Lesson 2: Living vs Non‐Living Things - petrawoolf/OutdoorScienceLab GitHub Wiki

Lesson 2: Living vs Non-Living Things

Objective: Students learn to classify things in the lab as living, non-living, or once living and explain their reasoning.

SMART Learning Goals:

K-2nd Grade: Students will sort 3 objects into living, non-living, or once-living and explain the choices using pictures in the journal by the end of the activity.
3rd - 5th Grade: Students will classify 5 items as living, non-living, or once-living and justify the reasoning in 1-2 sentences for each in their science journals.

Materials:

Activities:

Talk about: what a living thing is, what a non-living thing is.
Living things show characteristics such as growth, reproduction, response to environment, need for energy, and life cycle stages (birth, growth, death).
Once-living things were alive at some point but are no longer alive (dead leaves, wooden sticks, feathers, shells).
Non-living things have never been alive (rocks, plastic, metal).
Begin with a class discussion: Ask: “What does it mean for something to be alive?”
Chart student answers on a whiteboard or large paper. Answers might be things like: eats, breathes, grows, moves.
Introduce the idea of “once-living” — things that were once part of living organisms (paper from trees, bone, feathers). Show a few mystery objects (leaf, rock, feather, plastic cap) and ask students to guess if each is living, non-living, or once-living — and why.

Explain: Characteristics of Living Things

Explore!

Students in small groups work together to find and classify 5 of each category.
Give each group a clipboard, magnifier, and sorting mat or bucket.
Groups sort them using the mats or buckets “living,” “nonliving” and “once-living”

*Classify and Sort

Each group uses their mat or bucket to sort the items and explain their choices.
Ask questions, like: Why do you think this is living? What signs of life does it show? Why is this considered once-living? Can a non-living thing ever become living?

Reflection

Students should use their science journals to draw or write about what they found and how they classified the objects or living things.

How this activity supports Common Core Science Standards

K–2:

2-LS2-1: Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.

3–5:

3-LS1-1: Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.

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