One of the basic concepts in science is recognizing that all things can be classified as living or nonliving. In this lesson, your students will explore the characteristics of living and nonliving things with engaging hands-on activities.

Use this lesson to have your students learn about producers and consumers by pretending to be one.

Provide students with an opportunity to closely examine the difference between a topic and main idea in a nonfiction text. Use as a stand-alone activity or a support for the Finding the Main Idea and Details in a Nonfiction Text lesson.

We aren’t mind readers, but we can still figure out why the author wrote a text and what an author thinks about the topic! This lesson will teach your students the main purposes for writing.