Living and Non-Living Things (2008)

Things can be easily grouped into living things and non-living things.

To decide whether something is living or non-living, we observe its characteristics.

1. Living things need air, water and food to survive. Without air, food and water, living things will die.

2. Living things can grow. As a living thing grows, it may increase in height (grow taller), increase in size (grow fatter) and change in appearance (seedling becomes a tree).

3. Living things can move by themselves. They move to look for water, food, shelter and mate. They also move to escape from danger.

4. Living things respond to changes. (Mimosa plants will close their leaves when touched. Children fan themselves when they are hot.)

5. Living things reproduce to ensure that their own kind exist.

Classifying Things (2008)

Classification is putting things into groups.

We classify things so that things are in order.

We can classify things based on their characteristic (Shape, size, colour and use are some examples) and purpose. (Remember we went to the field and we group ourselves in different ways, males and females, wear glasses, month of birth, etc)

When we classify things, we look at the similarities and differences in their characteristics.

Tables and diagrams can be used to show classification.

Can you guess how I classify the following things?

A. Group 1: chili, carrot, tomato Group 2: cucumber, spinach, cai xin

B. Group 1: Yong Xin, Jun Yu, Marcus Group 2: Sherrie, Tong Tong, Eliane

C. Group 1: table, chair, whiteboard Group 2: flowers, lampost, grass

D. Group 1: chicken, pork, mutton Group 2: apple, grapes, watermelon

E. Group 1: plants, animals Group 2: vehicles, stationery