COLLECTION
PRIMARY ELEMENTARY | SCIENCE
Garden Safari
Students will use their senses to explore objects from the schoolyard and then classify them as living or non-living, developing descriptors for each of the two classifications. Further explorations demonstrate plant movement (as a qualifier for being “living”) and provide an opportunity for students to sort plants based on observable traits.
Concept: Living v. Non-Living
Essential Questions
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How can we classify what we find in our schoolyard as living, once-living, or non-living?
Standards Addressed
GSES
- SKP1b. Use senses and science tools to classify common objects according to their physical attributes (color, size, shape, weight, and texture).
- SKL1b. Develop a model to represent how a set of living and non-living objects are sorted into groups based on their attributes.
- SKL2b. Construct an argument supported by evidence for how plants can be grouped according to their features.
Common Core ELA
- CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.K.1.E Students will use the most frequently occurring prepositions.
- ELAGSEKL1 Demonstrate a command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
- e. Use the most frequently occurring prepositions (e.g., to, from, in, out, on, off, for, of, by, with).
Explorations in this Collection
Group Plants on a Garden Safari
Explore “Do Plants Really Move?”
Sorting Living & Non-Living into Clubs
Sorting Found Objects Mystery Box
Recommended Resources
- Plant Secrets by Emily Goodman
- Is It Living or Non-Living by Rebecca Rissman
- What’s Alive? By Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
- Tops and Bottoms by Janet Stevens
- Is it Alive? By Marcia Freeman
- Living and Non-Living by Angela Royston Living
- Living and Non-Living by Carol K. Linden