CHARACTERISTICS of living things

1. Living things need air, food and water to survive.

2. Living things can grow.
3. Living things respond to changes in the environment.
4. Living things can reproduce to ensure the continuity of its kind.
5. Living things will eventually die.
DID YOU KNOW?
6. Living can move by themselves.
Even though plants cannot move
from places to places, plants can
still move by growing towards
sunlight.

CHARACTERISTICS of non-living things

1. Non-living things do not need air, food and water.
2. Non-living things do not grow.
3. Non-living things do not respond to changes in the environment.
4. Non-living things cannot reproduce.
5. Non-living things will not die.
6. Non-living things cannot move by themselves.

ACTIVITIES
Let us compare the flower and the robot using the characteristics of living
and non-living things.
WHAT are Plants?
1. Like all living things, plants need air, food and water to survive.
2. Plants respond to changes around them, grow, move, reproduce and
eventually die.
3. There are many different kinds of plants and all plants can be classified
as flowering plants or non-flowering plants.
4. Plants come in different shapes and sizes.
 COMMON PARTS of a plant and its FUNCTIONS
1. All plants including flowering and non-flowering plant have
roots, stems and leaves.
2. In the primary school syllabus, flowering plants will bear
flowers and fruits while non-flowering plant does not.

Leaves
• Leaves contain
chloroplast.
• Chlorophyll in
the chloroplast
helps the plants
to trap sunlight
to make food.

Stems
• They support the plant to grow higher to
reach for sunlight.
• They help to transport food, water, and
mineral salts.
• Some stems are strong but some are
weak.
• Plants with weak stems cling onto/ coil
around support to grow upwards.

Roots
• Roots anchor the plant firmly into the ground.
• Roots help the plant to absorb water and mineral salts from the soil.
Flowers (only found in flowering plants)
• Flowers play an important role in the reproduction of plants.
• Flowers will develop into fruits after they are fertilized.

Fruits (only found in flowering plants)

• Fruits contains seed and plays an important role in the
reproduction of plants to ensure its continuity, and will not go
extinct.
•
•

Fruits Flowers

APPLE TREE
INTRODUCTION to animals
• We can classify animals according to its shapes, sizes, colours, outer
coverings, movements and the ways they reproduce.

CHARACTERISTICS of animals
1. Animals need air, food, and water to survive. Animals, unlike plants,
cannot produce their own food. They feed on other living things to stay
alive.
2. Animals can move freely from one place to another by themselves in
order to look for food, shelter, and to reproduce.
3. Animals move in different ways and can be classify into broad groups such
as: swim, crawl, run, hop, and fly.
4. Animals are very different in their shapes, sizes, and colours. Some
animals are tiny while others are big. Some are very colourful, while some
only have dull colour.
5. They have different outer coverings such as:
1. Hair as outer covering (Mammal).
2. Wet scales as outer covering (Fish).
3. Dry scales as outer covering (Reptiles).
4. Moist skin as outer covering (Amphibians).
5. Feathers as outer covering (Birds).
6. Animals can reproduce by giving birth to young alive or by laying eggs.
 Type of Common characteristics Example
animals
Insects • They have 3 body parts. • Housefly
• They have 6 legs. • Mosquito
• They have a pair of feelers. • Grasshopper
• Bees
• Ants

Have 6 legs

Have a pair of
feelers

Have 3 body parts

ANTS (INSECT)
 Type of Common characteristics Example
animals
Fish • They have wet scales as outer • Shark
coverings. • Goldfish
• They breathe through gills. • Clownfish
• Swordfish
Note: Not all fish lay eggs; Guppy, Molly,
and Swordtail all give birth to live
young.
Amphibians • They can live on land and in water. • Frog
• They breathe through their lungs on • Toad
land and through moist skin in • Newt
water. • Salamander

FISH

Wet scales

Gills

Moist skin

SALAMAN
(AMPHIBIANS)
CHARACTERISTICS of Fungi
1. Fungi are neither plants nor animals.
2. Fungi do not have leaves, stems and roots. As they have no leaves,
they are unable to trap sunlight to make food.
3. Fungi feed on living and dead matter. When feeding, fungi will break
down their food into simpler substances and take in the nutrients.
4. Fungi can be as small as microorganisms and cannot be seen by the
naked eye.
5. Fungi grow well in warm, moist, and dark places.
6. Most fungi reproduce through spores. Spores are tiny and light,
allowing it to be carried in the air.
7. Spores can be found in spore cases, sacs, or gills of the different types
of fungi. For fungi like mushrooms, spores are usually found in the gills
under the mushroom cap. For moulds, spores can be found in the
spore cases.

