Virginia SOL K.6.a

ScienceKindergartenLiving Systems and Processes

The Standard

all things can be classified as living or nonliving

Virginia Standards of Learning for Science

Teacher's field guide

What Students Need to Do: Students sort familiar objects, plants, and animals into two groups. They use clues such as growth, need for water or food, and ability to make more of their own kind.
What Mastery Looks Like: Students correctly classify clear examples such as a tree, bird, rock, and toy. They give one observable reason for each choice instead of relying only on movement.
Common Misconceptions: Students may call anything that moves living, including cars and robots. They may think plants are nonliving because plants do not walk, or label sleeping animals nonliving because they are still.
How to Assess It: Show pictures of a dog, flower, bicycle, and rock. Ask students to sort them, then explain one choice using a trait of living things.

Lesson moves

Students examine a potted plant, rock, spoon, and toy car, then place each object on a labeled sorting mat.
Ask, “Is a toy robot alive because it moves?” and have students support their answer with two observations.
Play Four Corners with picture cards, students move to the living or nonliving corner and explain one choice.
Take a schoolyard walk and have students draw three living and three nonliving things they observe.

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A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to K.6.a, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.

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