Week 16 · Theme 3 Protecting Our Planet, Unit 3 Our Earth’s Resources: Get Started, Unit Project Preview, Concept 3.1 Hydrosphere and Biosphere Interactions (A) · 3 lessons
3
Living and nonliving in our schoolyard
Discovery Education Science P5: Term 2, Unit 3, pp. 5–12
GoalTell living things from nonliving things, explain why living things need water, and plan a survey of a schoolyard.
New words
living · able to grow, use energy, reproduce and respond to the worldnonliving · not alive, such as a rock, water or airsurvey · looking carefully at a place and recording what you find
Explanation
Living things grow, use energy, reproduce and respond to what is around them. Rocks, water, air and soil are nonliving. But living things depend on nonliving things, and water is the most important. Plants drink it, animals drink it, and many animals live in it. More than two thirds of Earth’s surface is covered by water, which is why Earth looks blue from space. Water can be solid ice, liquid water or invisible vapour, and the total amount of water on Earth does not change. It is used over and over, but it is not made new. The biosphere is all the living things on Earth. To learn about a place, scientists survey it: they look carefully, list what they find, group the things into categories, count them and look for patterns, without moving or harming anything.
Does it…
Living thing
Nonliving thing
grow?
yes
no
need energy?
yes
no
reproduce?
yes
no
respond to its surroundings?
yes
no
Worked examples
The class surveys the yard and draws a bar graph. They counted 9 plants, 6 insects and 3 birds, which are living, and 12 stones, 5 benches and 2 taps, which are nonliving. There are 9 + 6 + 3 = 18 living things and 12 + 5 + 2 = 19 nonliving things.
Place in the yard
Insects counted
near the tap and garden bed
8
dry corner
1
A pattern: the class counts insects in two places. Eight were near the tap and the garden bed, and only 1 in the dry corner. The class thinks insects stay where there is water and plants.
In Siwa oasis, groundwater comes up to the surface in springs, and date palms, birds and people live around it. In the desert nearby there is almost no water and very little life.
Class activity
Schoolyard survey (a grown-up helps). Spend 15 minutes in the yard and list as many living and nonliving things as you can. Leave everything in place, do not pick plants and do not touch animals. Group your list into categories, count each one, and draw a bar graph. Write one pattern you notice and one question. Wash your hands.
Practice
1
Which of these are living? Say the letters.
A and C: the tree and the camel. The rock and the wind are nonliving.
2
A class counts 14 ants, 9 grass patches and 2 birds, and 11 stones and 6 benches. How many more living than nonliving things did they count?
