Characteristics of Living Things

While First Impressions introduces students to a variety of living things, the activity itself does not provide examples of characteristics of living things.  Using the Idea Circle graphic organizer as a template, as a class discuss and record the following information for each animal shown in the First Impressions voting activity:

• Recognize that there are different kinds of living things (insects, birds, flowers, trees, etc.).
• All living things grow and reproduce. For example, a spider grows from a spiderling (tiny baby spider) into an adult spider.
• All living things respond to stimuli. A spider will respond to something caught in its web by crawling toward the object.
• All living things require energy. A spider needs to eat insects or other spiders to acquire energy.
• Living things have parts and because of those parts, living things can do specific things.  (For example, eagles have wings for flying and beaks for eating.  Bears have teeth for eating, eyes for seeing and legs for moving.)

 
Before students begin reading, they may need to brainstorm lists of ways living things:
1.  Get energy

• Plants make their own energy.
• Some animals eat plants.
• Some animals eat animals.
• Some animals eat plants and animals.

 2.  Grow up  (Please note that the names of the different stages of development are not the focus of this content statement.  The focus at this grade level is for students to see a variety of living things and to learn characteristics common to all living things.)

• Trees could grow from a seed, to a small tree, to a large tree.
• A chicken could start growing in an egg, then break out of the egg as a small chicken, then grow to a bigger chicken.
• A butterfly could begin as an egg, emerge as a larva, form a chrysalis, and emerge as a butterfly. 

 
3.  React to the environment

• A squirrel may run away if startled by a dog.
• A spider will crawl toward an insect caught in its web.
• A plant will grow toward a light source.
• A snake may eat a bird.