Specific Outcomes. Assessment. Getting Organized. 36 Lesson 1: Living Things

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1 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. 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. 36

2 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 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 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. Content Background Aliving 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. Preconceptions Children might believe that some things are dead when they really aren t for example, many trees and flowers remain dormant over winter but are still alive and grow again in spring. 37

3 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. 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. 38

4 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.) Sorting 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). 39

5 Explore Apply 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: Extending Learning 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. 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. Integrating Science 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. 40

6 Name Date A Butterfly s Life 1 butterfly egg chrysalis caterpillar Copyright 2005 Scholastic Canada Ltd.This page may be reproduced for classroom use by the purchasing school. 41