SC.1.L.14.3

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Differentiate between living and nonliving things.
General Information
Subject Area: Science
Grade: 1
Body of Knowledge: Life Science
Idea: Level 3: Strategic Thinking & Complex Reasoning
Big Idea: Organization and Development of Living Organisms -

A. All plants and animals, including humans, are alike in some ways and different in others.

B. All plants and animals, including humans, have internal parts and external structures that function to keep them alive and help them grow and reproduce.

C. Humans can better understand the natural world through careful observation.

Date Adopted or Revised: 02/08
Content Complexity Rating: Level 3: Strategic Thinking & Complex Reasoning - More Information
Date of Last Rating: 05/08
Status: State Board Approved

Related Courses

This benchmark is part of these courses.
5020020: Science Grade One (Specifically in versions: 2014 - 2015, 2015 - 2022, 2022 and beyond (current))
7720020: Access Science Grade 1 (Specifically in versions: 2014 - 2015, 2015 - 2018, 2018 - 2023 (current), 2023 and beyond)
5020080: STEM Lab Grade 1 (Specifically in versions: 2016 - 2022, 2022 and beyond (current))

Related Access Points

Alternate version of this benchmark for students with significant cognitive disabilities.
SC.1.L.14.In.3: Identify characteristics of living and nonliving things, including whether they need food or water.
SC.1.L.14.Su.3: Distinguish common living and nonliving things in the environment.
SC.1.L.14.Pa.3: Recognize self and others as living things.

Related Resources

Vetted resources educators can use to teach the concepts and skills in this benchmark.

Lesson Plans

Friendly Aquarium:

The Effects of Pollution: What are the effects that pollution has on living things? Students will learn that pollution is anything that makes air, land, or water dirty. They will become aware that human activities have a big impact on other living things in a number of different ecosystems.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

Planting Vegetables After a Storm:

In this open-ended question, students in teams will make decisions about how to rank vegetables to plant on a farm. The students' decisions will be based on various criteria, such as most liked, easier to grow, cost and quantity of vegetables per harvest.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Type: Lesson Plan

Living VS nonliving:

In this lesson, students learn about the characteristics that distinguish living things from nonliving things. By examining video clips and still photographs of a variety of objects and organisms, students gather evidence and develop criteria to decide if something is living or nonliving.

Type: Lesson Plan

Lesson Study Resource Kit

Diversity and Evolution grades K-2:

This resource kit is designed to facilitate K-2 teachers in the development of a unit of instruction that is focused on diversity, adaptation, and classification of living things. Complete with background information for teachers as well as engaging activities and lessons for students, this kit contains exemplary materials includes recommendations for informational texts that align with standards for English language arts.

Type: Lesson Study Resource Kit

Original Student Tutorials

Is A Tree House A Living Thing?:

Learn to differentiate between living and nonliving things and their characteristics in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Pascua Florida Day:

Use your imagination to experience what it may have been like to be a member of Ponce de Leon's crew as they arrived on the shores of Florida for the first time.  Make observations and discover the origin of Florida's name in this video.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Resource Collection

BioEd Online K-2 Educational Resources for Educators, Students, and Parents:

Biology lesson plans for a Living Things Unit of study.

Type: Resource Collection

Teaching Ideas

Living and Nonliving:

The students will think about what is alive. They will practice how scientists observe and record. Going outside they will record in their journal the things they observe under the heading they think it belongs in-living or nonliving.

Type: Teaching Idea

Sharing What We Know About Organisms:

Students discuss living and nonliving organisms, including plants and animals.

Type: Teaching Idea

Unit/Lesson Sequence

What do Living Things Need?:

In this unit, teachers allow students to explain how they know something is living and to identify the needs of living things.

Type: Unit/Lesson Sequence

STEM Lessons - Model Eliciting Activity

Friendly Aquarium:

The Effects of Pollution: What are the effects that pollution has on living things? Students will learn that pollution is anything that makes air, land, or water dirty. They will become aware that human activities have a big impact on other living things in a number of different ecosystems.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Planting Vegetables After a Storm:

In this open-ended question, students in teams will make decisions about how to rank vegetables to plant on a farm. The students' decisions will be based on various criteria, such as most liked, easier to grow, cost and quantity of vegetables per harvest.

Model Eliciting Activities, MEAs, are open-ended, interdisciplinary problem-solving activities that are meant to reveal students’ thinking about the concepts embedded in realistic situations. Click here to learn more about MEAs and how they can transform your classroom.

Original Student Tutorials Science - Grades K-8

Is A Tree House A Living Thing?:

Learn to differentiate between living and nonliving things and their characteristics in this interactive tutorial.

Student Resources

Vetted resources students can use to learn the concepts and skills in this benchmark.

Original Student Tutorials

Is A Tree House A Living Thing?:

Learn to differentiate between living and nonliving things and their characteristics in this interactive tutorial.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Pascua Florida Day:

Use your imagination to experience what it may have been like to be a member of Ponce de Leon's crew as they arrived on the shores of Florida for the first time.  Make observations and discover the origin of Florida's name in this video.

Type: Original Student Tutorial

Parent Resources

Vetted resources caregivers can use to help students learn the concepts and skills in this benchmark.

Resource Collection

BioEd Online K-2 Educational Resources for Educators, Students, and Parents:

Biology lesson plans for a Living Things Unit of study.

Type: Resource Collection