Characteristics of Living Things

1
Characteristics of Living Things
Click screen when done.

• February 2009

2
Instructions for Class Notes

• Go through each slide.
• Notes you see next to this picture should be
  written down
• Put them in your own words
• You must have organization in your notes
  2-column or otherwise.
• There are sounds so adjust your computer volume
  accordingly.
• Dont move on to the next slide until you see
  this.

Click screen when done.
3
Characteristics of Living Things

• Organism is another word for living thing
• Examples include
• People
• Pets
• Insects
• Plants
• Moss
• Slime Mold?
• (Yes...even slime mold!)

Click screen when done.
4
So...What classifies something as a living thing?

• There are 6 important characteristics (write
  them all)
• Living Things are Made of Cells
• Living Things Reproduce
• Living Things Have DNA
• Living Things Use Energy
• Living Things Grow Develop
• Living Things Sense and Respond to Change

Click screen when done.
5
1. Living Things Are Made of Cells

• All organisms are made of cells
• Cells are the basic unit of structure and
  function in organisms
• You could fit 1,000,000 of the smallest cells on
  the period at the end of this sentence.
• Organisms may be unicellular
  - made of 1 cell (or) multicellular - made of
  many cells

Click screen when done.
6
What do cells look like?
Click screen when done.

• Animal and plant cells share important
  characteristics but they are not identical

You are made of trillions of cells!
Animal Cell
Plant Cell
7
2. Living Things Reproduce

• Reproduce means to produce offspring
  that are similar to the parents
• Robins lay eggs that develop into young robins
  that resemble their parents
• Sunflowers produce seeds that develop into
  sunflower plants, which in turn make more seeds
• Bacteria produce other bacteria exactly like
  themselves

Click screen when done.
8
3. Living Things Have DNA

• DNA stands for deoxyribonucleic acid (dee AHKS e
  rie boh noo Klay ik)
• When living things reproduce, they pass copies of
  their DNA to their offspring.

Click screen when done.
9
4. Living Things Use Energy
Click screen when done.

• The cells of organisms use energy to
• Grow
• Repair injured parts
• Do what living things must do!

10
5. Living Things Grow Develop

• Growth is the process of becoming larger
• Development is the process of change an
  organism goes through to become a more
  complex organism

Click screen when done.
11
6. Living Things Sense and Respond to Change

• A stimulus is a change in an organisms
  surroundings that causes the organism to react
• A response is an action or change in behavior
  when reacting to something else

Click screen when done.
12
More on Stimulus Response

• For example Has someone ever leapt out at you
  from behind a door?
• If so, it is likely you jumped or screamed
• Stimulus Your friends sudden motion
• Response You jumping screaming!

Click screen when done.
13
Use the 6 Characteristics

• Which of the following are organisms and which
  are not? (click for answer)

Click screen when done.
FERNS (plants)
X
v
WATER
v
CLOUDS
X
MUSHROOMS
14
Review

• Organism is another word for living thing
• There are 6 characteristics of living things
• Made of Cells
• Contain Similar Chemicals
• Use Energy
• Grow Develop
• Respond to Surroundings
• Reproduce

Click screen when done.
15
What do you do now?

• Put these notes in your binder.
• Add Characteristics of Living Things Notes to
  your binder table of contents.
• Put away your binder neatly.
• Thats all!!

Or is it? Mwa Ha Ha!