How Living Things Survive: Life Processes and Basic Needs
Materials Needed
- Notebook or science journal
- Pencils and colored pencils
- Sorting cards or slips of paper labeled with examples such as plant, dog, mushroom, rock, car, seed, and fire
- Chart paper or a whiteboard
- Access to a plant, pet, outdoor area, or short video showing living things
- Optional: clear cup, water, bean seed, and paper towel for a simple observation activity
Lesson Focus
Subject: Science
Age/Grade: 11
Time: 45–60 minutes, with an optional follow-up observation
Connection to the Previous Lesson: In the previous lesson, Billy identified living and non-living things and described characteristics such as growth, change, reproduction, movement, and the need for food, water, and air. This lesson builds on that knowledge by organizing those observations into life processes and examining how living things meet their needs.
Learning Objectives
By the end of the lesson, Billy will be able to:
- Recall at least four characteristics that distinguish living things from non-living things.
- Identify and explain the basic needs of living things, including water, nutrients or food, air or gases, and suitable conditions.
- Describe at least five life processes shared by living things: movement, respiration or obtaining energy, sensitivity or response, growth, reproduction, and excretion.
- Use evidence to explain why an unfamiliar example is living or non-living.
- Compare how a plant and an animal meet similar needs in different ways.
Success Criteria
Billy is successful when he can:
- Accurately sort examples as living or non-living and justify his choices.
- Match life processes to real examples.
- Explain at least two similarities and two differences between how a plant and an animal survive.
- Use the sentence frame: “I know ___ is living because it ___, which is evidence of ___.”
Lesson Sequence
1. Review and Activate Prior Learning: “Living or Non-Living?”
Time: 5–8 minutes
- Show or name several familiar examples: a tree, rock, dog, cloud, seed, bicycle, mushroom, and fire.
- Billy sorts each example into living or non-living.
- For each choice, ask him to give one piece of evidence rather than simply naming a category.
Review questions:
- What characteristics did we use in the previous lesson to identify living things?
- What basic needs do living things have?
- Does something have to move from place to place to be alive? Why or why not?
- Why is a seed considered living even though it may not appear to be changing?
Bridge to the new lesson: “Previously, we identified characteristics of living things. Now that we know what to look for, we will group these characteristics into life processes and investigate how living things meet their needs.”
2. Introduction to the New Concept: Life Processes
Time: 8–10 minutes
Explain that all living things carry out processes that help them survive, grow, and continue as a species. Introduce the following life processes in age-appropriate language:
| Life Process | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Movement | Changing position or moving parts of the body | A dog walks; a plant turns toward light |
| Respiration or obtaining energy | Releasing or using energy from food or nutrients | An animal uses food for energy; a plant makes food using light |
| Sensitivity or response | Detecting and reacting to changes in the environment | A person pulls away from heat; a plant grows toward light |
| Growth | Increasing in size or changing as the organism develops | A puppy becomes a dog; a seedling becomes a plant |
| Reproduction | Producing new organisms of the same kind | Birds lay eggs; plants produce seeds |
| Excretion | Removing waste products from the body | Animals breathe out carbon dioxide and remove other wastes |
Clarify that not every individual organism reproduces, moves in the same way, or performs a process that is easy to observe. The important idea is that living organisms carry out these processes as part of life.
3. Teacher Modeling: “I Do”
Time: 8 minutes
Model how to analyze one example, such as a green plant:
- Identify: “A plant is living.”
- Find evidence: “It grows, responds to light, uses water and air, and produces seeds.”
- Connect evidence to a life process: “Growing is the growth process, turning toward light shows sensitivity, and producing seeds shows reproduction.”
- Explain the conclusion: “Because the plant carries out several life processes, it is living.”
Model a contrasting example, such as a toy car. Explain that a car can move, but it does not grow, reproduce, respond as a living organism, or carry out the other life processes. Its movement depends on an outside force or energy source.
4. Guided Practice: “We Do” Life-Process Match
Time: 10–12 minutes
- Place the life-process names where they can be seen.
- Read one scenario at a time and ask Billy to match it to the correct process.
- Ask him to explain his reasoning using evidence.
