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Science Manipulative Lesson Plan for SOL K.6

Course %indergarten cience' Life Processes Topic of Lesson: Living and Non-living Things This lesson focuses on helping students understand the differences between nonliving objects and living organisms. pecificall!" students learn that living organisms have distinguishing properties used to differentiate them from nonliving objects. tudents develop s#ills of in$uir!" reasoning" and logic while investigating familiar objects and learning to classif! them as living or nonliving. tudents sort organisms using their characteristics and describe how the! are ali#e or not ali#e. VA SOL: %indergarten cience Primar! cience &L' %.( )The student will investigate and understand the differences between living organisms and nonliving objects. %e! concepts include a* all things can be classified as living or nonliving+ and b* living organisms have certain characteristics that distinguish them from nonliving objects including growth" movement" response to the environment" having offspring" and the need for food" air" and water., -elated cience &L' %.1 )The student will demonstrate an understanding of scientific reasoning" logic" and the nature of science b! planning and conducting investigations in which a* basic characteristics or properties of objects are identified b! direct observation., ./irginia 0epartment of 1ducation" 2313" p. 23* Materials: )4s 4t Living5, PowerPoint &bservable organisms 6 mammal" amphibian" or reptile 6n insect 6 plant Date November 8th" 2317

pg. 2 of 8 8hart paper Living and non-living cut-out pictures )4s it Living5, recording sheets tudent science journals )4s it Living 6ssessment, sheets Essential Questions: 9ow can one #now if something is living or non-living5 4n what wa!s are living things sorted5 Ke Ter!s: Living Nonliving :row ;ove -espond -eproduce En"a"e: #Ti!e: $% !inutes& <egin lesson b! pre-assessing students= prior #nowledge of living and non-living things. 6 PowerPoint serves as a )hoo#, to engage students" and it helps them to ma#e connections to familiar things that are either alive or not. tudents are shown the )4s it Living5, PowerPoint and as#ed whether each object presented is living or non-living. The PowerPoint features man! objects that are relativel! straightforward to classif! .i.e. dog or cra!on*. 9owever" some are more challenging and re$uire deeper understanding of living>non-living characteristics .i.e. tree or flower*. 6llow students to debate the tric#! images and listen to the reasoning behind each answer. The teacher should informall! assess students= understanding and note specific misconceptions to address in further portions of the lesson. 6fter showing the first ten slides>images" the teacher leads the class in a discussion based on the PowerPoint. The teacher writes the following $uestion on a sheet of chart paper and displa!s it at the front of the class. 9e records student responses in a list beneath it. '(o) *o )e +no) t,at so!et,in" is livin"-. All livin" t,in"s/ ample #indergarten responses include' 9ave faces Tal# :row 9ave ears The teacher should not correct students= misconceptions of the traits of living things !et. Transition to the )1?plore, portion of the lesson b! stating that the class will now investigate

pg. 7 of 8 some familiar objects to see if the! meet the $ualifications the class has chosen for living things. E0plore: #Ti!e: 12$% !inutes& 0uring the )1?plore, section" students test their ideas from the '(o) *o )e +no) t,at so!et,in" is livin"-. engaging activit! about what characteri@es living things. The! do so b! investigating the characteristics of living organisms brought in b! the teacher. The teacher chooses e?amples of organisms that are easil! classified as living and others that are more challenging. 9e brings in a total of three organisms for the class to observe. The first is a mammal" amphibian" or reptile" depending on which is easier for the teacher to procure. These organisms e?hibit man! characteristics that students t!picall! associate with living things. The second is an insect .such as a butterfl!" lad!bug" or firefl!*. These organisms e?hibit man! characteristics that students associate with living things" but eliminate misconceptions .such as all living things having hands or ears*. The third organism is a plant. This living thing eliminates other common misconceptions. 4t does not have a face" a heart" etc.

tudents are to be given a chance to observe the organisms. The teacher is to guide the class in going through each student response on the chart '(o) *o )e +no) t,at so!et,in" is livin"-. and chec#ing to see if each idea is true for the given organism. 4f the student response is not true for the living thing" the teacher crosses it off the list. Aith the first organism .an amphibian" reptile" or mammal*" the class begins its anal!sis of living things. 4f the chosen organism is a hamster" the teacher would place a chec# beside sample student ideas that it must have a face and grow+ however" he would cross out the idea that living things must tal#. The ne?t organism .an insect* is investigated to discover whether it fits the remaining student-selected traits of living things. The e?ample organism of an insect is chosen purposefull! so that more common misunderstandings are eliminated from the list. Bor e?ample" a butterfl! would cross off man! common #indergarten misconceptions such as living things having hands" hearts" tal#ing etc. The third organism .a plant* would cross off even more common misconceptions such as all living things tal#ing or having a face.

4f more misconceptions remain after the three organisms are anal!@ed" the teacher should choose e?ample organisms for the class to consider .though the! cannot literall! observe them*. The teacher should repeat the process until all of the misconceptions are eliminated from the list. Now" the teacher has the beginning of a list of the characteristics that all living things have in common. ;ost li#el!" students will not have listed all of the traits living things have in common in their responses to '(o) *o )e +no) t,at so!et,in" is livin"-.. Therefore" the class will add the rest of the criteria to the list in the )1?plain, portion of the lesson.

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E0plain: #Ti!e: 321 !inutes& -efer bac# to the )4s it Living5, PowerPoint presentations to show the remaining five slides. The! feature the five characteristics of living things that are specified in the %indergarten cience 8urriculum Bramewor#. tudents discover which information the! got correct and what the! left out or missed. The slides feature the following information. Living things' :row ;ove -espond -eproduce Need food" air" and water ./irginia 0epartment of 1ducation" 2313*. The class should discuss what each of these characteristics mean. The teacher should focus especiall! on what it means to respond or to reproduce. tudents record the five characteristics of living things in their science journals. 4f there is time" students ma! provide an illustration beside each characteristic to serve as a memor! device the! can associate with it. E0ten*: #Ti!e: 32$% !inutes& tudents complete a wor#sheet to file in their science journals. 4n this activit!" students appl! their #nowledge of the characteristics of living things on their own. tudents pic# an object .or more" if time permits* and answer $uestions about it on the )4s it Living5, recording sheet .see 6ppendi? 1*. The! fill out a table which helps them to ultimatel! decide if it is living or nonliving. 4f students answer )no, to the $uestions" the object is non-living. The object should be cut and pasted at the top of the recording sheet to reference. Duestions for the recording sheet include' 0oes it grow5 0oes it move5 0oes it respond to things5 0oes it ma#e more of itself5 0oes it need food" air" and water5 Is it living? tudents can pic# objects from a collection of pictures from maga@ines" or the! can draw their own pictures. Evaluate: #Ti!e: inclu*e* in E0plore&

pg. E of 8 The students are assessed on their abilit! to identif! and classif! living and nonliving things. The! are given a wor#sheet featuring images of 1C living and non-living things. &n the )4s it Living 6ssessment, sheet" students label each picture with an )L, if it is a living thing or )NL, if it is non-living .see 6ppendi? 2*. The teacher uses the following rubric to assess students= level of understanding' 17-1C correct' ecure 13-12 correct' 0eveloping 3-F correct' <eginning

Is It Living?
(Recording Sheet)

Object:
Does it grow? Does it move? Does it respond to things? Does it make more of itse f? Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No

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Does it need food! air! and water?

Yes

No

Is it living?

_____________

Is it Living?
Assessment
Directions: "#t "#t

$ N$

in the bo%es beside iving things& in the bo%es beside non' iving things&

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