Table Of ContentNeeds and Characteristics
Grade
of Living Things
nO il ne version
T E A C H E R ’ S G U I D E and additiona l resoru ces
1 avaial elb at
ecneicsln/noitacude/ac.citsaloh cs.w
aP ssow rd:
Sc i 1 n L 2
N eeds and Characteristics
of Living Things
Table of Contents
3 Welcome to the Needs and Characteristics of Living Things Unit
6 Planning Guide
9 Preparing for the Unit
Individual Teaching Plans
10 What Are Living Things?
16 How Do We Describe Living Things?
24 How Can We Group and Sequence Living Things?
29 How Can We Compare Living Things?
37 How Can We Model Living Things?
44 What Do Living Things Need?
53 How Do Living Things Meet Their Needs?
59 How Do We Use and Care for Living Things?
65 How Can We Contribute to a Healthy Environment?
Assessment
71 Specific Curriculum Outcomes Checklist
72 My Inquiry
73 Student Self-Assessment of Inquiry Process
74 Teacher Assessment of Inquiry Process
75 Inquiry Process Rubric
77 My Design
78 Student Self-Assessment of Design Process
79 Teacher Assessment of Design Process
80 Design Process Rubric
82 Additional Resources
84 Letter to Parents and Caregivers
Unit 4: Needs and Characteristics of Living Things 1
Let’s Do Science, Newfoundland and Labrador
Grade 1 Unit 4: Needs and Characteristics of Living Things Teacher’s Guide
Reviewers:
Catherine Phillips, NL
Janice Ryan, NL
Science Consultants:
Ron Ballentine, ON
Nadine Norris, ON
Indigenous Reviewer:
Craig White, Education Consultant, St. John’s, NL
Copyright ©2016 Scholastic Canada Ltd.
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 16 17 18 19 20
W elcome to the Needs and
Characteristics of Living
Things Unit
I n this unit, students develop their understanding of the needs and
characteristics of living things through a variety of explorations
and investigations. Multiple resource components will engage
students and support learning of the specifc
science concepts.
Science Cards
This collection of 10 Science Cards will support students’
exploration of the needs and characteristics of living things
with each large-format card focusing on a different concept.
The bright, colourful photographs and detailed illustrations
will engage students and give them multiple opportunities
to explore a variety of concepts. These stand-alone cards can
also be used at centres to stimulate student explorations. Also,
digital versions of these cards are available on the Teacher’s
Website to be used with an Interactive Whiteboard.
Unit 4: Needs and Characteristics of Living Things 3
Science Read Alouds
Two Read Aloud texts allow you to introduce and
engage students with science concepts. Ordinary Amos
and the Amazing Fish by Eugenie Fernandes and Henry
Fernandes introduces the concept of specifc needs by
examining what happens when a human is kept as a pet
by a family of fsh. The Very Hungry Bear by Nick Bland
introduces the concept of living things depending on
their environment to fulfll their needs by sharing the story of a brown bear
who tries to help out a polar bear in need of a home.
Anchor Video
The Anchor Video: Needs and Characteristics of Living Things, found on
the Teacher’s Website, introduces students to essential questions about
how living things have different physical characteristics but how all living
things need food, water, and shelter to survive. The video gives a number of
examples to activate students’ thinking and to promote questions.
Posters
Two classroom posters—What Is the Inquiry Process?
and What Is the Design Process?—will support
students as they follow the steps for guided and open
inquiries and learn to use the design process to create
a solution to a problem.
Interactive Whiteboard Activities
There are 9 interactive activities for the Interactive
Whiteboard (IWB) found on the Teacher’s Website.
These activities provide students with a variety of hands-on learning
experiences and the opportunity to apply learning in a supported
environment. The IWB Activities are tied to the teaching plans to ensure that
the learning is done in context.
4
Science Library
The Science Library provides a collection of
colourful and engaging non-fiction and fiction texts at a variety of reading
levels. These texts support students as they explore various science concepts
and skills. See the Science Library Guide in the Teacher’s Guide Binder or
online for brief summaries, science connections, and suggested reading
approaches (e.g., Independent Reading and Read Aloud).
Teacher’s Guide
This guide provides detailed suggestions for using all of the
components including the Science Cards, Anchor Video,
reproducible Blackline Masters (BLMs), and IWB activities
with your students. Visual cues such as book covers,
thumbnail images, and icons highlight the use of each
component along with tools such as Science Folders and
Journals, the Word Wall, and the I Wonder Wall. Strategies
and tools you need to assess students’ learning, such as
rubrics and checklists, are also included.
