Lesson 121: What is living?

🌱 SCIENCE (40 Lessons) • 🟢 A. Living and Nonliving

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Objective

I can tell if something is living or not by checking if it needs food and water, breathes air, grows and changes, and can have babies.

Materials

Mini-lesson — How do we know something is living?

A living thing is something that is alive. It is not a toy or a picture.

Living things usually:

  • Need food and water
  • Need air to stay alive
  • Grow and change over time
  • Move by themselves (plants move slowly)
  • Can have babies or make new living things

Nonliving things:

  • Do not need food, water, or air.
  • Do not grow or have babies.
  • Only move when someone or something pushes them.

Quick thinking trick:

  • Ask yourself: Does it eat or drink?
  • Ask: Does it grow and change?
  • If the answer is yes, it is probably living.

In this lesson, we will look at pictures, decide if each one is living or nonliving, and explain how we know.

Picture strip: Sorting living and nonliving things

Living things

Nonliving things

Guided Practice — Sort living and nonliving things

You will look at real objects or pictures and decide if each one is living or nonliving. Then you will use the tracing pad to practise the key science words.

  1. Gather a mix: Put out pictures or toys of people, pets, plants, rocks, toys, and furniture.
  2. Ask the questions: For each item, ask "Does it need food and water?" "Does it grow?" and "Can it have babies?"
  3. Sort into groups: Make two space labels on the table: Living and Nonliving. Place each object in the right space.
  4. Explain out loud: For each living thing, say one reason such as "The cat is living because it eats and grows."
  5. Draw quick pictures: In your notebook, draw one living thing and one nonliving thing. Write living or nonliving under each.
  6. Use the tracing pad: Choose words like living, nonliving, grow, and needs water from the dropdown and trace them slowly.
  7. Add a sentence: Under your tracing, write a short science sentence such as "Living things need food and water."
Tracing Pad
Tracing snapshot for print
Tip: Say the science word out loud each time you trace it. This helps you remember what makes something living.

Practice 1 — Circle the living things

[PLACEHOLDER PRACTICE 1 — A worksheet or on-screen activity where students circle or tap pictures of living things and cross out nonliving things.]

Practice 2 — Match reasons to living things

[PLACEHOLDER PRACTICE 2 — Students match animals and plants to reasons such as "needs food", "grows", or "has babies".]

Practice 3 — Explain your choice

[PLACEHOLDER PRACTICE 3 — Students choose one object around them and write or say whether it is living or nonliving and why.]

Quick Check — What is living?

Answer each question about living and nonliving things. Use what you learned in the mini-lesson.

1) Which is a living thing?

A real cat is alive. Toys are not living.

2) What do all living things need?

All living things need food and water to stay alive.

3) Which question helps you decide if something is living?

Living things grow and change over time.

4) Which one is nonliving?

The chair does not need food or water and does not grow.

5) Plants are living because they…

Plants need water, air, and sunlight to grow.

6) Which sentence is true?

Living things make new living things like babies or seeds.

7) A robot toy can move when it is turned on. It is still…

The robot only moves when someone turns it on. It does not grow or have babies.

8) Which pair shows two living things?

Both a bird and a flower are living things.

9) Which of these needs air to live?

Fish breathe air in the water. Books and crayons do not breathe.

10) A baby puppy grows into a big dog. This shows that the puppy is…

Growing and changing is a sign of living things.

11) Which group has only nonliving things?

Table, pencil, and ball are all nonliving objects.

12) Why is a tree a living thing?

The tree is living because it grows and needs water and air.

13) Which sentence describes a nonliving thing?

Nonliving things do not grow or have babies.

14) Which is the best reason to say a dog is living?

The dog needs food, water, and air, which are signs of a living thing.

15) When you look around your home, you can use science ideas to…

Science ideas help you notice which things are living and which are not.

Assessment (parent/teacher)

Exit ticket (student)

Next time I will practise…

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