Suggested scenarios:
- A sunflower bends toward the window. Response or sensitivity
- A child becomes taller over several years. Growth
- A bird lays eggs that develop into chicks. Reproduction
- A person breathes out waste gases. Excretion
- A cat runs toward its food. Movement and obtaining energy
- A seedling uses water, air, and nutrients to develop. Growth and obtaining energy
Use think-pair-share if working with a group. In a homeschool or individual setting, Billy can explain each answer aloud before writing it in his journal.
5. Hands-On Application: Plant and Animal Comparison
Time: 10–15 minutes
- Choose one plant and one animal, such as a houseplant and a dog, bird, or human.
- Billy creates a comparison chart with the headings Need, How the plant meets it, and How the animal meets it.
- Complete the chart using observations or prior knowledge.
| Basic Need | Plant | Animal |
|---|---|---|
| Water | Absorbs water through its roots | Drinks water or gets it from food |
| Energy or nutrients | Makes food using light, water, and air | Obtains energy by eating food |
| Air or gases | Exchanges gases through tiny openings in leaves and other parts | Breathes using lungs, gills, or another structure |
| Suitable conditions | Needs appropriate light, temperature, and space | Needs appropriate temperature, shelter, space, and safety |
Discussion prompt: “Plants and animals meet their needs differently, but how are their needs similar?”
6. Independent Practice: “You Do” Evidence Challenge
Time: 8–10 minutes
Billy chooses or is assigned one example: mushroom, seed, fish, robot, candle flame, cloud, or bicycle. He completes the following in his notebook:
- Is the example living or non-living?
- List at least three observations or facts as evidence.
- Match each piece of evidence to a life process or basic need.
- Write a short conclusion explaining the decision.
Suggested writing frame:
“I think ___ is living/non-living. My evidence is ___. This shows the life process of ___ because ___. It does/does not need ___ in order to survive.”
7. Optional Follow-Up Investigation
Place a bean seed on a damp paper towel in a clear cup. Billy records the starting condition and predicts what evidence would show that the seed is living. Over several days, he records changes in size, roots, and shoots.
Emphasize that the investigation extends the previous nature walk and drawing activity: instead of making a single observation, Billy will collect evidence of change over time.
Formative Assessment
- Listen during the opening sort to check whether Billy remembers the previous lesson’s characteristics.
- Ask him to explain the difference between movement caused by an outside force and movement by a living organism.
- Use the life-process matching activity to identify misconceptions.
- Check the plant-and-animal comparison chart for accurate connections between needs and survival.
- Use an exit question: “Name one life process and give an example from a plant or animal.”
Summative Assessment
Assess Billy’s Evidence Challenge using the following criteria:
- Classification: Correctly identifies the example as living or non-living.
- Evidence: Provides at least three relevant observations or facts.
- Life-process connection: Correctly links evidence to at least two life processes.
- Explanation: Gives a clear conclusion using scientific vocabulary.
- Connection to prior learning: Includes at least one characteristic or basic need from the previous lesson.
Differentiation and Adaptations
Support for Learners Needing More Guidance
- Use picture cards and concrete examples before introducing vocabulary.
- Limit the first sort to three or four familiar examples.
- Provide a word bank: grow, move, respond, reproduce, energy, water, air, waste.
- Complete the first Evidence Challenge together before assigning an independent example.
- Allow verbal answers, labeled drawings, or recorded responses instead of extended writing.
Extension for Advanced Learners
- Compare how a fish, cactus, and human meet the same basic needs in different ways.
- Research an unusual organism, such as a fungus or bacterium, and identify its life processes.
- Explain why viruses can be difficult to classify as living or non-living.
- Design a table or diagram showing how one life process supports another.
Flexible Delivery Options
- In a classroom, teams can rotate through life-process scenario stations.
- At home, Billy can observe a plant, pet, or outdoor organism and discuss findings with an adult.
- In a digital setting, use photographs, recorded observations, or a virtual nature video instead of an outdoor walk.
- In a training or group context, learners can defend their classification choices in short presentations.
Conclusion and Recap
Review the progression aloud:
- In the previous lesson, we distinguished living things from non-living things by observing their characteristics.
- Today, we organized those characteristics into life processes.
- We also examined how plants and animals meet similar basic needs in different ways.
- We used evidence, rather than appearance alone, to decide whether something is living.
Ask Billy to complete the sentence: “Building on what I learned before, I can now identify a living thing by looking for ___.”
Next-step connection: The next lesson can build on this understanding by introducing how living things are grouped and classified according to shared characteristics, beginning with major groups such as plants, animals, and fungi.