Embedded within the teaching plans are connections to
Guided, Shared, and Read Aloud texts from Literacy Place
for the Early Years, Grade 1 that relate to the concepts explored in Needs and
Characteristics of Living Things.
Teacher’s Website
In addition to the Science Cards, Anchor Video, and IWB Activities
mentioned above, the Teacher’s Website provides a digital copy of
the Teacher’s Guide for this unit along with access to an image bank
containing the variety of photographic images found on the Science
Cards and IWB Activities. These images may be used for teachers
to create new IWB activities or for students to incorporate into
presentations. Find the Teacher’s Website at
www.scholastic.ca/education/nlscience
Password: Sci1nL2
Unit 4: Needs and Characteristics of Living Things 5
Planning Guide for Needs and Characteristics of Living Things
Teaching Plans Specific Curriculum Components Materials Literacy Place
Outcomes Connections
What Are Skills [GCO 2] • A nchor Video: • students’ Science Journals Is It Alive?
Living Things? • 33.0 Needs and • construction paper (Guided Reading,
Students will • 34.0 Characteristics • poster board Level B)
develop or of Living Things
• 1.0 • markers
reinforce their • IWB Activity 1 True or False?
• 2.0 • glue
understanding • Science Card 1 Finding
of the difference
• U nit 1, Science • scissors Out About
between living and
Cards 9 and 10 • students’ Science Folders Newfoundland
non-living things.
(optional) Dogs
They will also (Guided Reading,
• B LM Living
begin to explore Level H)
Things
the characteristics
of living things.
How Do We Skills [GCO 2] • Science Card 2 • materials for mini-centres Is This a Moose?
Describe Living • 7.0 • Science Card 3 including photographs of (Shared
Things? plants and animals, digital Reading–
• 3.0 • IWB Activity 2
Students will images and videos, sample Analyzing
• B LM Plant
observe a variety animal coverings, plant parts, Strategy Unit)
Journal
of living things books and magazines, whole
and record their • IWB Activity 3 plants, class pet The Best Pet
observations, • fast-growing seeds such as (Shared
focusing beans Reading–
on physical • cotton balls Evaluating
characteristics.
• clear containers such as Strategy Unit)
plastic cups OR clear,
re-sealable bags and tape Plant a Seed
• watering cans (Guided Reading,
• students’ Science Journals Level H)
• interlocking cubes
• sticky notes
• cut-out pictures of living
things, one for each student
• index cards
How Can We Skills [GCO 2] • IWB Activity 4 • index cards (optional)
Group and • 9.0 • IWB Activity 5 • interlocking cubes
Sequence Living
• construction paper
Things?
• scissors
Students
• markers or crayons
will practise
sequencing and • v arious beans and seeds in
grouping living separate clear containers
things according • sunflower seeds
to one or more • animal figurines
observable • i mages of different animals,
physical at least one per student
characteristics.
6
Teaching Plans Specific Curriculum Components Materials Literacy Place
Outcomes Connections
How Can We STSE/K [GCO 1/3] • Science Card 4 • photographs, books, and Same and
Compare Living • 35.0 • B LM Comparing videos showing different Different
Things? Animals: Venn individuals from the same (Guided Reading,
Students will Diagram species (e.g., books about Level E)
dogs, a video about horses)
compare individual • BLM Comparing
humans or other Dogs • l arge sheets of black
animals of the construction paper or poster
• IWB Activity 6
same species and board
• B LM My Unique
identify shared • white crayon or chalk
Face
and unique
characteristics.
How Can We Skills [GCO 2] • Science Card 5 • a selection of models of
Model Living • 32.0 • U nit 2, Science animals such as stuffed toys,
Things? Card 6 (optional) plastic figurines, wooden
statuettes, and stone carvings
Following a design • W hat Is the
process, students Design Process? • videos and photographs of
select an animal poster animals
and design and
• BLM My Animal • students’ Science Journals
build a model of
Model • a wide variety of construction
that animal that
• BLM Animal materials that might include
is as accurate as
Model Gallery construction paper, cardboard,
they can make it.
Walk newspaper, crayons, markers,
paint, scissors, glue, tape,
string; craft sticks, pipe
cleaners, cardboard tubes,
feathers, fun fur, modelling
clay, papier mâché, foam balls,
cloth
• digital camera (optional)
What Do Living STSE/K [GCO 1/3] • O rdinary Amos • p lants from the Growing Plants
Things Need? • 36.0 and the Amazing investigation
Students observe Fish (Read • salt water
Aloud)
living things • vinegar
through direct • Science Card 6
• soil
experience and • S cience Cards 2
• garden tools
visual media, and and 3 (optional)
• cardboard boxes
identify similarities
• What Is the
and differences • scissors
Inquiry Process?
in their specific
poster • students’ Science Folders
needs.
