A Science Mini-Unit: Living and Non-Living

This is a quick little unit that teaches children about living and non-living things. I find that most kindergartners can almost always tell you what things are living and what things are non-living, but they cannot tell you why. And there are definitely some tricky ones--for example, most of my kids think that a tree is non-living.

And then there is always the discussion of non-living versus dead. They will sometimes say things like, "The rock is dead." So I explain that in order to be "dead," something had to be alive first. And then, most likely, one of you little angels will shout out, "My grandpa is dead." Don't you just love kindergarten!

Even after we have completed this unit, we continue to discuss living and non-living things and the differences between them. Every time we start a new unit on animals, plants, insects or even rocks--we ask: Are they living or non-living? How do you know?

Day 1

I start this mini-unit by showing the Is it Living? powerpoint.

Download Is it living

It's just a bunch of pictures--of both living and non-living things. I simply show the pictures and ask the kids if each object is living or non-living. I do not correct them right away. I just let them discuss their answers. The kids can pretty easily tell you which ones are living and which are not, but there are a few tricky ones (i.e. the rock and the tree). It's fun to listen to the reasoning behind their answers--the debate can become quite heated at times!

Stop at the slide with the stop sign! Lead your students in a discussion with the following questions:

How can you tell if something is living or non-living?

What are some things that all living things have in common?

Resist the urge to correct any misconceptions they have. I know it's hard, but you can do it! Write down all of their ideas on a big chart. This is the list my class made this year. Yours may be different.

Now, choose an object that all of the kids can agree is absolutely, without a doubt, living--like a puppy! Go through each of the ideas on the chart. If it is true for the puppy, put a check. If it is not true, cross it out:

It has a face. Check! It grows. Check! It can move. Check! It talks. No! Cross it out. Now we know this is not true for all living things. It has a heart. Check! They have ears. Check! They have hands. Debatable...depends on whether or not your definition of hands includes paws!

Now choose another living thing, but this time, choose an object you know will get a few more misconceptions crossed off that list. Butterfly got They have ears crossed off. A sunflower got It has a face and It has a heart crossed off. Keep going until you have all of the misconceptions crossed off and you will have the beginnings of a list of what all living things have in common.

Note: Your kids will most likely want to cross off It can move or It can breathe (or a few others) for a plant or a tree. After all, they do not obviously move or breathe. So you will probably have to have a quick discussion about how plants move and breathe at this point.

Your class will probably not think of all the things living things have in common. You can see we only had It grows and It can move. Finish the rest of the Is it Living PowerPoint. Now you can add the other criteria to your list.

Day 2

Time for some reading. My favorite books about living/non-living things are:

Are You Living? A Song About Living and Non-Living Things by Laura Purdie Salas

What’s Alive? By Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

As you read the books, make an anchor chart listing all of the things living things have in common.

You can also go back and discuss the Challenge questions in the Is it Living PowerPoint. Are the the seeds, egg and an apple living or non-living? Get the students to justify their answers based on the things they learned. Here are my imperfect, but kindergarten appropriate answers:

Seeds are living if they are still viable--or if they can still grow into living things. If they are roasted or in your tummy, they are probably no longer living. The egg is living if it has a baby bird inside. Mommy birds have to take care off eggs that have baby birds inside. The eggs that are in your grocery store do not have baby birds inside and are no longer living. The apple is living if it is still attached to the tree and can still grow and change.

You can also have the kids do a living/non-living sort in their science journals.

Download Living_Non-Living Sort

Day 3

Make a chart like the one pictured below with all of the characteristics of living things across the top. Choose different objects and go through each of the characteristics for each one. Then have the kids determine whether that object is living or not.

We keep this chart up throughout the week and add to it whenever we have a few extra minutes.

Finally, have the students pick one (or more) objects and answer the questions on a recording sheet in their science journals. You can print pictures for them, have them cut pictures from a magazine or draw pictures.

Download Is it Living Recording Sheet

Bonus

 

Here are some cards you can have the kids sort into living and non-living groups (whole-group or as a center activity).

Download Living-NonLiving Flashcards

Have Fun!

Comments

[Jen]

Thanks for sharing! We just started our life science unit last week so these will come in handy! Great ideas!

[lori]

Thank you so much! This is great!
Lori

[Amy]

thank you so much for sharing this and your work in beautiful!!!

[Chris]

Great ideas.

[Cindy Vance]

These are lovely and will be great for my ELD students especially! Thank you!

[Heather]

Thank you for sharing! Your blog is amazing and will be of great help next year when I'm back in kinder! Thank you! Thank you!

[Kris Beaver]

Thank you SO much for sharing your wonderful ideas and materials. I really appreciate all you do for us via your site. Your students and their families must, as well! Thanks again!

[Lupe Palacios]

LOVE it! We just started this unit and your ideas are very valuable!

[Valerie]

OMG! Loved the materials for this! Something fresher and newer--YAY!

[Marla Granger]

Thank you so much...this is great, especially for a new teacher:)

[Abhi]

This is awesome - I will be doing this with my kindergarteners this week! thanks!!

[Laurie]

My state just added this to our curriculum and your unit was a LIFE saver! It is not fun planning this late in the year and this has saved me so much time. I am excited to teach this to my kids!

[Mary Pepper]

Every time I try to download the cards, my computer shuts off.

[Carrie]

Thank you so much for sharing! This is great stuff. Will be doing it with my class this week! :-D

[Katie]

Thank you so much for sharing! I just used thie unit with my class this week!! It went really well. I added a couple of my own twists, but it was great! One of the things that I did add was pictures to go along with your characteristics to help my kinders remember them. I would be willing share if would like them. Let me know! Thanks again for sharing!!

[Carolee]

Thank you so much for sharing this unit! You've made my life so much easier!
Blessing,
Carolee

[Heather]

Thank you for sharing! I love your idea of starting with a discussion and having kids contribute to the chart and then crossing off misconceptions.

Heather

[Melissa Gelpi]

Thank you so much for allowing us to have access to you lessons and materials. Having other ideas is wonderful.

[Al Schultz]

Thankyou! It was great . I used it today and having the pictures already made up really made it easy for the children

[Jamie]

YOU ROCK!

[Ashlie]

Thank you!!! You were a great help:)
Love a first year teacher!

[Melissa]

Want to hear something funny? My supervising teacher told me that the powerpoint was not Kindergarten level. She said it had too much information, some of the information was too hard and that there were too many choices. What do you think about that?

[Tara]

Wow! This unit is so awesome! My students will absolutely love all the pictures and hands-on activities. They will especially love the discussion part since they all love to talk. And me? Well this is a Godsend. Everything I need is already made up. Thank you. Thank you. THANK YOU!!

[Irti]

Thank you very much for such great ideas!

[Tamara]

Thank you thank you thank you! These are great!