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Characteristics of Living Things

In the second unit of Kindergarten, students explore life on Earth. They begin by exploring what makes something a living thing, and then investigate what plants and animals need to survive. To begin their study of life science, students make observations and construct explanations about those observations to explore the characteristics that all living things have in common.

Science Background for Teachers:

This teacher background is intended to provide teachers with an in-depth explanation of the scientific phenomena that students will be exploring in the unit. Students will explore characteristics of living things in this unit of study.

Bats and plants are both living things. All living things, also called organisms, exchange gasses with the environment, need water and food for energy, grow, move, reproduce, and respond to their environment. Plants and animals are the two kinds of living things that students will explore in this unit, although there are other kinds, including fungi, bacteria, and other microscopic life so tiny we cannot see them with just our eyes.

The need for energy and the ability to reproduce are two characteristics that all living things share. When living things get what they need to survive, including food, air, and water, they will grow, which means they get bigger, and develop, which means they become more complex. Living things grow and develop until they are adults. All living things also move. Some of this movement happens in ways we cannot see easily or quickly. For example, all living things are made of cells, the smallest unit of life. Cells are in constant motion as they carry out life functions, including accessing energy from food and building essential proteins. These actions are happening all the time in all living things, even though we cannot see them without special tools such as microscopes.

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Science Lesson: Identifying Characteristics of Living Things

In this lesson students explore the characteristics of living things by observing some animals in action, engaging in a Socratic dialogue about their observations, and experiencing a circle time nonfiction read-aloud related to the topic. Through these activities, students discover characteristics that define living things such as needing water, food, and air. Students will also use their observations to figure out that all living things grow, move, and eventually die.

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Science Big Ideas

  • All living things need food, air, and water. They also reproduce, grow, and move.
  • Plants are living things that share certain characteristics with animals.
  • Scientists use different characteristics to identify whether something is living or nonliving.
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Science Essential Questions

  • What are the main characteristics of living things?
  • What questions can help us figure out whether something is living or nonliving?
  • How are plants different from animals?
  • Do you think plants are living or nonliving? Why or why not?
  • How do plants move, given that they cannot move from one place to another in the same way that animals do?

Common Science Misconceptions

close-circle-red Misconception: Anything that moves is alive, while all nonliving things have died.  

checkmark-circle-green Fact: Not all moving things are living. Living things all have certain characteristics in common, including the ability to grow, exchange gasses with the environment, reproduce, excrete waste, and respond to stimuli, and all living things need energy to carry out these functions. Nonliving things do not meet all of the characteristics of life.

close-circle-red Misconception: Plants are not alive because we cannot see them move.

checkmark-circle-green Fact: Plants are alive because they meet all of the requirements for life. For example, there is movement within plants; we just cannot see it.

Science Vocabulary

Develop : to become more complex

Grow : to get bigger

Reproduce : to make another living thing of the same kind

Respond : to react to something that happens

Lexile(R) Certified Non-Fiction Science Reading (Excerpt)

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Hands-on Science Activity

This mini-lesson is a hands-on discussion which helps students discover on their own, with some guidance from the teacher, the main characteristics of living things. Students first watch a video of some animals in action and share and document their detailed observations. Then, they experience a read-aloud nonfiction text that talks about living things. This becomes the foundation of a Socratic circle discussion where students share their connections from the video with the text to come up with a list of characteristics of living things. Students are encouraged to draw conclusions about living things based on their observational evidence and other information they gather from the nonfiction text, Socratic dialogue, or video.

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Science Assessments

KnowAtom incorporates formative and summative assessments designed to make students thinking visible for deeper student-centered learning.

  • Vocabulary Check
  • Lab Checkpoints
  • Concept Check Assessment 
  • Concept Map Assessment 
  • And More...
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Standards citation: NGSS Lead States. 2013. Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Neither WestEd nor the lead states and partners that developed the Next Generation Science Standards were involved in the production of this product, and do not endorse it.