SWBAT classify things into living and non-living based on key characteristics

SWBAT classify things into living and non-living based on key characteristics

dartcObjective

SWBAT classify things into living and non-living based on key characteristics

Materials Required

  1. Multimedia support (TV/ projector/ tablets); prints if these are not working -
  1. 1 print per student of the worksheet
  1. Vocab words/ flash cards (of some of the 8 characteristics) to add to list

wrenchcPreparation Required

  • Review all the linked resources and the 8 characteristics of living things thoroughly.
  • Apart from the ones mentioned in the plan, prepare some additional probing questions and tricky examples that would work best in your class.
  • You can change the ‘things’ mentioned in this table as per your class’s needs. You can either project this table on screen or even give small print outs for students to fill in with their peers, as you guide through the same during the GP part of the lesson.
  • Prepare ESRs for both the tables in the GP and in the IP part of the lesson.
  • Please rehearse some additional details like key teacher actions, in-parts scripts, and examples thus highlighted that are mentioned in the lesson plan.

bookmarkcKey Avenues Of Learning

  • The dual coding of characteristics of living things that start with the ‘review’ part of the lesson, is the key content comprehension and retention activity. Ensure that your class comes up with different visual representations and similar text labels of each of the 8 characteristics. Show some of the exemplary work to all students to cement the learning.
  • During step c of ‘Engage’, to explain sensitivity or response to stimulus as a characteristic of living things, use examples like the leaves of mimosa plant closing when touched, dogs or cats moving their heads when their name is called, we quickly moving our hand when we touch something hot, etc.
  • Take time to practice the vocab building using the steps thus highlighted in the plan.
  • Some of the tasks thus highlighted in the lesson can be chosen based upon your class’s readiness, rigor levels, and availability of time during the lesson.

door-open-fillcOpening | 05 min

Greet students, set norms, and do a 2-3 minute SEL activity as you write the objective. Do a quick homework accountability routine best for this lesson and your class.

Review| 05 min

Distribute worksheets, write the objective on board, and display the chart till the characteristics your previous lesson ended at. Ask students to do the same in part 2 of their worksheet. Push students to represent these characteristics in simple drawings.

INM | Part I | 02 min

1. Ask - “Did we miss anything important? Do you think there can be more characteristics of living things?” Allow some students to share and note their responses on the board in a column on the side.
2. Inform that today we will continue to look at characteristics of living things to explore if there are any more characteristics that can be used to classify things into living and non-living apart from the ones we learnt in the previous lesson.
3. Inform students that we will now watch a video and fill in the first table in the worksheet by drawing in both columns what we observe.
4. Show this video and ask students to draw what they observed in the video. If time does not permit, show this video from the 01:24 mark.
5. Close out by explaining sensitivity and ask for more examples; confirm 2-4 examples and ask students to draw some of them in the second table in part 1 of their worksheets.

Group Task | Part I | 05 min

  1. Inform students that we are now going to look at some more characteristics and check if all living things follow them.
  1. Show images/ videos of more complex characteristics like excretion and cellular makeup to students to prompt them to identify these characteristics in their own words. You can use this pdf if needed. Ask students to draw & label each of these characteristics in part 2 of the worksheet.
  1. Prompt students to justify if any non-living things also exhibit any or all of these characteristics.

Group Task | Part II | 06 min

Draw (or print and distribute) a table like this and use some resource like this to consolidate all the 8 characteristics of living things. You can follow the given set of steps:
1. For each characteristic displayed on screen, put a Y or N for each thing in the table.
2. Ask students to name a few living things other than the ones shown in the images that show the given characteristics and a few non-living things that do not.
Based on your students’ preparedness and readiness, you can choose to name each characteristic technically (like using words like excretion, reproduction, etc.) or let students use their own words to describe these characteristics correctly. This section of the lesson can also be used to build vocabulary of these words.

Avenues to Elaborate | 05 min

Use this part of the lesson to address some common misconceptions. Your students might have some new misconceptions not mentioned in the plan; tend to those. You can use this time to discuss any other tricky examples as well.

IP | 085 min

  1. Explain to students how to attempt the question in part 3 in their worksheets.
  1. Model out one row using the worked out example.
  1. Allow students to attempt part 3 in their worksheets.
  1. Circulate the classroom to only monitor student responses. These data can help you with planning the content to review at the beginning of the next lesson.
  1. Display the ESRs and have students self check or peer check the answers.

book-closedcClosing | 02 min

  1. Show students the reflection questions and model out how to answer both prompts like in lesson 1.
  1. Ask students to answer the reflection questions.
  1. Explain the homework to students and instruct them to complete it.