Response to

Surroundings

Chemicals of Life

Reproduction

Characteristics of Living Things

Energy Use

Cellular Organization
Growth and Development

Living Things
Organisms are living things
Dogs
Insects
Mushrooms

All living things share six characteristics

Characteristic 1 Cellular Organization

All organisms are
made up of cells
Cell basic unit
of structure and
function

Unicellular
One cell
Bacteria

Multicellular
Many cells
Elephant

Characteristic 2 Chemicals of Life

Cells are composed of chemicals
Most abundant is water
Carbohydrates are an energy source
Proteins and lipids are building materials of cells
Nucleic acids are genetic material

Characteristic 3 Energy Use

Organism need energy to do work
Mowing the lawn

Digesting food

Characteristic 4 Response to Surroundings

Stimulus
A change in an organisms environment that causes a reaction

Response
A reaction to a stimulus

Examples:
Yelling and scaring your cat
You yelling is the stimulus
The cat jumping and running away is the response

A plant moving toward sunlight

The sun is the stimulus
The plant moving is the response

Characteristic 5 Growth and Development

Growth
Process of become larger
A plant growing taller

Development
Process of change to produce a more complex organism
A baby developing in the womb

Characteristic 6 Reproduction
Ability to reproduce

Ability to produce offspring

that are similar to the
parents

Alive vs. Dead

Alive

Dead

Living thing
Still fits all six characteristics

Living thing
Fits at least some characteristics
Used to fit all

Examples:
Tree
Deer

Examples:
Log
Animal carcass

Dead vs. Nonliving

Dead

Nonliving

Living thing
Used to be alive but now dead
Used to meet all the criteria of
living things
Examples:

Nonliving thing
Never was alive
Never met all the criteria of
living things
Examples:

Log
Animal carcass

Fire
Computer