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1 What Is an Organism?
Vocabulary
Concepts and Skills
habitat the place where
an organism lives
• Students distinguish living things from nonliving things.
organism a living thing
• Students identify the needs of living things.
• Students name examples of organisms.
• Students classify objects as living, nonliving, or once-living.
Inquiry Focus
Classify When students
classify, they sort objects,
events, or organisms into
groups to show how they
are alike.
Learn by Reading
For additional content area
reading, see the Houghton
Mifflin Science eBook:
Grade 1, Unit B,
pages B8–B11.
Planning
Materials
Student Resources
• *live animals such as goldfish
• 1.1 Vocabulary
• *live plants
• 1.2 Organisms
• *small plastic or rubber replicas
of organisms
• 1.3 Living or Nonliving?
• 1.4 Section 1 Assessment
• plastic trays
• *nonliving objects, such as erasers, rocks, and plastic animals
*Not provided in kit
In Advance
• For Investigate 1 (p. 4) and Section 1 Assessment (p. 7): Ask
students to bring in small plastic replicas of a wide variety of living things, such as earthworms, insects, spiders, snakes, frogs, fish,
birds, and various mammals. (Do not use replicas of dinosaurs for
these activities.)
2 • EXPERIENCE SCIENCE
Science Background
Organisms The word organism refers to any living thing, whether
it is a bacterium, protist, fungus, plant, or animal. No matter their
size or the complexity or simplicity of their body structures, all organisms share certain characteristics.
All organisms...
• are made of one or more cells.
• respond to stimuli and react to changes in their environment.
• grow and develop.
• produce offspring like themselves based on information in
their DNA.
• have feedback processes that regulate their activities and keep
them stable.
• have certain basic needs, including water and nutrients.
These common characteristics distinguish living things from nonliving things.
SECTION 1 WHAT IS AN ORGANISM? • 3