C.E.I.P. Manuel Laza Palacio Carmen Posadas Gallardo Manuel Álvarez Vigil

There are so many different living things in the word and scientists have divided them into different groups.Each group is made up of living things which share the same characteristics. For example, one group are animals and plants are another.

Animals are living things because they carry out the three vital processes. Animals also eat other living things, and most of them can move around.

The Vital Processes of Animals Animals carry out three vital functions: 1.Process of nutrition : to get the substances and the energy they need to grow and develop.Not all animals eat the same.

2) Process of reproduction: Animals use it to have descendants. Not all animals reproduce in the same way.

3) Process of interaction: Animals use it to interact with other living things. Not all the animals interact in the same way.

Classifying Animals: All animals have some things in common. They also have other things that make them different from each other. We use these differences to classify animals into groups.

Not all animals move around in the same way: Birds fly, fish swim, grasshoppers jump, snakes crawl(slither) and deers run.

Not all animals eat the same things. Depending on what they eat they can be Herbivores, Carnivores and Omnivores. Rabbits and horses, for example, are herbivores because they eat plants.

A lynx, a lion or a shark are carnivores because they eat other animals. A bear is an omnivore because it eats plants and other animals too.

Not all animals are born in the same way. Some are born from an egg and some are born alive. A duck is born from an egg and a cat is born alive: it is born from its mother’s womb.

Vertebrates and Invertebrates

Animals can be classified according if they have or not a backbone. Animals that have got a backbone are called Vertebrates like cats and dogs. Animals that have not got a backbone are called Invertebrates like clams and flies.

Vertebrates: Vertebrates can be classified into five different groups: Reptiles are born from eggs. Their body is covered with scales. They move around in different ways: snakes slither and lizards have short legs. Some of them live on land, like lizards, and some of them live in water, like turtles.

Birds are born from eggs. Their body is covered with feathers. Most birds can fly, like seagulls and sparrows.

Mammals are born alive. Most mammals have their body covered with hair and they are born from their mother’s womb.Lynxes, goats, sheep, foxes or wolves are examples of mammals.

Can you say the names of these mammals? Try it.

Fish are born from eggs, and their body is covered with scales. They move around by swimming. Some examples are salmon,sharks, whales, dolphins, tuna, sardines or squid.

Amphibians are born from eggs and their body is not covered with scales or feathers or hair.They have a smooth skin.They can live in water and on land. Some examples are toads, frogs, turtles or salamanders.

Invertebrates: Invertebrates have no backbone. There are more invertebrates than vertebrates. These animals live in every part of the world.They can move in different ways: butterflies fly, worms slither or crawl, fleas jump and prawns swim.

Plants:

Plants are living things because they carry out three vital processes. Plants make their own food. Most plants are fixed to the ground with their roots and they can not move around. Plants make their own food. They use it to get energy and the substances they need to grow and develop.Plants need the sunlight, water and substances from the air and the ground to make their food.

Plants use their leaves to catch the sunlight and other substances in the air. They use their roots to catch the water and substances in the soil. The leaves make the food for the plant.

The process of reproduction: Lots of plants use seeds to reproduce. The seeds of a plant are in its fruit. When there is water and soil, these seeds begin to grow and they produce new plants.

The process of interaction: Plants can not move around. They do not have sense organs but they are sensitive to their surroundings. Most plants ggrow upwards, looking for the sunlight. The roots of a plant grow downwards looking for water.

Classifying plants. trees, bushes and grassIf we look at the size of plants we can classfy them into trees, bushes and grass

Trees are very big plants. They have a hard and thick stem called a trunk.The branches of a tree grow from the trunk and they do not grow near the ground. Examples: orange trees, olive trees, oak trees, pine trees,….

Bushes are smaller than trees. They have a hard stem and branches grow from the stem, near the ground. An example can be the rose bush.

Grass is the smallest plant. It has a soft stem that bends and it is usually green. Shamrocks and poppies are examples.

We can classify plants too into grown plants or wild plants. It depends on the way they grow. People grow plants because the plants provide food, like wheat, or because they provide shade and make the garden pretty. Wild plants are those that grow on their own. Nobody cultivates them.

We can classify plants too depending on if they have flowers or not. Plants without flowers: they live in wet, cool places, like moss. Plants with flowers: They live in almost every part of the world. Some live in tropical rainforests, some live in deserts. Pine trees, cacti and orange trees are examples.

Other way of classifying plants is depending on what kind of leaves they have got: Perennial leaves: they are plants that keep their leaves all the year, like pine trees. Deciduous leaves: they are plants that lose their leaves in autumn and grow new leaves in spring, like chestnut trees.