© Learning A–Z All rights reserved. www.sciencea-z.com 1 Living/Non-Living UNIT

© Learning A–Z All rights reserved. www.sciencea-z.com 1 Living/Non-Living UNIT OVERVIEW  The world is made up of both living and non-living things. The unit Living/ Non-Living helps students explore the important differences between the two. The term living thing refers to things that are now or once were alive. A non-living thing is anything that was never alive. In order for something to be classified as living, it must: grow and develop, use energy, reproduce, be made of cells, respond to its environment, and adapt. While many things meet one or more of these criteria, a living thing must meet all of the criteria. Living and non-living things interact with each other all the time. All books and Quick Reads are available at three reading levels to facilitate differentiated instruction. low reading level middle reading level high reading level THE BIG IDEA  Humans rely on a wide variety of living and non-living things. But we have to take care of living things differently than non-living things. Plants need water, light, and air to grow. We need plants to use for food, clothing, and much more. Animals require food, water, air, and shelter. We use animals for food, clothing, labor, companionship, and much more. As humans, we have the ability and responsibility to care for ourselves and other living things so that our own needs are met and to ensure that the world will always be full of diverse living things. Other Topics This unit also addresses topics such as: living things can have dead parts, and living things rely on non-living things to survive. Spark  The spark is designed to get students thinking about the unit’s topics and to generate curiosity and discussion. Materials ¢ chalkboard or interactive whiteboard ¢ variety of familiar living and non-living items, including a live plant ¢ (optional) magazines with pictures of living things 2 UNIT GUIDE Living/Non-Living © Learning A–Z All rights reserved. www.sciencea-z.com Activity Display a variety of familiar objects in front of the class. Ask students to think about which ones are living and which ones are non-living. Don’t elicit responses or reasons at this time. Draw a large T-chart on the board with the headings Living and Non- Living. Be sure students understand the meaning of the prefix “non-” in the word non-living. Ask volunteers to choose one of the displayed objects and have them tell you where on the chart they think you should list it. Don’t open their selections to discussion at this time; simply gather students’ first impressions and record them. To supplement the objects on display, you might also hold up pictures from magazines and have students evaluate them. Once the chart has a good number of items listed, ask the class to review the chart and discuss any items they feel might belong on the other side of the chart. Whenever there is a consensus, erase an item from one side and move it to the other. Try to refrain from providing “correct” answers, as this activity is intended solely to get students thinking about unit concepts, not to provide final explanations. Below are questions to spark discussion. How did you decide to put certain items on one side or the other? Was it difficult to decide where to place certain items on the chart? Which ones? Why? Do you think any items should be listed on both sides of our chart? Explain. If the plant died, would you move it from the “living” side to the “non-living” side, or would it still be a living thing? A hamburger is made up of meat from a cow, vegetables from plants, and a bun made from other plants. Would you call it a living thing? Why or why not? Use this activity to begin an introductory discussion about living and non-living things. Explain that scientists have come up with some helpful ways to determine whether something is a living thing or a non-living thing. Throughout the unit, students will learn more about how to tell the difference between living and non-living things. Vocabulary Many of the unit’s vocabulary terms are related to the spark activity and can be introduced during the spark. For vocabulary work, see the Vocabulary section in this Unit Guide. 3 UNIT GUIDE Living/Non-Living © Learning A–Z All rights reserved. www.sciencea-z.com Prior Knowledge  Invite students to explain their understanding of what it means to be a living thing, and to identify any familiar living things. Discuss what makes a living thing different from a non-living thing. Probing Questions to Think About Use the following questions to have students begin thinking of what they know about living things. ¢  What are some examples of living things? ¢ What are some examples of non-living things? ¢ How can you tell if something is a living or non-living thing? ¢ Is there a difference between living things and things that are alive? ¢ Is there a difference between non-living things and dead things? ¢ Can a living thing ever become a non-living thing? ¢ Can a non-living thing ever become a living thing? ¢  If you were writing rules that explain how to tell whether something is living or not, what would they be? Start each rule with “All living things . . .” Tell students they will read more about these topics soon. VOCABULARY  Use the terms below for vocabulary development. They can be found in various resources throughout the unit. These terms and definitions are available on Vocabulary Cards for student practice. Core Science Terms These terms are crucial to understanding the unit. adapt to change because of new conditions cells tiny parts of living things that carry everything needed for life change to become different develop to grow or expand energy the ability to do work or to make a change living alive now or once was alive non-living not alive now and never was alive reproduce to make another living thing of the same kind respond to react to something that happens 4 UNIT GUIDE Living/Non-Living © Learning A–Z All rights reserved. www.sciencea-z.com Other Key Science Terms The following vocabulary is not essential for comprehending the unit but may enrich students’ vocabulary. alive living right now characteristic any feature that helps identify something dead no longer alive environment all of the conditions that affect a living thing grow to get bigger hair  thin strands that grow from the skin of a person or other animal nail a thin, hard covering at the tip of a finger or toe nurse log  a fallen, dead tree that provides a home and food for other living things skin the body covering of a person or other animal Vocabulary Activities You may choose to introduce all the terms that will be encountered in the unit before assigning any of the reading components. Vocabulary Cards with the key science terms and definitions are provided. Dots on the cards indicate the reading levels of the Nonfiction Book or the Quick Reads in which each term can be found. If all level dots appear, the term may come from a non-leveled resource in the unit. Students can use these cards to review and practice the terms in small groups or pairs. They can also be used for center activity games such as Concentration. For further vocabulary practice and reinforcement, you can choose from the vocabulary Graphic Organizers. To build customized vocabulary lessons with terms related to living and non-living things, see Students can use the Word Smart vocabulary Graphic Organizer to organize information on the science terms. You may want to assign each student one to three words to share their vocabulary knowledge with classmates. Students who have the same word should first compare their Word Smart sheets with each other, and then report to the larger group. The science terms can be used in oral practice. Have students use each term in a spoken sentence. 5 UNIT GUIDE Living/Non-Living © Learning A–Z All rights reserved. www.sciencea-z.com It is also useful to have students create a science dictionary in a notebook where they will enter terms from each unit as it is taught. UNIT MATERIALS  Each unit provides many resources related to the unit topic. These resources are essential to teaching the Big Idea and core concepts of the unit, and will prepare students for the Unit Quiz. Over time, additional resources will be added to the unit that will supplement and enrich students’ understanding. SPECIAL NOTE: To best prepare students for the Unit Quiz, we recommend at least using the Nonfiction Book and vocabulary resources with your students. Using additional resources will reinforce the concepts and details addressed in the Unit Quiz. The Process Activities are hands-on experiments, explorations, and projects that will engage students in the application of unit concepts. The Quick Reads are magazine-like fact sheets that will help students develop a deeper understanding of several topics related to the unit. For a complete list of materials uploads/Science et Technologie/ living-non-livingk-2-unit-guide.pdf

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