Needs of Plants and Animals introduces Kindergarten students to phenomena about the lives and need of plants and animals. They will develop an understanding about how plants and animals obtain the things they need to live from the environment in which they live. Students will use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive. They will also use models to represent the relationship between the needs of different plants and animals (including humans) and the places they live.

Over the course of the unit, students will investigate the needs of plants and animals, including humans. In investigating plants and animals, students will discover that plants and animals get what they need from the places where they live. Students recognize that there are many different types of plants and animals, and they and their habitats vary dramatically. Students learn that people are also animals that have needs, which they meet through their environments.

Students explore concepts that include the following:

• All animals need food to live and grow. They obtain their food from plants or from other animals. Plants need air, water, and light to live and grow.
• Living things need water, air, and resources from the land, and they live in

CKSci is informed by the NGSS, which encourages student learning through hands-on activities and collecting data. This activity-centered approach requires, at times, that schools collect or purchase materials and equipment that will be needed to complete activities.

Complete materials supply list for CKSci Unit 2: Needs of Plants and Animals