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I am a 1st grade teacher looking for some new ideas for teaching basic needs of plants and animals. The more "hands-on", the better! Thanks!

You could start off with a pretty basic small aquarium with live plants and inexpensive feeder fish. In this small ecosystem the students will get to see firsthand how plants and animals interact to get their basic needs met. You could discuss these basic needs as a class with the kids giving input using their background knowledge and once these needs are defined, let the kids hypothesize how these needs are met. I suggest letting the kids be a part of the feeding and care regime of the tank. For example, allow them to discover the effects of light and sunlight in such an ecosystem. You could also add snails or small frogs for them to discover how fishes get their oxygen from the water via their gills while the frogs and snails must come to the surface to breath air with their lungs. You can always play around with the format of what kinds of plants or animals you have in your aquarium, but define the basic needs and then have the kids use either independent or guided exploration to discover how these needs are being met for the living organisms in your class aquarium.

When I was in the classroom I always applied for the following grant: http://www.petsintheclassroom.org/grant-app/choose-a-grant/ I received a free pet, would have my students care for it and during the breaks they would take turns caring for it at home! Another thing you can do if you want to grow plants and do not want to incur the cost, visit your local Home Depot and they will donate you the supplies needed for your project. -Best of luck!

Thanks so much Carmen and Laud for those great suggestions!

Thanks Carmen, I didn't know there was such a thing. That is awesome, though.

Oh wow , thanks carmen. I didn't know such a thing was possible. I am student teaching in Kindergarten right now and aim going to teach a lesson on living and non-living things. I think the kids would love to have a real animal in the class which would help explain better.

Hello Sheila, A new idea for teaching basic needs and plants for 1st graders that i found interesting is to bring in leaves, carrots, and broccoli and to model it on a sheet of paper on what those different parts are. Then as a class each student can get a chance show what parts of the plant goes where. Below is the website where i foud the idea and i thought it would be fun for the students. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/825706912901235389/