In our first science unit we will be learning all about living things. We will study:
- Characteristics of Living Things
- Needs of Living Things
- Animal Growth and Changes
- Plant Growth and Changes
Yesterday we went for a walk around the school looking for living things. We were in teams of two or three and we used a clipboard, paper, and pencil to record what we saw. We could either use words or pictures to record each living thing we found. If we weren’t sure whether something was a living thing or not we put a question mark beside it. We sure found a lot of different living things in a very short amount of time!
Today, we tried to decide what makes something a living thing. In our groups we tried to brainstorm a list of questions we could ask about an object to decide if it is a living thing or a non-living thing. So far we think that living things can move and can grow.
What a delightful natural environment. Despite mine being a very rural school we don’t have access to such a place as it is all farmland and very little of it is wooded. Sounds like the kids really enjoyed making their lists… three cheers for the slug!
Mr E
Hawes
Dear Mr. E,
Thank you for your comment! We don’t have a lot of farmland here on Sointula. Some families have hobby farms and have goats, chickens, or cows, and some families have big gardens, but no real farms. We do have a lot of forests though. The island is covered in trees!
Do you have slugs where you live? Are slugs your favourite? 7 students in our class like slugs.
Your friends,
Mrs. W and the K/1/2/3s
Hello Mrs. Watson’s K/1/2/3 class,
I was very impressed with your discoveries of life around your school grounds. I could see your school environment is teeming with life.
I can see you have decided living things can grow and move. This started me thinking, must living things do both grow and move or is only one enough?
I thought of moss on a rock. It can grow but it doesn’t really move yet it is alive.
Perhaps life might only need to be able to grow to be living. Now I thought of crystals. They can grow but they aren’t alive.
Maybe there is something else needed to be alive. What do you think?
@RossMannell
Teacher (retired), N.S.W., Australia
Dear Mr. Mannel,
Thank you for your great comment! You sure got us thinking more about living things. Here is some more of our thinking:
Lily- I think all living things need food.
Brooklynn-I think living things need water and fresh air or carbon dioxide.
Kezra-I think that living things need sunshine to grow and sometimes other living things need shade to grow.
Taegan-I think animals from the beach are meant to live there and not get carried to your home.
Lainey-I know flowers grow.
Jorja-I know something that grows and it moves and it is a person!
Solomon-Everything needs sun.
Koa-All animals need homes.
Rhys-Tigers need food that they eat and then they need homes.
More science to come tomorrow…
Your friends,
Mrs. W and the K/1/2/3s
Dear Mrs. Watson’s K/1/2/3 class,
I am very impressed with the scientific thinking in your class. Scientists come up with ideas from things they find or see. When they learn more their ideas might change.
I can see you have all been thinking of things life needs. You have some great ideas. Life does need some way of getting energy whether by making it as plants can or by eating food. Life does tend to need water.
Your ideas had me thinking what might need air, energy and water. Perhaps you have ridden on a steam train. They need energy (coal or wood) for their fire. They need water in their boilers to make steam and they need air to keep their fire burning. Of course, they can’t grow but they can move. However, they aren’t alive.
I had to think again, what makes living things different to non-living things? I had an idea when I thought about the steam train. If we want a new steam train, we have to build one because steam trains are machines and don’t have babies. If we want more chickens, we need a rooster and hens so the hens can lay eggs and chicks can hatch. If we want another tree, we need to collect seeds and plant them.
Maybe life needs everything you have decided but it also needs a way to make more of itself. What do you think?
If it is allowed, here is a link to a video I made last year. It shows a koala named Suzie and her baby girl looking out of her pouch for the first time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgJP1KrxT6M
Koalas need fresh air. They can move. They need food. The need water (although most comes from the leaves they eat). They need a place to live and the warmth of the sun. They have baby koalas (called joeys). Koalas are alive.
@RossMannell
Teacher (retired), N.S.W., Australia
Dear Mrs. Watson’s K/1/2/3 class,
We are learning about the water cycle. Our class made some observations about living things after watching and reading your blog.
Cindy – God created living things.
Mae – They need food.
SeaBi – They need sun and rain.
Hikari – Some of them can move like us, but plants can’t move.
Shun – Every living thing needs to grow or eat.
Coe – Every animal can move.
We are looking forward to learning more from you and hope that you will also check our class blog and what we are learning. http://makingiteducational.edublogs.org/
From,
Mrs. HIno’s 2nd grade class
Dear Mrs. Hino’s Class,
Thank you for leaving us a comment! It sure sounds like you guys know a lot about living things too. We like going outside hunting for living things. It would be fun to see what different living things we could find in Tokyo.
Your friends,
Mrs. W and the K/1/2/3s
Dear Mrs Watson’s K1/2/3 class,
You are lucky to have such a beautiful outdoor area to explore and use for your learning! Do you get to play there at playtimes too?
It sounds like you have been having some interesting discussions about what a living thing is. Here’s one that puzzled my class last year : FIRE can grow, it feeds on trees and needs air to grow bigger. It appears to make more of itself and it can definitely move! I wonder what you think?
Mrs Monaghan
A Room With a View, Class 2
Dear Mrs. Monaghan,
Thank you for leaving us a comment. Yes, we do get to play outside at recess and lunch playtimes. Fire is not a living thing because it can not reproduce it just spreads and gets larger. Also fire does not need water. Fire is not a living thing.
From
Brooklynn
Hi Mrs. Watson,
I never knew that there were so many living creatures on our planet. I really just considered animals. I never knew moss was considered a living thing. This reminds me of when I was in my scout troop and my leader Kayla showed us the difference between poisonous and nonpoisonous mushrooms. Thanks for reminding me of this time.
Matthew.
Dear Matthew,
Do you like our blog? Thanks for the comment. How old are you and where do you live?
We live in Canada.
From your friend,
Jorja