← Back to lesson

Science Lesson Kit · Teacher Resource

Living vs. Nonliving Things — 5E Lesson Plan

Life Science · 35 minutes

Grade 1

5E lesson flow

  1. 01

    Engage

    5 min

    Teacher Does

    Show a puppy and a toy car, both pictured in motion.

    Students Do

    Say or point to ways they are alike and different.

    Ask

    • If both can move, is movement enough to decide what is living?

    Look For

    Students begin to question a movement-only rule.

  2. 02

    Explore

    10 min

    Teacher Does

    Give pairs familiar picture cards to sort without revealing a rule.

    Students Do

    Sort cards and explain one choice.

    Ask

    • What clue helped you decide?

    Look For

    Needs, growth, and young/parent patterns rather than color or movement alone.

  3. 03

    Explain

    7 min

    Teacher Does

    Build a class evidence chart for living things.

    Students Do

    Add examples under needs, growth, and new living things.

    Ask

    • Which clues repeat across plants and animals?

    Look For

    A pattern using several life clues.

  4. 04

    Elaborate

    8 min

    Teacher Does

    Present the toy-robot and dry-seed challenge cards.

    Students Do

    Revise any one-clue rules and explain each case.

    Ask

    • Why can movement fool us? Why can a quiet seed still belong to a living life cycle?

    Look For

    Movement is not required; several life-pattern clues matter.

  5. 05

    Evaluate

    5 min

    Teacher Does

    Give the evidence-board task.

    Students Do

    Sort final cards and justify two examples.

    Ask

    • What evidence supports your choice?

    Look For

    Correct classification plus a life-pattern reason.

Student goal

I can use more than one clue to tell whether a familiar example is living or nonliving.

Learning objectives

  • Sort familiar examples as living or nonliving using observable evidence.
  • Use more than one clue, such as needs, growth, and making young, to explain why something is living.
  • Explain why movement by itself does not prove that something is alive.

Materials

  • Living/nonliving picture cards
  • Living and nonliving mats
  • Evidence clue cards
  • Recording sheet
  • Crayons

Before class

  • Prepare clear familiar examples.
  • Include one moving nonliving example.
  • Keep examples of dead organisms out of the core lesson to avoid a category distinction beyond the lesson goal.
  • Prepare a dry-seed challenge card.

Prior knowledge

  • Students recognize common plants, animals, toys, and natural objects.
  • Students can compare two pictures and describe simple changes.

Vocabulary

living
Describes a plant, animal, or other organism that carries out life processes.
nonliving
Describes something that does not carry out life processes.
need
Something a living thing requires to stay alive and grow.
grow
To become larger or develop over time.
evidence
A clue or observation that helps support an idea.

Differentiation

  • Allow pointing and oral explanations instead of writing.
  • Use picture icons for needs, growth, and young.
  • Reduce the sort to four cards for students who need less visual load.
  • For extension, ask students why a robot can move and use energy but is still nonliving.

Assessment

  • Check the final card sort.
  • Check whether the student uses more than one clue for a living example.
  • Check whether the student rejects movement as a complete rule.

Exit ticket

Name one living thing and two clues that show it is living.

Extension

Compare a living plant with a nonliving object that can move or change.