Living and Non Living Things – JSS1 Intermediate Science Lesson Note (Second Term)

The world around us

If you look around your classroom or your house, you will see many things. You see your friends, your teacher, birds flying outside, and maybe a lizard on the wall. You also see your desk, your pen, stones on the ground, and your school bag.

In Science, we group all these things into two main families:

1. Living Things: Things that have life in them (like you, a dog, or a mango tree).
2. Non-Living Things: Things that do not have life (like a stone, a car, or a plastic bottle).

How do we know something is alive?

It isn’t just because it moves! A car moves, but it is not alive. To be called a “Living Thing,” an object must be able to do seven special things.

The 7 characteristics (mr Niger d)

To help you remember the seven things that all living things do, we use the name MR NIGER D. Each letter stands for one characteristic:

• M – Movement: Living things can move from one place to another or move parts of their body. Animals walk or fly; plants turn their leaves toward the sun.
• R – Respiration: This is how living things get energy from food. It involves taking in oxygen and giving out carbon dioxide (breathing).
• N – Nutrition: All living things need food to stay alive and grow. Animals eat other things, while plants make their own food using sunlight.
• I – Irritability (Sensitivity): This is the ability to feel and respond to changes in the environment. If you touch a hot pot, you pull your hand away quickly. That is irritability!
• G – Growth: Living things increase in size and weight as they get older. A small seed becomes a big tree.
• E – Excretion: This is getting rid of waste products from the body (like sweat, urine, or carbon dioxide). If waste stays inside, it can be poisonous.
• R – Reproduction: Living things produce young ones of their own kind so that their family doesn’t die out. Humans have babies; birds lay eggs.
• D – Death: All living things eventually stop living and die.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PLANTS AND ANIMALS

Both plants and animals are living things, but they do “MR NIGER D” in different ways.

What about Non-Living Things?

Non-living things cannot do these things on their own.

• A stone will never grow bigger.
• A chair will never have “baby chairs.”
• A computer does not breathe or need to eat rice to work!

SUMMARY AND CLASS WORK

Comparison Table

Class Activity

Let’s see if you can catch the “imposters”! Look at the list below. Write “L” for Living and “N” for Non-Living:

1. A dry piece of wood: _______
2. A mushroom: _______
3. A river: _______
4. An eagle: _______
5. A telephone: _______

Brain Teaser

A car can move, it “breathes” out smoke (exhaust), and it “drinks” petrol. Why do we still say a car is a non-living thing? (Hint: Can a car have a baby car?)

Homework

Go to your kitchen or garden. Find two things that are living and two things that are non-living. For each living thing, write down one way you know it is alive (for example: “My dog is alive because it runs to me when I come home”).