My World–BC Teacher's Guide
1
Lesson
Living Things
Big Book pages 2–3
In this lesson: Children compare objects that
are alive and not alive as they begin to develop
their understanding of the general
characteristics of living things and start to
compare plants and animals. They:
1. discuss what is alive/not alive
2. read the Big Book
3. examine and colour the Butterfly’s Life
Reproducible
4. sort pictures into plant and animal
categories
Specific Outcomes
Children will have opportunities to:
• describe features of local plants and animals
(T1)
• use the five senses to make observations (P1)
• share with others information obtained by
observing (P2)
• work cooperatively with others (A1)
• show scientific interest and curiosity (A2)
Assessment
• Baseline Task: Tell the children you’d like
them to make some drawings for you. Have
them use their Science Journals so that they
can refer back to these drawings at the end of
the Living Things unit. Tell them that you
want them to draw a plant and an animal
that they see often. Have them draw the
plant and animal in the place where they
usually see it. This task will help you to
assess that children can differentiate between
plants and animals and that they know
something about habitat, e.g., if the plant is
an indoor or outdoor one, and if the animal
is wild or a pet. At the end of the book invite
children to look at these drawings to see if
they would like to make any changes or
additions to them.
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Lesson 1: Living Things
• During class discussion, note whether
children are able to respond readily to your
questions or if there is hesitation and
confusion. Children should be able to
demonstrate a basic understanding of what it
means to be alive or not alive. Look for the
children to be able to tell you that living
things need air, food, and water. (T1)
• Their discussion and work during the
Exploration will help you to assess their skills
in observing and recording and in listening
and sharing information with others. Try to
include a few items that children might not
easily categorize, in order to generate
discussion (e.g., insects or fish—children
might not think of them as animals). Listen
for children to make comments such as, “I
know it’s an animal because...” (T1, P1, P2,
A2)
• If you use the Reproducible as a quiz, look
for children to recognize that the arrows
indicate that one stage in the cycle always
follows the previous one. (T1, P1)
Getting Organized
Materials: pictures (could be
drawings) of birds at different
stages of the life cycle: newly
hatched to adulthood, including
in flight and nesting; chart paper; pictures
from magazines, newspapers, and/or the
Internet for sorting into plant and animal
categories; Reproducible 1: A Butterfly’s Life
on page 41; pictures of a frog’s life cycle for
use in an Integrating Science activity
Suggested Grouping: four
Time Required: Activate 15 min; Explore 20
min; Apply 30 min
Advance Preparation: Cut out and print from
the Internet plant and animal pictures from
magazines and newspapers.
My World–BC Teacher's Guide
Lesson Vocabulary
alive: not dead; able to get food, grow and
develop, breathe, move, and reproduce
life cycle: the stages of development that an
organism goes through during its life, e.g., for
a human: birth, infancy, childhood,
adolescence, adulthood, parenthood
food: something a plant or animal takes in
and uses to grow and stay healthy
air: a mixture of gases that surrounds us.
Plants and animals use the gases in air for
survival
children are willing to donate. Try to provide
a variety of colours, shapes, and textures.
• tools such as magnifiers, rulers, measuring
tapes, measuring cups and spoons, scales,
scoops, and so on for children to use and
explore.
• mystery boxes for the children to examine
and discover the contents.
• objects for children to explore with their
senses (except taste). Choose objects with
very different textures: plush animals, Velcro,
hard plastic, rubber, different kinds of
fabrics, cotton batting, and so on.
water: all plants and animals contain water
and need water in to survive
My World Centre
Centres give children an opportunity to
investigate science ideas and tools through free
exploration. The My World Centre could
have:
• a variety of books about some of the
concepts that will be discussed as you read
through the lap book: books about plants,
animals, the weather, the environment, Little
Books from this program. Be on the alert for
children’s expression of interest and be
prepared to add books to the centre that
cover related topics that children would like
to learn more about.
