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Living Things in Their Habitat

In this unit, students are introduced to living things on Earth. They begin by exploring the differences between living and nonliving things and then investigate what plants and animals need to survive by watching bean plants grow and observing a cricket in its habitat. They then create a model to show how living things depend on other living things and their environment to survive, and can change their environment to help them get what they need.

This page provides an overview of lesson seven, which has students creating a forest habitat model to observe how the needs of the plants and animals that live in the forest are met by the living and nonliving things in the forest.

Science Background for Teachers:

The teacher background gives educators a more in-depth scientific explanation of the phenomena that students will explore in the unit. For this lesson, the topic is focused on animals and what they need in their habitats to survive.

An ecosystem is a community of different species that depend on interacting with each other and their physical environment for survival. All ecosystems include living things that must consume nutrients, often eating one another for energy and nutrients, as well as oxygen and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, water, and energy from the sun. An ecosystem can be as large as an ocean or as small as a pond. Regardless of its size, all the parts of an ecosystem work together to make a balanced system.

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Science Lesson: Understanding Living Things in Their Habitat

In this lesson, students learn about animal habitats by creating a model of a forest habitat and analyzing the interaction between living and nonliving things in the model habitat. The goal of this model is for students to explore the relationships between the needs of plants and animals that live in a forest habitat.

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Science Big Ideas

  • Living things interact with other living things, as well as nonliving things in their habitat to survive.
  • Plants and animals live in habitats that meet their specific needs.
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Science Essential Questions

  • What are the different parts that make up a forest habitat?
  • What is a forest?
  • How do forests help the animals that live there survive?
  • How is an ocean habitat different from a forest habitat? How are they similar?
  • Why are fish found in both an ocean and a forest habitat?

Common Science Misconceptions

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

Animal : a living thing that needs to eat other living things for energy and breathes in oxygen

Habitat : a place where life grows; provides plants and animals with clean water, air, food, and shelter

Shelter : a structure that protects animals from other animals and weather

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

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Hands-on Science Activity

In this hands-on activity, students explore a forest habitat and discuss their observations of living and nonliving things they notice. For example, they may observe that the fish need a river or lake in their forest habitat to survive. Students connect the needs of the forest animals with all that the forest has to offer (e.g. shelter provided by the trees, water to drink, fruit from the trees for food). Towards the end of the mini-lesson, students discuss some predictions about what would happen if one element from the forest disappears and how this may affect the plants and animals living in the forest habitat.

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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 
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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.