10th June 2020 nfeditor

GRADE 4 : PRE-VOCATIONAL STUDIES: WEEK 2

TERM/WEEK: THIRD TERM/WEEK 2

DATE: 3rd June 2020

CLASS: Grade 4

SUBJECT: Pre-vocational Studies

Topic: Classification of Vertebrate (Animals)

Reference: Science of Living Things (Upper Primary)

Brief Explanation:

Animals are living things that are not plants. Animals are divided into two groups or classes. There are VERTEBRATE (Animals with backbone) and INVERTEBRATE (Animals without backbone).

Notes for the Pupils

CLASSES OF VERTEBRATE

There are five classes of vertebrates:

  1. Mammals
  2. Reptiles
  3. Aves
  4. Amphibians
  5. Pisces

MAMMALS

Mammals are the most developed animals. Man is also a type of mammal called PRIMATE. Other primates are apes (tail monkeys like Gorilla, chimpanzee, orang-utan and gibbon and monkeys. Whales and dolphins are mammals although they live in the sea. Bats are flying mammal’s. Other kind of mammals are goats, sheep, rats, squirrels, dogs etc.

CHARACTERISTICS OF MAMMALS

  1. Mammals give birth to their young ones alive.
  2. They feed their babies with breast milk.
  3. They are warm blooded
  4. Their bodies are covered with hairs.
  5. They have external ears called pinnae (singular is pinnae)

REPTILE

Reptiles are believed to be the first animals to live entirely on land. They are coldblooded. Their skin is covered with dry horny scales. They do not have eternal ears but the inner and middle ears. Most reptiles have very short legs and the snake has no legs at all. Examples of reptiles are:

  1. Turtles (stay permanently in water).
  2. Lizards (agama, gecko etc.).
  3. crocodiles.
  4. alligators.
  5. snakes (boa, cobra, python, rattle snake etc.).
  6. tortoises.

SECOND PERIOD

Amphibians: These are animals that live both in water and on land. They lay eggs in water. They breath by means of gills, lungs and skin. They are coldblooded. They have a pairs of fore limbs (front legs) and a pair hind limbs (back legs) examples are toads, frogs, newts and salamanders etc.

Aves: Aves are birds. There are two kinds of birds. The flying and flightless birds. Flightless birds do not fly. An ostrich is an example of a flightless bird. All birds lay eggs. They are warm blooded. Most parts of their bodies are covered with feathers. Examples are doves, eagles, vultures, hawk etc. Alpine gliders are birds that can fly continuously. Wild birds are those birds that live on their own in the wild. Domestic birds are kept by people.

Pisces:  Fishes are also called Pisces. They live permanently in water and breathe by means of gills. They lay eggs and move by means of fins. Fishes are divided into two groups namely: cartilaginous  fishes and bony fishes.

Cartilaginous fishes (fishes with bones made up of cartilage) or bones that are brittle. These fishes swim continuously because they sink if they stop swimming due to the absence of swim bladder in them. They are the wildest among fishes and are largely carnivores.

Bonny fishes: These are fishes with hard bones. They are the largest group of fishes. They can hang or suspend themselves in water at any depth without swimming because of the presence of swim balder in them. Examples are: tilapia, barracuda, mackerel, sardine etc.

EXERCISES AND ASSIGNMENT

  1. Which bird can fly continuously in the air for about two hundred days?
  2. The flying mammal is the ______________________
  3. The largest of all mammals of earth is _______________
  4. Fishes are also called______________________
  5. Write two characteristics of each of the following

a. Birds

b. Amphibians

c. Pisces

d. mammals

 e. Reptiles

  1. Name the kinds of snakes you know
  2. Name the reptile that has no legs.
  3. Name two animals that have two legs each.