Name _______________________________________________ Score ________
Biological Classification Worksheet
Five-Kingdom System
Animal Kingdom Invertebrates (without backbones) and vertebrates (with backbones),
multicellular, no cell walls, obtain energy through respiration
Plant Kingdom multicellular, have cell walls, obtain energy through photosynthesis. Ex.
mosses, ferns, flowering and seed plants
Fungi Kingdom cells with cell walls but not green and do not carry out photosynthesis,
break down other organic materials to obtain food. Ex. mushrooms, molds, and yeasts
Protist Kingdom come in a wide variety of forms, some are animal-like, such as amoeba,
paramecium and protozoan. Some are plant-like such as algae and others are fungi-like.
Many are single-celled and others are multicellular.
Monera Kingdom some photosynthesize while others respire. The nucleus of Moneran
cells are not bounded by nuclear membranes like cells in the other kingdoms. Ex.
bacteria and blue-green algae.
The classification of humans Homo sapiens
The two part naming system is called Binomial nomenclature (consists of genus and
species.).
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Primata
Family: Hominadae
Genus: Homo
Species: sapiens (note: species is not capitalized.
Using the information above, answer the following questions.
1. What is the next smallest classification group after Order? ______________
2. What is the smallest classification group? ______________
3. Every living organism has what classification groups as its name? _________ and
________
4. The first letter of every genus name is ______________.
5. The first letter of every species name is _______________.
6. What is binomial nomenclature? _______________________________________.
7. Give one example of how you classification is used at school.
8. Why is the understanding of classification an important life skill?
Name _______________________________________________ Score ________
A Tale of Two Elephants
1. What organisms are shown?
2. Do they look the same?
3. Do the pictures show the same species?
4. How are they elephants similar?
5. How are they different?
Is it Hard or Soft?
Scientists place things in categories based on their external structures. Determining
how to group things is called classification. Below are photographs of some non-living
things.
#1 #2 #3
#4 #5 #6
#7 #8
In the box below, identify which objects are hard and soft.
Soft Objects Hard Objects
Besides hard and soft, list two other ways that could be used to divide non-living things
into two groups.
a.
b.
Yes, But is it Alive?
Scientists divide or classify things into three major groups. These groups are: living,
nonliving, and once living. Living things are objects that can pass on genetic information
through reproduction. The term once-living is a term that refers to things that were at
one point part of a living thing.
See how well you understand this. Your goal will be to identify correctly the correct
group for each of the following photographs.
Object Living, Non-Living, or Once Living
Uncle Festers CDs
Congratulations, your Uncle Fester has just willed you his CD collection!!! Using what you
know about classification, see if you can arrange these CDs into similar groups to make
them easier for your customers to find. Make a list of four groups that these CDs can
be classified into.
Leann Rhimes Sara Evans The Beatles Enigma
Mozart Bach Beyonc Tim McGraw
Rolling Stones Elvis Presley Paula DeAnda Beach Boys
Beethoven Strauss Carrie Underwood Robin Thicke
Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4
Name _______________________________________________ Score ________
Classification Practice Animals
Part A
In the exercises that follow, arrange the items listed into different groups. Give each
group a title indicating what the members of that group have in common.
1. German Shepherd, Great Dane, parrot, Irish setter, canary, husky, robin, pigeon
Title _____________________ Title ______________________
_____________________ ______________________
_____________________ ______________________
_____________________ ______________________
_____________________ ______________________
2. Apples, peas, orange, banana, carrot, lettuce, turnip, pear, grape, potato
Title _____________________ Title ______________________
_____________________ ______________________
_____________________ ______________________
_____________________ ______________________
_____________________ ______________________
_____________________ ______________________
3. Steak, football, sausage, chair, table, bacon, sofa, baseball bat, cleats, ham, bookcase
Title _________________ Title__________________ Title_________________
_________________ __________________ ________________
_________________ __________________ ________________
_________________ __________________ ________________
_________________ __________________ ________________
_________________ __________________ ________________
Part B Study the following list of living things:
Mare, trout, parrot, quarterhorse, woodpecker, spaniel, goldfish, Great Dane,
eagle, bass, beagle, hawk, stallion, Dalmatian, shark
1. Classify them into two groups (give each group a name).
Group 1 ____________________ Group 2 ___________________
2. Using the same list of living things show how they could be classified into three
groups.
Group 1 _____________ Group 2 ______________ Group 3 _____________
3. Using the same list, show how they could be classified into four groups.
Group 1 ______________
Group 2 ______________
Group 3 ______________
Group 4 ______________
The most exciting phrase to hear
in science, the one that heralds
new discoveries, is not Eureka! (I
found it!) but rather, "hmm....
that's funny...."
-Isaac Asimov
Touch a scientist and you touch a
child.
-Ray Bradbury
