1. The Five Kingdoms of Life
There are millions of living things on this planet
A) Can you name these living things?
1) 2) 3)
4) 5) 6)
mushroom bacteria frog seaweed paramecium fern
If you cannot do it now, try it again at the end.
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2. All living things can be classified into five different kingdoms.
B) Can you name the first two kingdoms?
P
A
Yes! They are Plant and Animal Kingdoms
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3. 1.- THE PLANT KINGDOM
moss fern pine tree madrone narcissus
They all make their own food from sunlight, water, and
carbon dioxide, by means of chlorophyll (what makes plants
green).
This process is called photosynthesis, and may be one of the
most important chemical reactions on the earth.
They don’t move around and they reproduce by seeds or
spores.
C) Look at the plants above. Can you guess?
– Which two plants reproduce by spores?
– Which three ones reproduce by seeds?
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4. 2.- THE ANIMAL KINGDOM
St... Bu.. Sn.. Bi.. Je..
D)Can you name all these animals?
• Animals, either eat plants (such as cows) or they eat other animals (such as lions).
• They can move around to look for food.
The classification system works well: bees belong to the Animal kingdom and olive trees to the Plant
Kingdom.
This system works well until...
...until you try to classify a mushroom!
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5. 3.- THE FUNGI KINGDOM
Hmmm. Let's see. It's not green,so no chlorophyll. It doesn't make its own food, so it can't be a plant. But it
doesn't eat: mushrooms don't have mouths! and they cannot move around.So it can't be an animal.
Mushrooms are a type of fungus, and all fungi (the
plural of "fungus") don’t make food: they absorb
food.
The body of a mushroom is underground, and made up
of tiny little cells (hyphae). When they find food
(mostly dead plants and animals), they absorb its
nutrients directly.
So we need to add the Fungi Kingdom to the Plant Kingdom and the Animal Kingdom. Now we have three
kingdoms.
This system works well until ...
...you try to classify bacteria!
We all know the name, but where are they?
I can’t see any bacteria, can you?
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6. 4.- THE BACTERIA (MONERA) KINGDOM
Actually, there are millions of bacteria around us but you can't see them because they are very small.
Millions of them are in a single drop of water.
Bacteria are very different from the rest of living things. All of the other living things (plants, animals,
fungi) has a nucleus in their cells. Bacteria have only one cell, with no nucleus.
E) Which one is a bacteria cell, the first or the second?
This system works pretty well until...
... you try to decide where to classify a seaweed!
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7. 5.- THE PROTISTA KINGDOM
• It is not an animal, because it does not eat things.
• It is not a plant, because it does not reproduce by
seeds or spores..
• It is not a fungus, because it is green, and has
chlorophyll, so can make its own food.
• And it is not a bacteria, because is has a cell
nucleus.
• What is it?
They need their own kingdom, the Kingdom Prostista. This group is also the home of other living things that don't
fit into the other kingdoms, including one-celled organisms like paramecia.
Paramecium, a single-celled organism Single-celled algae from a pond
F) Why a paramecium is not a bacteria?
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8. So we nee to add the Kingdom Protista to Plant Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Fungi Kingdom, and Kingdom
Monera. This five kingdom can be diagrammed, as we think it was the origin of life:
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9. Review the questions and check the answers
A) Can you name these living things?
mushroom bacteria frog seaweed paramecium fern
B) Can you name the first two kingdoms?
C) Look at the plants above. Can you guess?
moss fern pine tre madrone narcissus
- Which two plants reproduce by spores?
- Which three ones reproduce by seeds?
D) Can you name all these animals?
St... Bu.. Sn.. Bi. Je..
E) Which one is a bacteria cell, the first or the second one?
F) Why a paramecium is not a bacteria?
Because it’s got..
G) Can you classify the six living things into the different kingdoms?
mushroom bacteria frog seaweed paramecium fern
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10. KEY ANSWERS
A) 1.- seaweed
2.- bacteria
3.- fern
4.- frog
5.- paramecium
6.- mushroom
B) Plant and Animal Kingdoms
C) Reproduce by spores? moss and fern
Reproduce by seeds? pine tree, madrone and narcissus
D) Starfish, Butterfly, Snail, Bird and Jellyfish
E) It’s number two. It has not a nucleus
F) Because it’s got a nucleus
G) Mushroom: Fungi Kingdom
Bacteria: Monera Kingdom
Frog: Animal Kingdom
Seaweed: Protista Kingdom
Paramecium: Protista Kingdom
Fern: Plant Kingdom
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