Living vs. Non-living

One of our science units this year is Living vs. Non-living. This is a difficult concept initially for kindergarten students to grasp. We have been working on this topic for a couple weeks and we are really starting to understand some of the big concepts for this unit including: All animals need food, water, and air to survive. Animals obtain their food from plants or from other animals. Plants and animals grow and change over time. We read a couple books on this topic and we had a few turn and talks at our Morning Meetings and the students demonstrated their knowledge by telling their partner if their item was living or non-living and then prove how they knew! We also read a book in reading groups about this subject. Then the students worked together to do a sort, and are now able to communicate about how animals and plants change as they grow over time. The students are using observations to describe/explain what plants and animals need to survive. We are also working on communicating how animals (including humans) and plants need food, water, and light to survive. Our collaboration with our 4th grade partners will also help us better understand living vs non-living.