Animals Are Living

Overview

In Lesson 4 of the 10-lesson “Living Things Explorers” unit, students explore how animals show signs of life. Using photographs, brief video clips, movement, and picture sorting, students identify that animals move, grow, and respond to what happens around them.

Learning intentions

Students will be able to:

• Identify animals as living things.
• Notice that animals move, grow, and respond to their surroundings.
• Use pictures, gestures, or words to describe one characteristic of a living animal.
• Listen to and follow a short sequence of classroom directions.

Success criteria

• I can identify at least three animals as living.
• I can tell or show one way an animal is living, such as moving or growing.
• I can sort animal pictures with care.
• I can compare two animals using words, pointing, or actions.

Curriculum links

• Speaking and Listening: Participate in collaborative conversations with peers and adults.
• Speaking and Listening: Describe familiar animals and communicate ideas clearly using words, gestures, and visual supports.
• Language: Use newly learned science words in context.
• Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects: Follow a multistep procedure and connect information in spoken or written words with photographs, diagrams, and picture sorts.

Lesson structure (30 minutes)

1. 0–4 min · Carpet hook. Open with the animal mystery images and show a still image of a moving animal beside a still image of a nonmoving object. Ask, “Which one is alive? How do you know?” Students use quiet think time, then share with a partner or indicate an answer with a thumb, gesture, or pointing. Remind students of the carpet routine: eyes watching, ears listening, hands safe.

2. 4–9 min · Notice signs of life. Use the animal movement and growth examples to show diverse animals, including a dog, bird, fish, turtle, caterpillar, and elephant. Briefly explain: “Animals are living things. Living animals can move on their own, grow and change, and respond to what happens around them.” Students practice the gestures: move arms, stretch tall for grow, and turn toward a sound or pretend food for respond. Repeat the words and gestures several times.

3. 9–14 min · Watch and respond. Play two or three very short, safe animal clips from the prepared the animal video prompts—for example, a bird flying, a turtle walking, or a cat turning toward a sound. Pause after each clip and ask, “What did the animal do?” and “Which sign of life did we notice?” Students respond with a word, sentence frame, gesture, or picture choice. Reinforce that an animal does not have to move every moment to be living; it may be resting or still.

4. 14–23 min · Act and classify. Display the sorting directions and model the routine: pick up one picture, name or identify the animal, decide whether it is living, and show one characteristic. Place the animal picture on the “living” side of a floor space or pocket chart. In three groups of five, students take turns sorting teacher-prepared animal photographs and images that show animals resting, moving, or at different growth stages. Students may act out the animal, point to a feature, or use the frame “A ___ is living because it can ___.” Pause between turns to practice “stop, look, listen.”

5. 23–27 min · Compare two animals. Show the animal comparison images featuring two contrasting animals, such as a fish and a bird. Ask, “How are they alike?” and “How are they different?” Students work with a partner to act out, point to, or say one comparison: “Both can move,” “A fish swims,” or “A bird grows.” Invite two or three pairs to share.

6. 27–30 min · Check and close. Distribute the living animals picture check. Students circle or point to three living animals and draw, dictate, or select one characteristic for one animal. Invite students to complete the sentence orally, with a gesture, or by pointing: “A ___ is living because it can ___.” Collect the worksheet as the exit check and preview that the next lesson will investigate how animals use their body parts.

Resources

• Slide deck with animal hook, photographs, video prompts, movement cues, sorting directions, and comparison images
• One-page living animals picture worksheet
• Teacher-prepared animal photographs and picture cards
• Pocket chart, floor hoops, or two labeled sorting spaces
• Short, school-appropriate animal video clips
• Document camera or interactive display
• Crayons or pencils
• Carpet spots or clearly marked sitting spaces

Assessment

• During discussion and movement modeling, listen for students who identify movement, growth, or responses as signs of life.
• During sorting, record whether each student identifies an animal as living and gives, acts out, or points to one characteristic.
• Review the worksheet: success is identifying at least three animals as living and communicating one correct characteristic through drawing, speech, selection, or gesture.

Differentiation

• Support beginning learners with repeated modeling, real photographs, gestures, two-choice questions, and the sentence frame “A ___ can ___.” Accept pointing, acting, matching, or home-language responses before inviting English.
• For students with speech, language, hearing, attention, or motor needs, provide picture choices, a communication board, partner modeling, flexible seating, extra processing time, and the option to respond from a seated position.
• Include animals from varied habitats and cultures, as well as pictures of animals that are resting or not visibly moving, to prevent the misconception that only moving animals are alive.
• Challenge ready learners to compare two animals, identify both a similarity and a difference, or explain how an animal responds to light, sound, food, or another change.