• BLM Plant • students’ Science Journals
Needs Plan
• BLM Plant
Needs Results
• IWB Activity 7
Continued on next page...
Unit 4: Needs and Characteristics of Living Things 7
Planning Guide for Needs and Characteristics of Living Things (continued)
Teaching Plans Specific Curriculum Components Materials Literacy Place
Outcomes Connections
How Do Living Skills [GCO 2] • Science Card 7 • c ardboard box with hole cut in Move Like the
Things Meet • 10.0 • S cience Cards 2 it Animals
Their Needs? and 3 (optional) • students’ Science Journals (Shared
Students will
STSE/K [GCO 1/3] • index cards e-Reading)
explore how living
• 37.0
things meet their
Whose Teeth Are
needs for food, • 38.0
These?
water, and shelter. • 40.0
(Read Aloud-
In particular, they
Predicting
will explore how
Strategy Unit)
humans and other
animals, as well
as plants, move to
meet their needs.
How Do We Use STSE/K [GCO 1/3] • Science Card 8 • variety of items made of School Days
and Care for • 39.0 • IWB Activity 8 natural materials (“Caring for
Living Things?
• Science Card 9 • poster board Speedy” pages
Students describe
• S cience Card 1 • craft supplies 14–16, Shared
ways that Reading–Active
(optional)
humans use their Learning Kit)
knowledge of
plants and animals
to meet our own
needs. Students
also describe how
humans use their
knowledge to
meet the needs of
plants and animals
in their care.
How Can We STSE/K [GCO 1/3] • T he Very Hungry • p rint or video news stories The Bug Hotel
Contribute • 40.0 Bear (Read about animals found in (Shared
to a Healthy Aloud) unexpected places due to loss Reading–
Environment? • Science Card 10 of habitat Synthesizing
Students • IWB Activity 9 • large scrapbook or binder to Strategy Unit)
recognize that make class book of Focus
living things Animals How to be an
depend on their • construction paper Eco Class
environment
• markers and/or crayons and/ (Shared
to fulfill their
or paint Reading–I
needs. Students Can Make a
• scissors
identify simple Difference Inquiry
actions they • glue Unit)
can do to help
maintain a natural
environment.
8
P reparing for the Unit
1. Curiosity Centre 2. S cience Journals and Folders
The Curiosity Centre gives students an Continue to encourage students
opportunity to investigate science ideas and tools to add new questions or ideas
through active participation, free exploration, to their Journals as often as
and independent play. In this hands-on centre, they like. Students can also record their fndings
students can explore items related to the needs and what they learned during investigations.
and characteristics of living things. Remind students that they should store their
The Curiosity Centre could have Science Journals along with completed BLMs,
• l iving things such as plants (houseplants, drawings, stories, etc. related to the unit in their
cacti) and animals (class pet such as a Science Folders.
gerbil or lizard; ant farm; vermiculture—
composting using live earthworms; 3. Word Wall
aquaria; betta fsh; terrarium)
Add any relevant science terminology
• realistic models of living things, such as to the Word Wall throughout the unit.
plastic animal fgurines Urge students to use the terms as often
• materials or objects that come from, or are as possible as they work through the unit.
related to, living things and their activities,
such as fur, leather, wood, wicker, bone, 4. I Wonder Wall
shells, a piece of a wasp nest, a bird’s nest,
eggshells, wool, cotton Continue to build the I Wonder Wall
• books, magazines, photographs, and other throughout the unit by posting students’
sources of text and images related to living questions as they arise. Refer to the I
things Wonder Wall often and select questions that
students may be ready to answer.
• videos of living things loaded onto a tablet
Check the centre frequently to ensure it is 5. Reading Centre
well stocked with items. Invite students to
Add texts (books, magazines, and photographs)
contribute to the centre by bringing in items
relating to the needs and characteristics of living
or photographs related to living things; if any
things to the Reading Centre. The titles in the
students self-identify as Aboriginal, ask them to
Science Library will help start off a collection
bring items in these categories that are related
of books. Also refer to the lists of texts in the
to their culture. Remind students to tidy up the
Additional Resources section of this guide
materials when they are fnished.
(pages 82–83).
Note: You may choose to display new items
every few days or introduce items one at a time
throughout the unit.
Unit 4: Needs and Characteristics of Living Things 9
Word
