It's Alive – Ontario Teacher's Guide
3
Lesson
Activate
Student Book pages 6–7
Content Background
In this lesson: Children use the information
gained in previous lessons as they make
observations on a nature walk and decide
which of the things they see are living things.
Specific Expectations
Children will have opportunities to:
• use appropriate vocabulary in describing
their investigations, explorations, and
observations (1s14)
• record relevant observations, findings, and
measurements, using written language,
drawings, charts, and concrete materials
(1s15)
• communicate the procedures and results of
investigations for specific purposes, using
demonstrations, drawings, and oral and
written descriptions (1s16)
Assessment
• Review the drawings and notes made by the
children during the walk. They should show
a variety of living things, including both
plants and animals. (1s14, 1s15)
• After the Exploration, make notes as you
listen to the children as they discuss their
observations, and as they work together to
develop a definition of a living thing. (1s14,
1s16)
• Collect Reproducible 3: What Is Alive? from
the children. You should be able to tell from
this whether children have a fundamental
understanding of living and non-living things.
(1s16)
Getting Organized
Materials: a plant (could be a
weed or house plant), an animal,
a rock (or other non-living thing),
clipboards, paper, pencils
Suggested Grouping: class, individual
Time Required: Activate 25-30 minutes;
Explore 30-45 minutes; Apply 20-25 minutes
Advance Preparation: For the Activate section,
arrange to borrow a plant or an animal from
another classroom if necessary. Find a location
near the school where the children would be
likely to observe a variety of plants and
animals.
Lesson Vocabular y
animal: an animal is a living thing that is not a
plant and can move about freely.
living thing: a living thing is a plant or an
animal. It needs food, air, and water to grow.
Plants also need sunlight.
plant: a plant is a living thing that is not an
animal and cannot move about by itself.
B
iologists define something as living
if it is capable of all eight of the life
processes: getting food, respiration,
excretion, growth and development,
movement, response, secretion, and
reproduction. This is what such diverse
things as trees, sharks, onions, and ants
have in common. Another characteristic of
living things is that they eventually die.
Many children are aware of the mortality
of living things by the time they reach
school age.
People used to classify living things as
belonging to either the plant or the animal
kingdom. Exceptions to rules within this
two-kingdom classification (such as
mushrooms, which used to be referred to as
plants lacking chlorophyll) led to a more
complete five-kingdom classification. They
are animals, plants, fungi (mushrooms,
molds, yeast), monera (bacteria), and
protista (amoebae, most algae). Of the five
kingdoms, plants and animals are the most
useful categories for young children because
these are the categories to which most of
the living things they see belong.
Getting to Know Living Things
Display a plant, an animal, and a rock or other
non-living thing (or pictures if the real things
are unavailable). Encourage children to think
about what they have discovered in the first
two lessons. On chart paper, print the headings
“plant,” “animal,” and “rock.” Discuss
similarities and differences among the things.
To help generate ideas, ask:
How would you describe these things?
How are these things the same? How are
they different?
What do these things do?
Which two things have the most in
common?
What makes the plant and the animal the
most alike?
Can you think of a way to describe both the
plant and the animal?
If the terms “living” or “alive” do not come up
during the questioning, help the children see
that both the plant and the animal are living
things, whereas the rock is a non-living thing.
Together, look at the illustrated scene on
pages 6 and 7 of the Student Book. Encourage
the children to find the non-living things in the
illustration. How did they decide that these
things are not alive? Now ask the children to
find the living things, and to explain the
reasons behind their decisions. Make a class
list of the living things.
Some living things, such as bacteria
and certain fungi, are so small you
cannot see them using your eyes
alone.
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Lesson 3:What Is a Living Thing?
Lesson 3:What Is a Living Thing?
E x p l o re
Apply
Living Things Around You
Discussing Their Findings
Extending Learning
Encourage a class discussion of the living
things children have seen. Ask children if there
are any other living things in their classroom,
or in the rest of the school.
Explain to the class that they will be going
outside to look for living things. Ask children
to predict what living things they will see.
Record their predictions.
Encourage children to discuss what they found
on the walk. Ask several children to show their
notes and drawings from the Exploration.
Compile a class list of the living things
observed by the children. Compare what they
found with their predictions. Then ask:
Looking Closer
How did you decide which were living
things?
Can you name some of the living things you
observed on the walk?
Find living things.
1. Make sure each child has a pencil and a
clipboard with paper before going outside.
Ask children to look for as many different
living things as they can find. Encourage
them to think about why they decided that
these are living things. Make sure they stay
with the group throughout the walk.
2. Have each child record the living things
using words and/or pictures.
Troubleshooting
Explain to children that they will be using their eyes
and ears to find living things.Remind them not to
harm living things.
Safety
Caution children not to pick up things they
may see on the ground, especially garbage.
Exploration Results
Children’s notes and drawings should show a
variety of living things, including both plants
and animals. This shows that the children are
beginning to understand some of the criteria
used in identifying living things.
How were they different from the non-living
things you saw?
Define a Living Thing
As a class, begin to develop a definition of a
living thing. Children can draw on everything
they have discovered so far. Discuss their ideas
and, together, decide what should be included
in the definition. (This may be a good
opportunity, if it has not come up before, to
have a discussion with the children about
whether people are animals.) Record the
definition on chart paper. Children should copy
it into their Science Journals. Explain that the
definition can be revised as necessary
throughout the unit.
After discussing the THINK! question, you
may want to look more closely at some of the
other things in the illustration in the Student
Book and invite discussion about whether or
not they are alive. For example, the flowers in
the vase can remain alive for several days if
they are in water (the green parts can even
carry on photosynthesis), but they cannot
continue living for very long. Leaves are alive
as long as they are green or the yellow and
orange colours seen in the fall. Once they have
turned brown or have fallen off, they are no
longer alive. The children may be interested to
know that the yeast used in making bread is a
living thing. (It consists mainly of the cells of
very small fungi.)
Now would be a good time to hand out
Reproducible 3: What Is Alive? for children to
complete. (Answers: living—flower, bush, dog, shark,
boy; non-living—log, banana, ball, brick; once alive—
log, banana)
Integrating Science
Math: Do a Venn Diagram
Revisit the illustration on pages 6 and 7 of
the Student Book, and use it to complete a
Venn diagram of living and non-living
things, and the things that fall into both
categories, where the two circles overlap.
For example, the leaves on the trees are
living, but the leaves the girl is using to
make a picture are non-living.
More Science: Create a Living Display
If you do not already have living things in
your classroom, you could arrange to
borrow animals or plants from another
classroom, or from one of the children’s
homes (for example, hamsters or fish).
Check for student allergies before bringing a
pet into the classroom.
Make sure you receive complete
instructions on how to care for the living
things, and that you share this information
with the children. Caring for and observing
the living things will increase the relevance
of the unit for the children.
Think!
Is an apple alive?
While on the tree, an
apple is part of a living
thing, but once it is
picked,decomposers
slowly begin to
break down the apple
and it is no longer
alive.
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Lesson 3:What Is a Living Thing?
Lesson 3:What Is a Living Thing?
3
Name __________________________________________ Date _____________________________________
What Is Alive?
Put a circle around the living things.
Put a line under the non-living things.
Colour the non-living things that were once alive.
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Lesson 3:What Is a Living Thing?
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