Living and non-living things

Humans rely on a wide variety of living and non-living things.

But we have to take care of living things differently than nonliving things. Plants need water, light, and air to grow. We need
plants to use for food, clothing, and much more. Animals
require food, water, air, and shelter. We use animals for food,
clothing, labor, companionship, and much more. As humans, we
have the ability and responsibility to care for ourselves and
other living things so that our own needs are met and to ensure
that the world will always be full of diverse living things.
The spark is designed to get students thinking about the unit's
topics and to generate curiosity and discussion.
Materials:
chalkboard or interactive whiteboard

variety of familiar living and non-living items, including a

live plant

(optional) magazines with pictures of living things

Activity
Display a variety of familiar objects in front of the class. Ask
students to think about which ones are living and which ones
are non-living. Don't elicit responses or reasons at this time.
Draw a large T-chart on the board with the headings Living and
Non- Living. Be sure students understand the meaning of the
prefix "non-" in the word non-living. Ask volunteers to choose

one of the displayed objects and have them tell you where on
the chart they think you should list it.
Don't open their selections to discussion at this time; simply
gather students' first impressions and record them. To
supplement the objects on display, you might also hold up
pictures from magazines and have students evaluate them.
Once the chart has a good number of items listed, ask the class
to review the chart and discuss any items they feel might
belong on the other side of the chart. Whenever there is a
consensus, erase an item from one side and move it to the
other. Try to refrain from providing "correct" answers, as this
activity is intended solely to get students thinking about unit
concepts, not to provide final explanations.
1. Ask each student to name one living thing and one nonliving
thing. Write all their contributions on paper or on the
chalkboard, under the column headings "Living" and
"Nonliving".
2. Tell students that they will be studying living things, or
organisms. Have students reflect on the list of organisms they
generated and think about all the features that make organisms
"alive." Have them brainstorm answers to these questions:

What are some characteristics of living things?

What are some characteristics of nonliving things?

What makes living things different from nonliving things?

If your students are not reading or writing yet, use pictures or

symbols to represent written text.

Write all ideas down. This student-generated list can be used as

a reflection tool throughout the unit. Avoid telling students the
correct answers.
3. Explain to students the scientific definition of living (anything
that is or has ever been alive) and nonliving (anything that is
not now nor has ever been alive). Remember that the
difference between nonliving and dead can be confusing to
youngsters. Give an example of something that is dead but still
classified as living, such as a log.
5. Working in pairs, have students view examples of living and
nonliving things from the Is It Alive? video and theLiving and
Nonliving stills collage. Have them classify each example as
living or nonliving and record the name of the object or
organism under the appropriate heading on the handout. Then
have students indicate which characteristics of life each
example exhibits by putting a check in the appropriate column.
(For very young children, you can explore examples of living
and nonliving things by displaying the stills on a large screen.
To simplify the task of recording their observations, young
students can draw pictures or use symbols to represent the
things they examine.)
You might want to choose one example and model the process
of scientific inquiry for students. Ask questions (Does this
example reproduce? Does it grow?), make observations (The
river is definitely moving.), and carefully record the results.
Point out the importance of thinking like a scientist.

As students explore the examples, they may discover other

characteristics of life they hadn't thought of earlier. Encourage
them to add these characteristics to the chart.
6. Have students reflect on their findings by discussing the
following questions:

What characteristics did ALL of the living things have in

common?

Did any nonliving things possess some of the same

characteristics as living things? Which ones?

How were the living things different from the nonliving

things?

7. Assess students' understanding (and identify possible

misconceptions) by asking:

Are all things that move "alive"? Have them defend their
opinions by referring to the results of their explorations.

What kinds of nonliving things move?

Again, show them the clip of the moving cars, the running river,
or the dripping icicle in the Is It Alive? video and ask:

How is the movement of living things different from the

movement of nonliving things?

Next, ask:

Do all living things move?

If students say yes or are unsure, again show them the picture
of the grass or plant or the clip of the coral. Then show them
the video Animals on the Go and ask:

What kinds of living things move? What kinds don't move?

Do plants move?

Why do living things move?

Show them the Animals Making a Living video to help them

answer this last question.
8. Show students the What Do Animals Eat? video. Ask:

Do all living things eat?

Plants don't eat but they need energy. Where do they get
it?

9. End the lesson by asking students whether they want to

make any changes to the original list they made of the
characteristics of living things
Part 2:
Guide your students around the school playground to find some
different examples of places where things grow. You might
have a school vegetable garden or a natural space, even the
grass of the oval!
Encourage them to look closely and pay real attention, but
depending on what kinds of things live in your area perhaps
dont let them turn over any rocks! Perhaps you could take a
little trowel and try to show them some worms living in the soil,
but otherwise if you are quiet and careful you should be able to
see a few different types of insects at least and perhaps you
can hear birds or even see them.
Below is a list of common characteristics student usually come
up with. Remember, its OK if they come up with characteristics
that are not the actual characteristics of life.
need air

 breaths
exhales
moves
reacts to stimuli/environment
needs food/eats
needs water/drinks
has cells & atoms
it can die
thinks
has babies/offspring
What should happen in this experiment, and why?
Your students should be able to observe and understand that
living and non-living things work together to form an
ecosystem, and that there are many kinds of different
ecosystems.