1. Topic-
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| Living, Nonliving, and Once Living |
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2. Content-
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Living, Nonliving and Once Living
To be classified as a living organism, an object must be able to do
all of the following activities: grow and change, organization (composed
of cells), metabolism, homeostasis, response to stimuli, reproduction
and adaptation. Be able to use energy by eating and/or, responding
to its environment.
For an organism to be classified as once living, an object must have
been part of a living organism or is now dead. When a flower is plucked
from a plant it is hard to distinguish between when it is considered
alive and when it is now considered once living. An example of a nonliving
object is an apple or a dead leaf.
A nonliving object may have some characteristics of living things
but does not have all 5 of the characteristics. A car can move and
use energy, which makes it seem alive, but a car cannot reproduce.
An object needs to have all 5 characteristics of life in order to
be classified as live. Examples of nonliving objects are cars, water,
fire, and mountains. |
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3. Goals: Aims/Outcomes-
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| Students will gain understanding about what differentiates living,
nonliving and once living things. Students will learn and understand
the characteristics of living, nonliving and once living things and
will use these to complete categorization activities. |
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4. Objectives-
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1. Students will be able to classify and be able to explain the
difference between living, nonliving and once living things in an
environment
2. Students will be able to list characteristics of living things,
nonliving things, and once living things
3. Students will be able to divide a group of items into these three
categories
4. Students will be able to complete a compare and contrast Venn diagram
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5. Materials and Aids-
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- Several examples/items from each category: living, nonliving,
and once living.
-Living or Nonliving? (Living and Nonliving)by Rebecca Rissman
- Vocabulary cards (3 per student)
- One bag for each group
- Venn Diagram Worksheet
- Student Science Journals
- Evaluation Rubrics
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6. Procedures/Methods-
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A. Introduction-
| The lesson will start with a discussion facilitated by the teacher.
First show them one living, one non living and one once living item
(ex: a mealworm, a rock, and a stick). Ask them which is which. Also
ask them questions such as "what does it mean to be alive?". Write
down their answers on the board and then work to narrow it down to
the correct ones. Do this for each of the three categories. Complete
the introduction to the lesson by reading Is It Living or Nonliving?
(Living and Nonliving)by Rebecca Rissman aloud to the students. |
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B. Development-
| Bring in several examples from each group: living, nonliving, and
once living. (About 5 items for each category) With each item have
a sign that goes along with it. In front of the class hold up both
the item and the sign. Tell with them which category this falls into
and why by talking through your thought process. Make sure to go through
the characteristics of living things during your classification (students
should understand that a living thing must encompass all the characteristics
to be living). Write the item name, which category you placed them
in and the reason on the board. Do this for the first couple of items,
then work together with the class on a few, then pass the last few
items around the room and allow the students to finish on their own/in
groups. |
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C. Practice-
| Have the students complete vocabulary cards for the three key terms
of the lesson. (Living, Nonliving, Once Living). For each card the
word will go in a circle in the middle (i.e. living) then in the top
left corner they will write must have characteristics (i.e. able to
move, able to reproduce, able to grow, etc.), in the top right corner
they will right might have characteristics (i.e. may be food for other
organisms, may have roots stems or leaves, may have fur, walk, etc.),
in the bottom left hand corner they will write examples (i.e. worms,
birds, plants), and in the bottom right hand corner they will write
non-examples (i.e. rock, air, water). |
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D. Independent Practice-
| Divide the students into small groups. Give each group a bag and
have them go outside and collect ten items. Once they have their ten
items come back into the classroom and have each group dump their
bag on their desks and sort their items. Do not tell them how to sort
them. Once they are confident in their categories discuss how each
group has sorted their items. You can also ask if there are any other
ways to sort the items, talk about why each item is in that particular
category, which characteristics are the nonliving or once living items
missing, etc. This activity will serve as a formative assessment to
see how well the students understand the characteristics of each category
and how to categorize items into each group. |
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E. Accommodations (Differentiated Instruction)-
| Students can be given a printed version of the book that is read
aloud to the class as well as a printed version of all the objects
shown in the development activity that will have a picture of the
item, its name, and its classification. Students can receive help
in picking items when outside to ensure they pick some of each category.
Students can be given a definition sheets or allowed to use their
vocabulary sheets when categorizing their items from outside. |
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F. Checking for understanding-
- Give each student a Venn diagram worksheet. Inform each student
that they are two pick two items that are similar but different in
the fact that one is living and one is not living (ex: bear & teddy
bear, gummy worm & mealworm). They are then to complete the compare
and contrast Venn diagram on how these items are the same and how
they are different.
- Also students will have to complete a journal entry in their science
journals. This journal entry will require students to look around
at home, in their yard, at the store or park, etc. and write down
the living, non-living and once living things they find. They should
write the name of the object as well as a description or picture and
notes on why they categorized it the way they did. These items should
be different than the ones shown in class. |
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G. Closure-
| To close the lesson the students and I will share in a discussion
about what we learned. I will ask them what our key concepts (most
important things we learned) were. We will be sure to list the characteristics
of living, nonliving and once living things. I will ask them what
their favorite item they categorized was as well as their favorite
activity. Lastly to begin to prepare them for the next part of this
lesson I will ask them how they think living, nonliving and once living
things interact in their ecosystems. |
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7. Evaluation-
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Students will have a choice between two cross-curricular projects
to complete for evaluation for this topic (which will have included
information on ecosystems and organism interactions as well)
- The first will be to create an imaginary animal and write a story
about it. The story must explain the characteristics the animal has
that define it as a living thing. They must also either illustrate
the story or create a model of their animal. (Art & Literacy)
- The students may pick one organism that was once living but is now
extinct. They must write a report about what the organism was like
when it was alive, when it was alive, where it lived, what made it
become non-living, what kind of habitat it would need and impacts
it would make on other organisms if it were still alive today.(History
& Literacy)
Both will be graded via rubric
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