Introduction
We will look at biodiversity, the variety of living things, and how they are similar to/different from each other.
This poster (show Tree of Life poster) shows just some of the diversity of living things, connected by how
Pond dipping activity
We’ll look at some living things in pond water.
Use ID sheets to find out what they discover.
Look at an Evolutionary Tree poster
Ask students to find an animal that was in the pond water e.g. shrimp, floating pond plant.
(Crustacea for cyclops, shrimp and Daphnia; duck weed is a monocot plant)
Through evolution, over lots + lots + lots of time, one living thing changed and gave rise to another.
(3½ billion years ago life started, 900 million years ago multicellular life, 6 million years ago humans.)
None of these pond animals have bones.
Now we'll look at an animal with bones.
Deer skeleton activity
As the bones are placed, ask students to find the same bones in their body.
Compare the completed deer skeleton with images of other skeletons - find similarities and differences.
Summary
Living things are diverse, can be grouped, and are all related to each other.
