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Living vs. Nonliving Things – What are living things? – Living things eat, grow, breathe, and have babies. – Signs of life to look for – Movement, growth, response to touch, and breathing. – Exploring nonliving things – Nonliving things do not eat, grow, or breathe. – Becoming classification experts | Begin the class by engaging students with the question of what it means to be alive. Explain that living things have certain characteristics such as eating, growing, breathing, and reproducing. Show them how to observe these signs of life in plants, animals, and humans. Contrast this with nonliving things, which do not have these characteristics. Use examples like rocks, water, and toys to illustrate nonliving things. Encourage the students to look around and classify objects in the classroom as living or nonliving. This will help them understand the basic concept of classification and set a foundation for future lessons in science.

Exploring Living Things – Living things are everywhere – They eat, breathe, and grow – Like how we need food and air – Living things reproduce – They make more living things – Examples: Animals and plants – Humans, puppies, and flowers | This slide introduces the concept of living things to first graders. Emphasize that living things include a vast array of organisms, including themselves, animals they love, and the plants they see. Explain that all living things need food and air to survive, which is what it means to eat and breathe. Growth is a natural process for all living things, and reproduction ensures the continuation of species. Use relatable examples like pets growing or flowers blooming to illustrate these points. Encourage students to think of more examples and share their thoughts on what makes something alive.

Characteristics of Living Things – Living things need food – Like us, animals and plants need food and water to live – They move on their own – Animals can walk or fly, plants grow towards the light – Living things grow – Puppies become dogs, caterpillars turn into butterflies – They change over time – Babies grow into kids, seeds become flowers | This slide introduces the basic characteristics that differentiate living things from nonliving things. Emphasize that all living things need food and water to survive, which is a fundamental necessity for life. Discuss how movement is a sign of life, with animals moving in various ways and plants growing towards light sources. Highlight growth as a natural process for living organisms, using examples like a puppy growing into a dog or a caterpillar metamorphosing into a butterfly. Lastly, explain that living things change over time, such as a baby growing into a child or a seed sprouting and becoming a flower. Encourage students to think of more examples and observe these characteristics in their environment.

Exploring Nonliving Things – Nonliving things don’t eat or breathe – They don’t grow like living things – Nonliving things don’t need food – Examples: Rocks, water, toys – Rocks stay the same size, water doesn’t eat, toys don’t breathe | This slide introduces students to the concept of nonliving things, which are objects that do not have life. Unlike living things, nonliving things do not eat, breathe, grow, or require food and water. Use everyday examples that are familiar to first graders, such as rocks, water, and toys, to illustrate the concept. Explain that these things do not have the characteristics of living organisms. Encourage students to think about the objects around them and ask questions to determine if they are living or nonliving. This will help them understand the basic differences between the two categories as part of the larger topic of classification in science.

Living vs. Nonliving Things – Living things reproduce – Animals and plants have babies – Living things breathe – People, animals, and plants need air – Nonliving things don’t – Think of more differences – Use your imagination and observation | This slide aims to help first graders understand the basic differences between living and nonliving things. Emphasize that all living things have the ability to create offspring, whereas nonliving things cannot. Highlight that breathing is a sign of life, which includes not just animals but plants too. Encourage the students to observe their surroundings and come up with more differences they notice. This could be the texture, movement, growth, or other characteristics. During the next class, discuss their observations to reinforce the concept.

Let’s Practice Classifying! – Observe various pictures – Classify as living or nonliving – Living things breathe, grow, and need food – Discuss your classification – Think about why you chose your answer – Share with the class | This slide is for a class activity aimed at helping first-grade students understand the concept of classification by distinguishing between living and nonliving things. Display a variety of pictures to the class and ask them to observe each one carefully. Then, have the students decide whether the picture represents something living or nonliving based on characteristics they’ve learned. Living things, for example, need air, water, and food, and they grow and change over time. Nonliving things do not have these characteristics. Encourage students to explain their reasoning when they share their answers with the class. This will help reinforce their understanding and allow for a discussion that can clear up any misconceptions. Possible activities could include classifying objects in the classroom, drawing their own examples of living and nonliving things, or even a simple game where they sort objects into two categories.

Class Activity: Living or Nonliving Hunt – Let’s explore our classroom – Find living & nonliving things – Remember, living things eat, grow, breathe, and have babies – Draw or write your findings – Use your worksheet to record – Share with the class | This activity is designed to help students distinguish between living and nonliving things in a fun and interactive way. Before starting the hunt, explain the characteristics of living things: they need food, they grow, they breathe, and they reproduce. Nonliving things do not have these characteristics. Provide each student with a worksheet where they can either draw or write down the items they find. Encourage them to look around the classroom and identify as many items as possible. After the hunt, gather the students and discuss their findings, reinforcing the concept of classification. This will help them understand the basic differences between living and nonliving things in their immediate environment.

Understanding Living and Nonliving Things – Living things have unique traits – They eat, breathe, grow, and reproduce – Nonliving things lack these traits – They don’t eat, breathe, grow, or reproduce – Review: Living things’ activities – Remember the differences | Congratulations to the class for learning about the differences between living and nonliving things! Reinforce the concept that living things are characterized by their ability to eat, breathe, grow, and reproduce. These are activities that nonliving things do not do. Use this slide to summarize and review the main points of the lesson. Encourage the students to observe things around them and classify them as living or nonliving based on what they’ve learned. This will help solidify their understanding and apply their knowledge to the real world.

Show and Tell: Living vs. Nonliving – Share your hunt items – Explain why it’s living or nonliving – Does it eat, grow, breathe, or have babies? – Listen to classmates’ discoveries – Learn from each other’s findings | This class activity is designed to reinforce the concept of living and nonliving things through a ‘Show and Tell’ session. Each student will present the items they found during their ‘hunt’ and explain their reasoning behind the classification of each item. Encourage them to use characteristics of living things such as eating, growing, breathing, and reproducing to justify their choices. As students listen to their peers, they should be encouraged to ask questions and learn from the explanations given. This will help them understand the concept better and recognize the diversity of living and nonliving things in their environment. Possible activities could include showing a leaf and explaining it’s living because it grows, or a rock, which is nonliving because it doesn’t eat or breathe.