What is a mammal and a reptile?

At the museum Louisa talked to us about 4 features that allow us to identify

dinosaurs as being dinosaurs. These four features were, they hatch out of eggs, they have straight legs, they walk on land and they have scaly skin.  The children discovered that the creatures that lived in the water or flew in the sky were actually not dinosaurs but marine or flying reptiles. Louisa also explained to the children that scientist were unsure of whether dinosaurs were warm blooded or cold blooded and that maybe there were some of both. On  return to school the I invited some children to the mat who had been involved in a discussion around reptiles, mammals , warm and cold blooded and any other interested parties. When the group came to the mat we talked recovered what made a dinosaur and talked about whether they were still mammals or reptiles and did they actually understand what the characteristics of both were. Before we went any further I asked the children to list how you would identify mammals and reptiles.

Reptiles

Ashtyn: Leaves its eyes open for ages.

Jewels: I think a reptile is a dinosaur because it is a dinosaur and not a person.

Sean: Comes out of an egg.

Molly: An animal that comes out of an egg.

Keira: It is a thing that doesn’t have teeth

Quinn: I think reptiles are flying things and swimming things.

Alicya: A mammal is cold blooded.

Eve: A reptile is a swimming and flying thing.

Mammal

Ashtyn: Does not leave its eyes open for ages.

 Jewels: A person

Sean: does not come out of an egg.

Molly: is an animal that comes out of the tummy.

Keira: Things that have teeth.

Quinn: I think a mammal is a thing that walks on land, a dinosaur is a mammal.

Alicya: I think a reptile is warm blooded

Eve: I think a mammal walks on the land.

The children were still interested in the idea of blood temperature and have tried using what they have learnt more recently to come up with their answers, especially  using the characteristics of dinosaurs from the museum.

From this point I helped the children complete an internet search, so they could write lists of what makes a mammal and a reptile. During this discussion the children also began talking about what makes a bird a bird as they knew or had seen images of bird like dinosaurs in the books they had been exploring.

Reptiles

Cold blooded

Scales

Hard Shelled Eggs

Mammals

It has hair

Warm Blooded

The mums can make milk for its babies

Birds

Feathers

Wings

2 Legs

Warm Blooded

Lays Eggs

The children were quite pleased with their findings, at a later date I would like to explore with them whether all of the creatures on Earth can be placed in one of these categories or whether there are further categories that we have not identified. If there are other categories what are they and what are their characteristics.