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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:

The science background gives teachers more detailed explanations of the scientific phenomena that students will explore in this unit. In this particular lesson, students deepen their understanding of living versus nonliving, and also once-living things.

Living things need water. Water has many important functions, including helping to transport food through the body and eliminate waste. And all living things exchange gasses with the environment. Animals such as bats and humans breathe in oxygen and breathe out carbon dioxide. Plants take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen. This exchange of gasses between life forms and the environment is called the oxygen cycle.

All living things respond to their environment. To respond means to react to something that happens. Most animals respond to their environment in ways we can observe, such as jumping when they hear loud noises or moving away when they feel threatened. Plants respond to their environment in less obvious ways, such as by growing toward the sun or reaching their roots downwards or sideways to find water.

All living things also eventually die. Some have very short lives before they die. Mosquitoes generally live for about two weeks before dying. Some sharks can live for 200 years, while scientists have found several Great Basin bristlecone pine trees that are around 5,000 years old. When an organism dies, it decomposes, returning its nutrients to the soil. It is no longer alive, but it was once alive. Dead animals, leaves, and logs are all once-living things.

Supports Grade k

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Science Lesson: Distinguishing the Living, Nonliving, and Once-Living

In this lesson, students sort and compare living, nonliving, and once-living things. They discuss images of various objects to determine how to categorize them according to their characteristics. Through this process, students are encouraged to ask questions and share their discoveries with their peers to expand on their learning of life science.

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Science Big Ideas

  • To be a living thing, something must have all of the characteristics of a living thing. If it doesn’t, it is a nonliving thing.
  • Living things that are dead were once alive, but they are no longer alive.
  • Many objects are nonliving even though they are made up of materials that were once-living.
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Science Essential Questions

  • What do all living things have in common?
  • How do you know that something is nonliving?
  • Why are things that are dead considered once-living things even though they don’t currently share the characteristics of living things?
  • Why is a dead insect different from a nonliving thing?

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

In this hands-on activity, students sort and classify photos that depict living, nonliving, and once-living things. As part of the lesson, students may bring in objects or photos to be categorized into a living, nonliving, or once-living chart. Students work in pairs to sort the objects and discuss their decisions with the goal of deepening their understanding of living and nonliving things.

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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.