The taxonomic hierarchy
Organisms are classified into a nested hierarchy, from broadest to most specific: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species. Each level down contains organisms that are more closely related and share more specific characteristics than the level above.
Example 1: Arrange the following in order from broadest to most specific: Family, Species, Kingdom, Order, Genus, Phylum, Class.
Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species -- moving from the largest, most general group down to the smallest, most specific group.
The five kingdoms
Monera (bacteria -- simple, single-celled organisms with no nucleus), Protista (mostly single-celled organisms with a nucleus, like amoeba), Fungi (organisms that absorb food from their surroundings, like mushrooms and moulds), Plantae (multicellular organisms that photosynthesize), and Animalia (multicellular organisms that consume other organisms for food).
Binomial nomenclature
Every species has a unique two-part scientific name: the genus name (capitalized) followed by the species name (lowercase), both usually italicized -- for example, Homo sapiens (modern humans) or Oryza sativa (rice). This system gives every organism one standard name recognized worldwide, avoiding the confusion of different common names in different languages or regions.