• a variety of photographs from magazines
and newspapers for children to compare,
classify, sort, and so on, as well as use as a
resource for drawing.
• a variety of plants in a plant station
(flowering and nonflowering) and animals
(small animals, fish, insects) for children to
examine and observe. Children could take
turns caring for living things. Remind
children to wash their hands after handling
plants or animals.
• a variety of local rocks and minerals—any
you have picked up yourself, any that the
Content Background
A
living thing must be able to get food,
respire, excrete, grow and develop,
move, respond, secrete, and reproduce.
Most children will have at least a
rudimentary understanding of what it
means to be alive or not alive. In this
lesson, they will build on this knowledge
and begin to examine and differentiate
among various forms of life. Children’s
understanding of living things at this stage
is narrow. They will begin to expand their
understanding by examining familiar plants
and animals and categorizing them so as to
provide a base for further study.
P re c o nc ep
ti ons
Children mig
ht believe th
at some
things are d
ead when th
ey really
aren’t—for
example, ma
ny trees and
flowers rema
in dormant o
ver winter
but are still
alive and gro
w again in
spring.
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Lesson 1: Living Things
My World–BC Teacher's Guide
Activate
Explore
What Is Alive?
Ask a few children in turn if they can point to
something in the room that is alive. When they
do, ask the others if they agree. Continue until
the children have indicated as many items as
possible that are alive (each other, you, any
small animals, plants). You could then point to
a few items such as books, tables, shoes, and
ask the children if they are alive. Then ask:
What do living things need?
You will probably hear a variety of answers. If
the children need help with this, have them try
holding their breath for as long as they can.
Ask them why they couldn’t hold their breath
any longer (they needed to breathe/they needed
air) Use similar prompts to lead them to
express that living things also need food and
water.
Science Journals
It is never too early to get children into the
habit of using a Science Journal, no matter
how limited the use might initially be. Science
Journals could be empty notebooks or blank
pages stapled together for the children to draw
their observations, questions, notes, and so on.
As the year progresses, some children may be
able to begin writing some of their notes.
On chart paper, demonstrate the correct way to
make journal entries. Write the date and then
make the journal entry (you may wish to do
this in the form of a drawing). You may wish
to keep a “class journal” for the first part of
the year so as to provide a model for the
children.
Discuss with the children the kinds of things
they would include in their journal. Have a
date stamp available for children’s use. Show
the children how to change the date stamp and
each day select a volunteer to change it.
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Lesson 1: Living Things
Alive and Not Alive
Show the children pages 2–3 of My World.
Have them identify the objects on page 2. Read
the text on the page and have the children
repeat it after you. Ask if they agree that all of
the items are pictures of living things and ask
why they think as they do. (They should be able
to tell you that each item eats food, drinks water,
and breathes air.)
Now have them identify the objects on page
3. Read the text on the page and have the
children repeat it after you. Ask the children
why the items on page 3 are not alive, when
they look very much like the ones on page 2.
The children should be able to tell you that the
items on page 3 have been made by someone.
The rock on page 3 has no equivalent on page
2. You may wish to have the children consider
it separately and ask whether they agree that it
is not alive. Some children at this level may
have difficulty. Ask why they think it might be
alive. Remind them to consider the “tests” they
use to decide if something is alive: does it need
food, water, or air? Does it grow?
This would be a good time to hand out
Reproducible 1: A Butterfly’s Life on page 41.
Discuss with the children the fact that living
things go through different stages in their lives.
For example, they are children; you are an
adult, and one day they will become adults—
those are different stages in a human’s life
cycle. Have the children colour the pictures on
the Reproducible. After you have helped them
to say each of the words, have them work in
pairs to help each other say the word that
describes each stage in the life cycle as they
point to the appropriate illustration. You may
wish to use the Reproducible to “quiz” the
children about “what comes next?” in each
stage of the butterfly’s life cycle.
My World–BC Teacher's Guide
Sorting
Think!
Think! Is a rock alive?