Cap

Gills

Stalk

MUSHROOM
CHARACTERISTICS of Bacteria
1. Bacteria are microorganisms that cannot be seen with our naked eye.
2. Bacteria can only be seen under a microscope.
3. Some bacteria can make their own food as it contains chlorophyll,
allowing them to carry out photosynthesis.
4. Some bacteria feed on both living and dead organisms.

BACTERIA

MICROSCOPE
Importance of Fungi and Bacteria
The table below show some example of how some bacteria and fungi are
useful to us.
Use Fungi Bacteria

Decomposers • Help to break down dead • Help to break down

organisms into simpler dead organisms into
substances and return simpler substances
them to the soil. and return them to
the soil.
Source of • Some fungi are not
food poisonous and can be _
eaten.
• For example, button
mushroom, Jew’s ear,
white mushroom.
Food • Yeast can be used to make • Some bacteria can be
preparation bread, beer, and wine. used to make cheese
• Some moulds can be used and yoghurts.
to make cheese.
Medicine • Penicilium is a type of _
mould that is used in the
making of antibiotics.

Harmful fungi and bacteria

The table below shows some examples how Fungi and Bacteria are harmful to
humans.
Fungi Bacteria

• Cause food to spoil • Cause illness such as gastritis,

• Cause damage to things around diarrhoea and food poisoning
us
• Cause skin infections such as
athlete’s foot and ringworm
Physical PROPERTIES of materials
1. Materials can be classified based on their physical properties.
2. Different types of materials have different physical properties
such as:

Flexibility
• ability to bend without breaking or tearing.

Buoyancy
• ability to float or sink in water

Absorbency
• a material which does not absorb water is waterproof.

Transparency
• The amount of light that a material can allow to pass
through it.

Strength
• Ability to carry and support heavy loads without breaking
or tearing
Physical properties of materials and their uses
1. [Link] properties of materials play an important role in
selecting the material used to make something.

The table below shows some examples of the different kinds of

properties and uses of the different kinds of materials:

Material Physical properties Uses

Metal (e.g. iron, gold, • Heavy • Car, buildings

silver, copper) • Strong
• Waterproof
Rubber • Light • Shoe, boots, gloves
• Flexible
• Waterproof
Ceramics • Weak • Cup, plates, bowls.
• Stiff
• Waterproof

Wood • Floats • Furniture, boats,

• Strong paper
Glass • Weak • Windows, glasses,
• Stiff spectacles,
• Waterproof containers
• Transparent
• Translucent
Plastic • Waterproof • Bottles, containers,
• Stiff toys
Fabric (e.g. cotton, silk, • Flexible • Clothes, bags, towel
nylon) • Absorbent
 Life cycle of non-flowering plants
1. Non-flowering plants like ferns and moss reproduce by spores.
2. Spores are light and tiny. It can be easily carried by wind to be
dispersed away from the parent plant.
3. Spores are found in the spores bags that are usually on the
underside of the leaves.

Life cycle of animals

Animals have either three-stage life cycle and four-stage life cycle.

Three-stage life cycles

1. The young of animals with three-staged life cycles can be known as:
1. Nymph
2. Young
2. Insects with a three-stage life cycle such as grasshopper, cockroach, and
dragonfly has nymph as its young
3. The young of animals with a three-stage life cycle such as chicken and
frog are known as young.
4. Frog lays many eggs each time to increase the chance of survival to
ensure the continuity of its kind.
 MISCONCEPTIONS CORRECTIONS

Youngs of mosquito are known as No, as the youngs of mosquito does not bring any
pest just like the adult mosquito. harm to humans but adult mosquito brings harm to
human so adult mosquito is known as a pest.

Caterpillar moults only once. Caterpillar moults several times as it eats a lot and
keep growing in size.

All youngs of living things that No, only the youngs of insects that resemble its
resemble the adult are known as adult are known as a nymph.
a nymph.

The seed leaves trap sunlight to Seed leaves contain stored food and it cannot trap
make food for the seedling. sunlight to make food.
 B. The ‘stroke’ method (Double-touch stroking)
1. Double-touch stroking can also magnetize magnetic objects. This
method involves repeatedly stroking using opposite poles of two
magnets on the magnetic material until the middle of the magnetic
material and move apart in the opposite direction.

2. The end of the rod where the magnet first touch will have the same
polarity as the pole of magnet used for stroking

Magnet Magnet

S N
Iron Rod
Uses of magnets
Use Examples

To hold things together • Magnets hold papers onto refrigerator

doors and magnetic whiteboards.
• Magnetic doorstops keep doors open.
• Magnets keep fridge doors tightly shut.

Separate magnetic Electromagnets are used to lift and separate

objects from non- iron and steel objects from other waste for
magnetic objects recycling.

To find directions The needle in a compass is a magnet which

rests in the North-South direction.

