Download Living vs. Non-Living Things - gk-12

Living vs. Non-Living Things
4th Grade
Cheri Higgins and Mr. Yuse and Mrs. Chambers
References:
Based on “Living Nonliving Things”, by Natalie Anderson.
Benchmark:
SLC 18- Students will describe the characteristics that determine if something is
living (ability to grow and change, reacting to its environment, needing a food/energy
source, taking in gases, reproducing, and having cells), dead, or nonliving.
Objectives:
To know the difference between a non-living thing, namely that a living thing
must have all six characteristics listed in the benchmark, but a nonliving thing does not
have all six.
Materials:
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butcher paper
a jar
markers
masking tape or rocks (to hold paper to ground)
Initial Demonstration:
Students are to go outside to look for objects both living and nonliving. Two
sheets of butcher paper should be held to the ground and labeled “living” and
“nonliving”. Allow about 10 minutes for the students to collect what they can, putting
their objects where they feel they belong. Collect insects in the jar. Encourage the
students to pick up a variety of items. If an object is too big to put on the paper, they can
write it down with the marker.
Target Observations:
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Students will place living animals on the living paper, but might put dead plants
and animals on the nonliving paper. There will probably be more plant items than
animal ones.
Target Model:
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Living things include animals that move, or green plants such as trees. Nonliving
things include dead animals or plants, perhaps leaves. Metal and plastic is
nonliving.
Procedure Day 1:
While students are bringing items up to the paper, actively reinforce the idea that
if an object was once alive, it is considered a living thing, even thought it is dead. A
nonliving thing is something that has never been alive.
Ask the students what the items on the living paper have in common. Tell them
to think about what living things need to survive. The students should be able to name a
few of the six characteristics of living things- point out the rest (a rough pretest). Ask the
students if the nonliving things have any characteristics of living things. Point out that
while they have some, they do not have all the characteristics.
Target Revised Model
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Living things have all six characteristics described in the benchmark.
Nonliving things may have some, but not all.
Once-living things are not nonliving, but are considered as living things.
Procedure Day 2:
The following day in the classroom, have the students recall the six characteristics
of living things. This time, have them write them down in their science journals. At the
end, have them write “Living things have ALL SIX characteristics.” Repeatedly stress
that all six characteristics are needed to be considered as a living thing. Have students
complete yes/no true/false tables of the six characteristics for a variety of objects, both
living and nonliving (for instance, a dog and a fire). This should be done partially as a
group activity, leaving a few to be done by the students without the help of the instructor.
Target Revised Model:
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Any object that has less than all six characteristics of a living thing is nonliving
Many nonliving objects have several of the characteristics of a living thing, but
never all six.
Summary:
Living things have six characteristics- they always have all six as listed in the
benchmark. Any object with less than all six is nonliving. Dead things are considered
living things, i.e. not nonliving. Students should be able to distinguish between living
and nonliving using the six criteria.