As a result of their
discussion of the items
on pages 2 and 3, the
children should have
arrived at the conclusion
that a rock is not alive. If
any of the children are
still having difficulty
understanding, continue
to ask questions such as,
Does a rock need food
or water? What kind of
food? How does it get
the water? Does a rock
grow? Does it have a
life cycle like a
butterfly or
a plant?”
Vocabulary Words
Develop a list of vocabulary words the children
may need for the Exploration, such as alive,
air, water, food, grow, change. Make a large
class chart and invite the children to help you
illustrate it. (Children could glue pictures of food
from their own culture in the food section. Invite
the children to try to come up with ways that they
could illustrate air—they could use a balloon (or a
bike tire) and indicate what it looks like when it has
air inside it and when it doesn’t.)
1. Set up an area in the classroom that is
divided into two parts, one for plants and
one for animals. Place a picture of a plant
and an animal in the appropriate part of the
area so that the children can use each item
as a model for sorting.
2. Have the children work in groups. Give each
group magazines, newspapers, and any other
pictures you have available. Have each
group sort the pictures according to whether
they show plants or animals. When the
group has finished its sorting, have them
place the pictures in the appropriate part of
the sorting area. (Include some pictures that
show neither plants nor animals and warn
the children to watch out for some pictures
that will not fit into either pile.)
3. Encourage children to discuss the pictures
they are sorting, i.e., why they place some
pictures in the plant pile and why they place
others in the animal pile. Ask them to
explain why certain pictures didn’t fit into
either pile?
3. Encourage children to add to the collection
of items as they are reading and learning
about living things. Invite them especially to
bring in items or pictures of items that they
are unsure how to classify. Then have the
class discuss and see if they can reach an
agreement.
Exploration Results
Children should be starting to realize that
plants and animals are found in great varieties.
They should be able to state that plants can
have leaves, stems, roots, and flowers, and that
animals can have legs and wings (ways of
moving from one place to another).
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Lesson 1: Living Things
My World–BC Teacher's Guide
Explore
Apply
Extending Learning
Troubleshooting
If there is disagreement among members of any group,
suggest that they set aside the subject of their
disagreement after discussion of why it does or does
not belong in a certain pile. Encourage them to return
to the subject from time to time as they learn more,
and see if they can reach a unanimous decision.
ESL Learners
Invite children from other cultures to add
words from their own language that mean the
same as the words on the class vocabulary
chart. You might need to ask them to tell the
class the word but to ask an adult at home to
write it for them so that they can bring it to
school and either copy it or glue it to the chart.
Review the information on the class chart. Ask:
Ask:
Do you think a cut flower would live longer
in or out of water? (This would be a good
question for them to try to answer by
experiment).
Encourage them to ask questions and try to
answer them. (Another good question might be
whether a flower would live longer if you stuck
the cut stem in soil. Ask the children what
steps they would take to find the answer to this
question. Write them on the board and discuss
with the class. If possible, provide
opportunities for the children to try their
explorations. You may wish to have a gifted
group try the explorations and report their
findings to the class. This would pave the way
for learning about root systems in the next
lesson.) All of the above should generate good
discussion among the children.
Integrating Science
Newly hatched eagles are much
smaller than their parents, but by
the time they leave the nest, they
are larger than their parents. At
that point, they have extra body fat
which helps them to survive until
they can hunt well enough to feed
themselves.
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Lesson 1: Living Things
Art: Before and After
Have the children draw a picture of their
favourite living thing. Ask them to show
how it used to look and how it might look
later in its life.
Movement: Animal Charades
Together make a list of animals and the
things they teach their babies. Let children
take turns selecting an animal and acting
out something that the animal would teach
its babies. Encourage the others to try to
guess what kind of animal it is and what it
is trying to teach.
My World–BC Teacher's Guide
Name __________________________________________ Date _____________________________________
1
A Butterfly’s Life
butterfly
egg
chrysalis
caterpillar
41
Lesson 1: Living Things
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