Identifying Living and Nonliving Things

Identifying Living and Nonliving Things
Elementary. Second Grade
Teach your students about living and nonliving things with this interactive lesson that keeps your class
engaged as they learn!
Learning Objectives
Students will be able to ask and answer questions about living and nonliving things to clarify their
thinking and classifications.
Materials and Preparation
 2 Hula hoops
 Book: What's Alive by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
 Video: Living and Nonliving Things by Lindsay Schemm
 Assortment of living and nonliving objects (e.g. school supplies, small plants, books)
Introduction (15 minutes)
 Ask the class if they are living or nonliving.

 Ask students if their pets at home are living or nonliving.
 Ask students to identify what they need to survive. Write "food," "water," "shelter," and "air" on
the board.
 Explain to students that today they will be learning about living and nonliving things.
Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling (10 minutes)
 Ask students to think of a question, or something they want to know, about living and nonliving
things. Remind students that questions start with who, what, when where, why or how. Allow
students think time, and choose student volunteers to ask questions. Write questions on the
board (e.g., How do you know if something is living? or What can living things do?"
 Play students the Living and Nonliving Things video.
 Check whether the class is able to answer any of their questions following the video. Allow
students to turn and talk to a partner to answer the following comprehension questions about
key details from the video:
o What are some examples from the video of living things?
o What are some examples from the video of nonliving things?
o How does Cookie Monster know that rock is not alive?
Guided Practice (10 minutes)
 Read students the story What's Alive.

 As you read the text, invite students to turn and talk to a partner to ask and answer questions
about what they see in the illustrations. Write example questions on the board such as:
o What is living in the picture?

o What is nonliving in the picture?
o Is a ____ living or nonliving?
 Ask students questions about key details from the text such as:
o How are you the same as a cat?
o What do living things need to survive?
 Then, sing the following song together to the tune of Frere Jacques:
It is living!
It is living
! I know why!
I know why!
It eats and breathes and grows,
It eats and breathes and grows,
It's alive! It's alive!
Independent working time (15 minutes)
 Now, place two hula hoops on the ground. Label one "living" and one "nonliving." Present the
class with various living and nonliving objects such as a banana, a truck and a plant.
 Have each student come to the hula hoops and place objects in the hula hoop in either the
living or the nonliving category. Have students repeat chorally, "Is a ____ living or nonliving?"
 Model looking at an item, and asking a question to clarify whether the object is living or
nonliving. Think back to the information presented in the video and ask, "Does this object grow
and change?"
 Continue until every student has had a chance to ask questions to clarify whether their object is
living or nonliving. Allow students to take turns answering the questions, and classifying the
objects.
Related books and/or Media
1. BOOK: Do You Know Which Ones Will Grow? by Susan A. Shea

2. BOOK: Mary Had A Little Lamp by Jack Lechner
Enrichment:
 Have students in need of enrichment draw objects on a paper that are living.
Support:
 Read additional books about living and nonliving things to students who are struggling with the
concept.
Assessment
 Observe whether students are able to correctly classify living and nonliving things in the sorting
activity.
 Listen to assess whether students are able to ask and answer questions about key details from
the read aloud and video
Review and closing (10 minutes)
 Have each student go around the room and find a nonliving object. Remind students to ask a
question, "Is this living or nonliving?" Have students then answer their question using
information and details from the video and text.

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Identifying Living and Nonliving Things

Elementary. Second Grade

Materials and Preparation

Introduction (15 minutes)

 Ask the class if they are living or nonliving.

Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling (10 minutes)

 Read students the story What's Alive.

o What is living in the picture?

Independent working time (15 minutes)

Related books and/or Media

1. BOOK: Do You Know Which Ones Will Grow? by Susan A. Shea

Review and closing (10 minutes)

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