Baylor College
Needs of Living Things: Post-Assessment
Assess your class's knowledge of the needs of living things with the final instructional activity in a series. Given a large piece of paper and coloring utensils, young scientists draw a picture of themselves and a plant or animal of...
Baylor College
Needs of Living Things: Pre-Assessment
Determine your class's prior knowledge about the necessities of life with this pre-assessment for a unit on living things. Learners draw pictures of themselves with all the things they need to live, grow, and survive. These drawings will...
Curated OER
Basic Needs of Living Things - Lesson One
An interesting way of teaching about basic needs of different organisms awaits your fourth graders. Pupils take part in class discussions and demonstrations which should lead to a greater understanding of how to determine basic needs. As...
Curated OER
Basic Needs of Living Things - Lesson Two
Fourth graders study and identify the basic needs of a variety of organisms. Terrariums and aquariums are used to demonstrate what plants, animals, and fish need to stay alive. These two classic models are used to effectively convey what...
Baylor College
Needs of Plants
What better way to learn about plant life than by creating a class garden? Young botanists start with a brief discussion about radishes before planting seeds and watching them grow. To determine the importance of water,...
Curated OER
The Web of Life
Students demonstrate the interrelationships of animals and plants. In this ecology lesson, students discuss the things plants and animals need for survival and study the glacier food chain. Students simulate the web of life by using a...
Science Matters
Basic Needs
Scholars take part in a grand conversation about the basic needs of living things. Working collaboratively, pupils brainstorm and identify similarities to come to the conclusion that the environment meets the needs of all living...
Curated OER
Can Young Children Distinguish Between Living and Non-living Things?
What does it mean to be living? Help your young scientists identify living and non-living things as a result of their learning through discovery. Observation of and interaction with a set of natural phenomena in their community will make...
Curated OER
Living and Non-Living Things
Take a walk and observe living and non-living things on the way. Young scientists practice making valuable observations and draw the details. You could require that your students complete a T chart of living and non-living things...
Curated OER
Needs of Living Things
Students discuss and explore the needs of living things. They choose to create a slide show with captions, create a web showing the needs of one Organism using KidPix. or make picture book by hand or using Microsoft Publisher.
Curated OER
Basic Needs of Living Things-Lesson One
Fourth graders explore the basic needs of living things. They observe a variety of living things and identify the basic needs of each living item. Students create food balls of peanut butter and nuts to feed animals. They hang their food...
Baylor College
Food for Kids
Immediately capture the attention of your class with the smell of freshly popped popcorn in the sixth lesson of this series on the needs of living things. Young scientists first use their senses to make and record observations of...
Curated OER
Living and Nonliving Things
Students photograph five objects from a bag and five objects from the outdoors. Students categorize things by living and non-living and by properties such as color, size, structure and needs. Students draw conclusions about the basic...
Captain Planet Foundation
Rotting Away
What happens at the end of a plant's life cycle? Show kids the natural way that plants show that they're decomposing, as well as the importance of compost, with a lesson about living organisms. After reading Log Cabin by Anne Schreiber,...
Curated OER
When Ants Fly
Here is a great lesson on constructing line graphs. Learners identify common characteristics of birds, ants common needs of all living things. They also write a story from the perspective of an ant or a bird that has lost its home and...
Virginia Department of Education
The Effects of Heat and Acid on the Enzyme Catalase
How quickly do enzymatic reactions occur? Assist the class as they examine heat and pH change to determine the rate of chemical reactions using catalase as an enzyme. Watch them "glow" with excitement!
Baylor College
Animals' Needs
Explore the wonderful world of earthworms as your class learns about the requirements of animal life. After building soda bottle terrariums, students observe worms over the course of a couple weeks, building an understanding that all...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Smart Buildings and the Internet of Things
Is your building a smart building? Pupils learn what makes a building smart and about the internet of things. After viewing several videos on the topic, they conduct an activity collecting data from sensors and brainstorm ways to improve...
Baylor College
Living Things and Their Needs: The Math Link
Enrich your study of living things with these cross-curricular math activities. Following along with the story Tillena Lou's Day in the Sun, learners will practice addition and subtraction, learn how to measure volume and length,...
Captain Planet Foundation
Adopt-A-Plant
Note the way that plants change during the season by adopting a plant on your school campus. After your class chooses their plant, they research the plant's needs, how it differs from other plants, find ways to support their plant's...
Curated OER
The Internet of Things: IoT
How has the Internet of Things affected our lives? Scholars examine the massive influence of mobile devices in this analysis lesson, which begins with a seven-minute documentary clip. They also read a New York Times article (linked)...
Curated OER
Characteristics of Living Things
Student use the scientific method to experiment with worms. In this characteristics of living things lesson, students predict and examine the reactions of worms to dry and wet soil. Students share their findings.
Baylor College
Need or Want?
Even as adults it can be hard to distinguish needs from wants. Using pictures of common, everyday items, children make a pocket chart separating the objects they need from those that they want. Discuss their choices, explaining that...
Curated OER
Using Living Organisms to Explain Evolution
Students investigate evolution in its most fundamental form: the observation of living organisms. By comparing variations that exist among living animals, students formulate their own hypotheses and conclusions about the evolution of...