Science Organisms & Life Processesusually ages 5–7

Living Things Vocabulary

Name and use vocabulary for what makes something living — alive, dead, never been alive, movement, nutrition, growth, reproduction, sensitivity, excretion — and apply these terms when classifying objects and explaining why plants and animals count as living things

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Correctly classify objects as living, dead, or never been alive and give a reason using one of the life process terms
Name at least five life processes using the correct vocabulary
Explain why a plant is alive using at least two life process words

🖨 Print this page to keep the checklist — it prints beautifully.

Try this together

Can your child explain why a rock is not alive but a weed is — using a science word like 'nutrition' or 'growth' rather than just saying 'it moves'?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Nothing on the map comes before this — it’s a starting point.

Living Things Vocabularythis skill · ages 5–7

Unlocks

Living, Dead & Never Aliveages 6–7Comparing living, dead, and never-been-alive things requires the life processes vocabulary to give reasons

What Living Things Needages 5–7Describing what plants and animals need to survive uses life processes vocabulary: nutrition, growth, sensitivity

solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Candidate matches to official curriculum codes — machine-suggested, unreviewed (v0.1).

Show candidate curriculum codes · 2 ACARA · 2 NSW · 2 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9S3U01medium confidenceYear 3 · Science understanding

compare characteristics of living and non-living things and examine the differences between the life cycles of plants and animals

AC9S1U01low confidenceYear 1 · Science understanding

identify the basic needs of plants and animals, including air, water, food or shelter, and describe how the places they live meet those needs

NSW syllabus codes & stages only

STE-SCI-01medium confidenceScience and Technology K-6 · Early Stage 1

ST1-SCI-01low confidenceScience and Technology K-6 · Stage 1

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2S4U01medium confidenceScience · Levels 3 and 4 · Science Understanding strand

VC2S2U03low confidenceScience · Foundation to Level 2 · Science Understanding strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Animal Body Groupsages 5–7 Body Parts & Sensesages 5–6 Common Plants & Treesages 5–6 Herbivores, Carnivores & Omnivoresages 5–6

All Organisms & Life Processes skills →