Using a Dichotomous Key

Teach the memory sentence first, then let students use the kingdom table as a reference. After the dichotomous key, have students explain why a trait like leg number works better than a word like big.

Follow a five step dichotomous key to name six bugs such as Zarvik and Krimp. The directions on the page read: Start at step 1 for each bug and follow the key until you reach a name. Write the name on the line under the bug. An answer key is included.

Yes, both. We made it for 6th 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 animal classification. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

The levels are domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus and species. Domain is the largest group and species is the smallest. The memory sentence on the sheet is Dear King Philip Came Over For Good Soup.

Kingdoms and Classification uses Archaebacteria, Eubacteria, Protists, Fungi, Plants and Animals. Students place organisms by asking if the cells have a nucleus, whether there is one cell or many and how the organism gets food.

Each step gives two opposite statements about a trait you can observe, so every organism fits exactly one of them. You follow the statement that fits to the next step until you reach a name.