Language Arts Grade Six

Unit Seven, Lesson Four: Categories and Classification

  1. snail
  2. pail
  3. quail
  4. sprain
  5. brain
  6. grain
  7. national
  8. ecosystem
  9. cycle
  10. system
  1. habitat
  2. producers
  3. decomposers
  4. herbivores
  5. community
  6. niche
  7. consumers
  8. chain
  9. competition
  10. carnivores
Categories and Classification

Classifying means sorting things into groups (or categories). The category is like a label or name for a group of items which are alike in some way. Here's an example: 


	CATEGORY: Animals
	ITEMS BELONGING TO CATEGORY: rats, snakes, turtles, deer, dogs.
Often you are given a group of words and asked to sort them into categories: 

  ITEMS TO SORT: apple, chair, rat, table, couch, orange,
     dog, cheese, cat, desk, stool, bread, lizard.

  CATEGORIES TO SORT ITEMS INTO: furniture, food, animals.
In order to classify items, you must have groups to sort them into. Here we are to sort the items into three different groups: furniture, food, and animals. 

	FURNITURE		FOOD			ANIMALS
	 chair			 apple			 rat
	 table			 orange			 dog
	 table			 cheese			 cat
	 desk			 bread			 lizard
	 stool
Given a list of times we should be able to decide on the best name for the category which the items on the list belong to. 

	ITEMS: pen, paper, pencil, notebook, ruler.

	Which is the best name for this category?
	  A. animals
	  B. work supplies
	  C. food
	  D. furniture
Obviously, the items in this list are not animals, food, or furniture. Answer B (work supplies) is the best answer.

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