Characteristics of Life

Name:_______________________________________________

Period:______________

When you encounter something, how do you know its alive? Can you explain it or is it something
you instinctively know? Have you ever been fooled before?
Sometimes its easy to tell that something is alive but hard to explain why?
To avoid confusion and to help us figure out is something is really alive, scientist have come up with
characteristics that all life shares.
For todays activity, you and your group members will:
1) Take a group of images from an envelope with your group number.
2) Group them together based upon them having something in common,
3) Each card has a letter written in the lower right-hand corner, when you have finished
grouping, write down the letters for each group.
4) Then write down the characteristic that each group represents; that is, what the images in each
group have in common.
Group 1:________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
Group 2:________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
Group 3:________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
Group 4:________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________
Group 5:________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________________

Group A

Group B

Group C

Group D

Group E

Key:

A: Living things are made up of cells

B: Living things use energy
C: Living things grow and develop
D: Living things come from other (but similar) living things (reproduction)
E: Living things respond to their surroundings