Inherited Trait or Learned Skill? Read and Sort

Look at family photos together and name traits your child shares with a parent or grandparent. Then list skills they had to learn. The sort on the page uses the same idea.

Read about inherited traits and learned skills, then sort 8 cards like Lily's green eyes and bike riding. A litter is a group of babies born to one animal at the same time. The directions on the page read: Read the passage. Then, turn the page and sort the cards. On page 2: Write each card from the Card Bank on a line in the column where it belongs, lines 1 to 8. Then, write the answers to questions 9 and 10 on the lines. The answer key covers the questions on page 2.

Yes, both. We made it for 5th Grade living things, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with heredity. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

An inherited trait is a feature passed from parents to their children, like eye color, curly hair or freckles. It is carried in tiny instructions inside every cell, so no one has to practice to get it.

A learned skill is something you can do because you practiced it or someone taught you, like reading, riding a bike or playing the piano. Animals learn skills too, like a puppy trained to sit.

Yes. You may inherit long fingers, but you still have to learn to play the piano. The sheet ends with this kind of question so children see that traits and skills can work together.

Yes. Both heredity sheets have an answer key, with sample answers for the questions children answer in their own words.

2 printable worksheets, all free to preview. Downloads are included with a ClassWeekly free trial, and every page prints on standard 8.5 x 11 paper.

These are written for 5th Grade students, roughly ages 10-11. Many teachers also use them a grade up for review or a grade down as an extension, so use the preview to judge the fit for a particular child.