Welcome to Our Exploring God’s World with First Grade Science Homeschool Course

Course Sample for Our Exploring God’s World with First Grade Science Homeschool Course

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Weeks Nine–Ten: Beginning Classification of Living Things

You know the difference between a living thing and a nonliving thing, don’t you? Show an example of something that is living. How about nonliving? I’m sure you know that your brother and your pet goldfish are alive but that the living room couch and your bicycle are not. Scientists have divided the living things God created into groups to show their similarities and differences. This man-made system is not perfect and is ever-changing, but it can be useful to help us study the world in which we live.

These classifications can give familiar things some really long names. That pet goldfish might be named Bubbles, but his very official, scientific name is Animalia Chordata Actinoptergii Cypriniformes Cyprinidai Carassius auratus. Now you can add the name Bubbles. Whew!

Let’s look at each of our classification levels, starting with the first one: Kingdom. There are five kingdoms. They are:

Animalia – the animal kingdom
Plantae – the plant kingdom
Fungi – the fungus kingdom
Protista – the protist kingdom
Monera – the bacteria kingdom

Can you think of a living thing that would fit in the animal kingdom group? That’s an easy one! Did you know that humans are also listed in this group by scientists? However, we are certainly not animals! God created us different from animals. We were specially made in His image! Genesis 1:26 tells us that we are to rule over animals.