employee's official duties, via Wikimedia Commons.}

Deep sea vents are home to very unique ecosystems, including members of Archaea, pictured here:

_{Image, via Wikimedia Commons, is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted".}

Once placed into a domain, organisms are then classified into one of six kingdoms:

• eubacteria
• archaebacteria
• protista
• fungi
• plantae
• animalia

Wow, that is a lot of biological diversity!

The first two kingdoms align with the bacteria and archaea domain, but the eukarya domain actually is made up of four kingdoms. These kingdoms vary greatly in types and function of organisms. Each kingdom has unique features and breaks down into small component sections.

You're going to learn about the unique characteristics of each kingdom!

Read the following article to complete the Kingdom Organizer below:

• The Five Kingdoms (SoftSchools) - Consider following the links to learn more about the specific kingdoms.

Share your answers with a parent or guardian. Answers may vary, and can be checked using Five Kingdom Classification System, provided by David R. Caprette through Rice University.

When you are done, continue on to the Got It? section for more in-depth study.