🔬 ScienceGrade 2Lesson 1
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Review Characteristics of Living Things

How to use: Download the PDF to print the worksheet. Then use this page to repeat activities and check answers.

Learning Objectives

  • 1Identify the characteristics of living things
  • 2Sort objects as living or nonliving
  • 3Name the six signs of life
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Mini Lesson

Look around you — some things are alive and some are not. But how do scientists tell the difference?

What living things do

  • Living things grow and change over time.
  • Example: A tiny seed grows into a tall sunflower.
  • They need food, water, and air to survive.

Six signs of life

  • All living things grow, move, breathe, eat, reproduce (make babies), and respond to the world around them.
  • A thing must show ALL six signs to be considered living.

Nonliving things

  • Nonliving things do NOT grow on their own, breathe, eat, or reproduce.
  • Some nonliving things — like a wooden table — came FROM a living thing, but they are no longer alive.

Tricky cases

  • Water and air are nonliving — but living things need them to survive.
  • A dead leaf was once living but is now nonliving.
Vocabulary
Living
Shows all six signs of life — grows, moves, breathes, eats, reproduces, and respondse.g. dog, sunflower, frog
Nonliving
Does not grow, breathe, eat, or reproduce on its owne.g. rock, pencil, chair
Organism
Any living thing — from a tiny bacterium to a tall tree or a large whalee.g. a plant, an animal, a fungus
Reproduce
To make offspring or seeds, so the species continuese.g. a hen laying an egg, a flower making seeds
Living vs. NonlivingA two-column chart comparing examples of living things (sunflower and dog) on the left with nonliving things (rock and pencil) on the right.Living or Nonliving?LivingsunflowerdogNonlivingrockpencil+-
A sunflower and a dog are living. A rock and a pencil are nonliving.
Six Signs of LifeSix labeled badge tiles showing the signs of life: Grow, Move, Breathe, Eat, Reproduce, and Respond.6 Signs of LifeGrowMoveBreatheEatReproduceRespondLiving things show ALL six signs.Nonliving things show NONE of these.
The six signs of life: Grow, Move, Breathe, Eat, Reproduce, Respond.
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Ask yourself: Does it grow on its own? Does it need food and water? Can it produce offspring? If YES to all — it is living!

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Guided Practice

Sketch the living vs. nonliving diagram from your paper worksheet. Then use the Tracing Pad to practice the science words from this lesson.

Tracing Pad

Tip: Say each word aloud as you trace it. Think of one living example that fits!

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Exercises

Tap a word to select it, then tap a bucket to place it.

🌿 Living

🪨 Nonliving

1. Which of the following is a sign that something is living?

2. A rock is nonliving because it does NOT —

3. What do ALL living things need to survive?

4. A wooden chair was made from a tree. Is the chair living?

5. Which of these is a sign of life that a sunflower shows but a pebble does NOT?

6. Water is nonliving, but it is important because —

7. A plant turns its leaves toward sunlight. This shows that living things —

8. What do scientists call all living things?

9. A fallen dead leaf —

10. How many signs of life must something show to be called living?

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Assessment

Parent / Teacher Checklist

Lesson 2 →