1. Heredity Grade 5: Standard 4 - Heredity Conceptual Strand 4 Plants and animals reproduce and transmit hereditary information between generations. Guiding Question 4 What are the principal mechanisms by which living things reproduce and transmit information between parents and offspring? GLE 0507.4.1 Describe how genetic information is passed from parents to offspring during reproduction. GLE 0507.4.2 Recognize that some characteristics are inherited while others result frominteractions with the environment. 0507.4.1 Explain how genetic information is transmitted from parents to offspring 0507.4.2 Create a chart that compares hereditary and environmental traits. 0507.4.3 Distinguish between a scar and a birthmark in terms of their origins. SPI 0507.4.1 Recognize that information is passed from parent to offspring during reproduction. SPI 0507.4.2 Distinguish between inherited traits and those that can be attributed to the environment.

2. Adaptation A trait or characteristic that helps an organism survive in its environment

3. Chromosome A threadlike structure in the nucleus, made up of DNA

4. DNA DNA is a long fiber, like a hair, only thinner and longer. It is made from two strands that stick together with a slight twist.

5. Dominant A trait expressed when an organism receives genes for two different forms of a trait

6. Environment All the living and nonliving things that surround and affect an organism

7. Gene A short segment of DNA that determines one of an organism’s inherited traits

8. HeredityHeredity (Inherited Trait) A characteristic passed from parents to their offspring

9. Hybrid An organism that has two different genes for the same trait

10. Instinct A behavior that an organism inherits

11. Learned Behavior A behavior that an animal acquires through experience

12. Life Cycle The stages that a living thing passes through as it grows and changes The Life Cycle of Frogs

13. Mitosis The process by which most cells divide

14. Mutation A change in the genes of an organism

15. Nucleotide The basic structural unit of DNA

16. Recessive A trait not expressed when an organism receives genes for two different forms of a trait

17. Selective Breeding The practice of breeding plants and animals for desired traits

18. Sexual Reproduction The production of offspring by the union of male and female gametes

19. Asexual Reproduction Production of offspring from only one parent