Living, Dead or Never Alive Sorting

Year 2 ScienceLiving Things and Their Habitats3 pages

About this worksheet

Ranger Maya's notebook from the school nature garden is the setting for this Year 2 science sorting sheet. Pupils sort the 12 things she spotted into three columns: living, dead and never been alive. The list mixes clear cases, such as a robin and a pebble, with harder ones like a fallen autumn leaf, a roasted peanut and a toy robot. Page 2 asks which item was the trickiest, then wants one new example per column from the classroom. It is matched to the England National Curriculum, and the answer page explains each boundary item.

Page 1 of 3

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Curriculum objectives covered

Living things and their habitats

โ€œExplore and compare the differences between things that are living, dead, and things that have never been aliveโ€

The page 1 table uses exactly these three groups for all 12 items. Question 1 on page 2 asks pupils to explain the item they found hardest.

What's inside this worksheet

Living, Dead or Never Been Alive

Pupils copy each of the 12 words, from earthworm to glass marble, into the right column of a three-column table.

Think Like a Scientist

Pupils name the item that was hardest to place and give a reason. They then add one thing from the classroom or outside the window to each column.

Answers

Four items per column. Notes explain why the wooden bench and seashell count as dead and why the toy robot has never been alive.

How teachers use it

Real objects

Put a pebble, a seashell, a dry leaf and a wooden ruler on each table. Pupils sort the real things before they write on page 1.

The peanut

The roasted peanut splits most classes. Let pupils argue, then read the answer note that it was a living seed before it was cooked.

Playground hunt

Take question 2 outside for five minutes. Each pupil comes back with one idea for each of the three columns.

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