Lesson 5 — What Living Things Need

Summary

Learners look closely at a living plant and name what it needs to live and grow: sun, water, food, and air. They sort those needs from things a plant does not need, and they act out a seed growing toward the sun. Caring for what living things need becomes the quiet thread of the lesson.

Objectives

• Observe and name a living thing and something it needs to live (sun, water, food). (D10.S3.K.01)

Connection

You are a living thing. So is a plant, a bird, a fish, a tree. Every living thing needs the same few gifts to live and grow: sun, water, food, and air. Without them, a plant cannot grow and a bird cannot fly. Let’s look at a living plant and see what it needs.

Materials

• A real plant (or a clear picture of one)
• “What living things need” cards (sun, water, food, air; plus a few things they do not need, like a toy or a hat)
• Paper and crayons

Preparation

• Bring a real plant (or a clear picture) for learners to observe.
• Prepare need cards: sun, water, food, air, and a few decoys (toy, hat).

Facilitator note

This lesson is written to the learner (“you”). As facilitator, keep it concrete and tender: a plant is a living thing that needs care, and learners can be its helpers. The needs of a plant (sun, water, food from soil, air) are shared, with small differences, by every living thing — including us. If learners wonder about animals, honor it: an animal needs food and water and air too, and a place to rest. Frame the Earth as a home that gives all living things what they need, not as a store of things to use up.

Procedure

1. Gather (5 min). Look at the plant. Is it alive? How can you tell? It grows and changes — that is what living things do.
2. What does it need? (10 min). Point to the plant and name what it needs: sun (light), water, food (from the soil), and air. Touch the leaves gently and notice how they reach for the sun. If you cannot see the plant, feel its leaves and stem, smell a leaf, and listen to the leaves rustle — you are observing, too.
3. Sort the cards (15 min). Look at each card. Does a plant need this to live? Sort the “needs” (sun, water, food, air) from the “not needs” (a toy, a hat).
4. Grow like a seed (10 min). Curl up small like a seed in the soil. Feel the sun and the rain. Slowly stretch up, up, up into a plant with leaves reaching for the light.
5. Close (5 min). Every living thing — a plant, a bird, a fish, and you — needs sun, water, food, and air. The Earth is the home that gives us these things, and we can help care for it.

Differentiation

• Support: Sort just two cards (sun and water) and point to the sun in the sky or a picture while saying “the plant needs this.”
• Low vision / blind: Observe by touch, smell, and sound — feel the leaf and stem, smell a crushed leaf, listen to leaves in the wind; a partner or facilitator names each part as it is touched.
• Extension: Invite learners to name one thing an animal needs (food, water, air) and compare it with what the plant needs.

Assessment

• Formative (observation): Can the learner name one living thing and one thing it needs to live?
• Artifact (portfolio): The drawing of the plant with its sun, water, food, and air.

Home connection

At home, find one living thing — a plant, a pet, or a tree outside. Tell a grown-up one thing it needs to live, and, with their help, give it a little of what it needs (a splash of water, a sunny spot).