Living Things Concept Map

Living Things   Concepts Standard: 3.3: Biological Sciences	Activities	Assessment
Discuss the similarities and differences of living things	Read literature related to living things and their characteristics. • Create learning centers that focus on different living things (ex. Plants, animals, humans). • Create interactive tasks on how living things are created. • Provide interactive activities that provide children the opportunity to find and discuss living things around them.	•   observations •   comprehension questions •   child interview •   dictation writing •   science journal
Discuss that living things are made up of parts that have specific functions	Provide opportunities and materials for children to see what living things are made up of. • Have charts that show body parts, parts of a plant, and parts of an animal. • Use interactive activities in which the children must categorize or sort each category of living things. • Have examples of living things in your classroom (picture or in person). • Take children outside to see plant life and to observe their surroundings. • Provide children with a variety of samples of living things. • Provide interactive activities that show how living things come in many different shapes and sizes.	•  anecdotal notes •  dictation •  observations •  KWL chart •  clue cards •  science drawings
Discuss that characteristics are inherited and, thus, offspring closely resemble their parents	Create learning centers that focus on genes • Create interactive tasks on biology and why living things tend to look alike. • Create classroom environment that shows the connection between characteristics and offspring. • Provide interactive activities that provide children the opportunity to create their own offspring and what it would look like.	•   Class discussions •   worksheets •   observations •   small group discussions •   science notebooks •   offspring project
Identify changes in living things over time	Provide interactive activities that provide children the opportunity to see how living things change over time. • Provide opportunities and materials for children to role-play with simple props. • Show pictures of living things throughout their lives/cycles. • Use interactive activities in which the children must categorize or sort the living things from youngest to oldest.	•   comprehension questions •   child interview •   dictation writing •   science journal •   small group discussions
Recognize change in natural and physical systems	• Encourage students to ask questions about plant growth over a period of time • Model examples of observation skills, keeping an observation journal, and discovering growth and change. • Provide opportunities for students to participate in simple experiments and investigations both in the classroom and out of the observation and recording of differences in living and non-living thing • Model the usage of a ruler or tape measure to allow students to measure and compare & contrast differences in plants • Identify growth between classmates and sequencing growth smallest to largest	•   science journals •   small group discussions •   KWL chart •   end of the unit quiz •   observations