Used in many electrical • Washing machine

appliances containing • Blender
turning parts

To store information • EZ-link cards

• Computer hard drives

Demagnetising a magnet
A magnet can be made to lose its magnetism by:
• Hitting it with a hammer many times.
• Dropping it many times.
• Heating it over a flame for a long period of time.
 MISCONCEPTIONS CORRECTIONS
When two materials move No, magnets can attract magnetic materials which
towards each other, we conclude are not magnets. We can only conclude that an
that both material are magnets. object is a magnet when it repel another magnet.

Magnets will not lose its Magnet will lose its magnetism when it is dropped,
magnetism. hammered, heated for a few times.

Magnets are man-made Magnets can be found in the nature and is known as
materials. lodestones.

Iron, Nickel, Copper and Steel are No, Copper is not a magnetic material but Cobalt is
magnetic materials. a magnetic material.

Electromagnets have only one All magnets including electromagnets have two
pole. poles and are able to attract and repel one another.
ROOTS and its functions

Roots
Roots allows plant to anchor firmly
onto the ground.

Roots will grow towards water in the

soil to take in water and mineral salts
from the soil.

The plant will not be able to take in

water without roots.

Without water, the plant cannot make

its own food. Thus, the plant will die.

s
Some plants stores food in their roots, for
example, carrots and sweet potatoes.
STEM and its functions Stem
Stems provide support to plant parts,
raising the leaves to higher positions
that allow leaves to trap more
sunlight.

The stem contains water-carrying tube

and food-carrying tube.

Water-carrying tube transports water

and mineral salts from the roots to all
parts of the plant.

Food-carrying tube transports food

from the leaves to all parts of the
plant.

Weak Stem
Plants with weak stems grow/coil
around a support to reach for more
Strong Stem sunlight.

Plants with strong stems can support

itself to grow towards sunlight. Support

Ginger
Some plants stores food in their
stem, for example, ginger and yam
 What is a System?
1. A system is made up of two or more parts that work together to
accomplish a goal.
2. There are systems found in both man-made (eg: an electric fan,
torch, pen) and things in the nature (eg: plant and animals).
3. Systems can be simple which are made up of a few simple parts or a
complex one which is made up of many complicated parts.

OVERVIEW of systems in the human body

Human body

Digestive Respiratory Circulatory Muscular Sense organ

Skeletal system
system system system system system

- Break food
into smaller
pieces to
increase its - Transports
expose surface oxygen,
- Support the
area to digested food,
body and
digestive juices. - Take in oxygen nutrients and
provide its - Works
to be used by water to
shape. together with
- Break food the body. different parts - Enable us to
skeletal system
into simpler of the body. see, hear, smell,
- Protect vital to enable body
substances. - Remove taste and feel.
organs like the parts to move
carbon dioxide - Transports
brain, lungs, and work.
from the body. waste materials
- Absorb heart and
such as carbon
digested food, kidney.
dioxide away
nutrients, from the body.
mineral and
water into the
bloodstream.
Human digestive system
1. The human digestive system consists of the
• mouth
• gullet
• stomach
• small intestine
• large intestine
• anus

Mouth

Gullet

Stomach
Small
intestine
Large
intestine
 MISCONCEPTIONS CORRECTIONS
Weight and mass are the same. Weight is due to the gravity acting on an object and
can change accordingly.

Mass is the amount of matter in the object. Mass is

constant.

The bigger the object, the more The mass of the object does not depend on its size
mass the object has. but the amount of matter/substance it contains.

Sand and rice take the shape of Sand and rice are solid as they have definite shape
the container, therefore they are and it retains its shape even in the container. Aside
not solids. from that, there are air spaces between the
sand/rice and wall of the container showing that the
rice/sand did not take the shape of the container.

A toy changes shape when we The toy will return to its original shape and look the
squeeze it. It changes shape, so it same when left untouched therefore it has definite
is not a solid. shape and it is a solid.

A substance in the liquid state All states have the same mass as they have the
has less mass than when it is in same amount of matter.
the solid state, and more mass in .
the gaseous state.
 MISCONCEPTIONS CORRECTIONS
The metal feels a lot colder than Metals feel colder than cotton because metals are
cotton because metal absorbs better conductors of heat.
coldness very easily. They conduct heat away from the hand faster than
cotton.

An object becomes hotter An object becomes hotter when it gains heat. The
because it loses its coldness to object gains heat from the warmer/hotter
the surroundings. surroundings/heat source.

Expansion occurs only in one Expansion takes place in all directions.

direction.

Temperature of an object is Temperature of an object is not dependent on its

dependent on the size of an size.
object. Temperature of an object is dependent on the
amount of heat they possess.

Some materials are non- All materials conduct heat.

conductors of heat. Those which do so less efficiently are known as poor
conductors of heat.