Living and Nonliving Things

Big Idea: What classifies as a living thing and a nonliving thing?      

Focus question: What is a living and nonliving thing?

Prediction: 

·        If something is living, it has to eat and drink to stay alive because I know I am a living thing and I have to eat and drink to stay alive.

·        If something is nonliving, it can survive anywhere because it does not need food or water to say alive.

·        If something is living, it will grow because I am living and I grow.

Planning: 

Materials:  earthworms, gummy worms, soil, journal, pencil

First, we observed the earthworms. Then, we observed the gummy worms. Next, we compared and contrasted the earthworms and gummy worms using our senses. Finally, we classified the earthworms and gummy worms as living or nonliving things based on our observations.

Data : Earthworms and Gummy Worms Comparison

Data Chart

Type What does it feel like? What does it smell like? What do you see? Living or Non-Living Gummy Worm Squishy Sweet, sugar Colored- blue/yellow, red/blue, red/yellow Non-living Earthworm Slimy, soft, moist, cold-blooded Dirt Brown, red Moving through the dirt Goes into the dirt and then comes back up Living

Claims and evidence:

I claim that living things need oxygen to survive. I know this because the earthworms would come out of the dirt. I claim that living things grow. I know this because the earthworms were different sizes. I claim that all living things need some form of food and water to survive. I know this because the gummy worm does not need food or water because it is not a living thing. I know the gummy worm is not living because it does not move, it does not eat or drink, and it does not grow as living things do.

Conclusion:

I learned that living things need oxygen to live and nonliving things do not because the earthworm would come out of the dirt instead of staying in the dirt. I learned that living things grow and nonliving things do not because the earthworms are many different sizes, some looked like babies and others old and rubbery. I learned that not all nonliving things survive anywhere just because it does not need food or water like living things to stay alive because I eventually ate the nonliving gummy worm, but not the earthworm. Therefore, all my predictions proved to be true but that one.

Reflection/ Questions:

We learned that living things need oxygen, water, and food to stay alive and that they will grow. We learned that non-living things do not need oxygen, water, and food and do not grow.

·       Do all living things need oxygen, water, and food to stay alive?

·       Do all living things grow?

·       What else can we learn about living and non-living things?

Literacy Connections:

Is it living or nonliving? (Living and nonliving) by Rebecca Rissman

Classification of Living and Nonliving Things (Life science library (Powerkids press)) by Elizabeth Rose

The magic school bus plants seed:  A book about how living things grow by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen