Week 2: Living Things

This week in lab, we talked about the 8 characteristics of living things. These characteristics include being made of cells, producing energy, responding to the environment, maintaining a constant internal state, reproducing, inheriting genetic information, moving, and growing and changing. The image above shows how a flower is a living thing and explains each of the 8 characteristics. 

I was able to relate this information back to what I have learned in previous science classes. I have learned about these characteristics before, but it was nice to get a refresher and go back to the basics. I have not taken a science class in a while, so I found this review helpful. 

I can apply this to my future teaching because I want to teach kindergarteners, and this is something simple and basic that I can teach to my students. Today in lab we also germinated lentil seeds, and I think this would be a great experiment to do with my students. It was very easy to set up, and I think elementary students would thoroughly enjoy planting and watching a seed grow. It can help them identify all the characteristics of this living thing as it grows. 

Comments

  1. Carly BorthJanuary 29, 2025 at 11:21 AM

    Hi Kendra! I enjoyed reading your blog post this week! I also thought this week was a good reminder of what defines living things and the process of seed germination. I found it especially interesting determining if things such as seeds or bacteria are living or non-living. I remember learning about these topics in previous classes but it is nice to refresh our memory as future teachers. This will all be useful information in your future classroom when teaching your students and leading projects. Great post!

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  2. Makenna KopfJanuary 29, 2025 at 11:45 AM

    Hi Kendra! Great post this week. I found lab this week to be very interesting and overall a good refresher of our prior knowledge from our time as elementary science students. I can recall learning about many things we learned about this week in elementary school such as the characteristics of living things, and how seeds germinate but it is very important for us future educators to have a good refresher on these topics.

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  3. Audrey WardJanuary 29, 2025 at 1:18 PM

    Hi Kendra! I also found it helpful to get a refresher on the 8 characteristics. I think that the seed gemination would be a great way to teach your future kindergarten students about living things because it is a simple activity and they will be able to watch the seed change everyday!

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