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.

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.

Give your students the opportunity to explore the perspectives of different characters by using the "See Think Wonder" Visible Thinking Routine from Harvard's Project Zero.

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.

Show your students the parts that work together to make a person breath! Have them compare the lungs of a healthy person, the lungs of a smoker, the lungs of a city resident, and the lungs of a miner.