Why a Lobster Is a Crustacean, Read and Answer

Before reading, have your child list the traits of a pet or a bird outside, like fur or feathers. After each page, ask which trait decided the group. Check with the answer key.

Read why a lobster's exoskeleton and two pairs of antennae make it a crustacean, like a pill bug. Jointed legs bend at joints, the way your knees and elbows bend. The directions on the page read: Read the passage. Then, turn the page and answer the questions. On page 2: Circle the letter of the best answer for questions 1 to 3, and write the answers to questions 4 to 6 on the lines. The answer key covers the questions on page 2.

Yes, both. We made it for 3rd 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 classification of living things. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

They sort animals into groups by the traits they share. Mammals have hair or fur and feed their babies milk, birds have feathers, beaks and wings, and crustaceans like lobsters have a hard outer shell, jointed legs and two pairs of antennae.

A whale breathes air through a blowhole instead of gills, its babies are born live and drink their mother's milk, and it has a few stiff hairs. Its tail also moves up and down, while a fish's tail moves from side to side.

NGSS has no 3rd grade performance expectation for classifying animals, so these pages do not claim one. They practice reading a passage for evidence and sorting by traits, which leads into the 3rd grade work on inherited traits.

Yes. All 12 classification sheets have an answer key.