Practice using MRS GREN to decide whether something is living and to identify the seven characteristics of living things.
Read each problem carefully. Use MRS GREN to help you answer. Write complete sentences when explaining your thinking.
Identify movement, respiration, sensitivity, growth, reproduction, excretion, and nutrition
Biology - Grade 4-5
- 1
Write what each letter in MRS GREN stands for.
- 2
A sunflower turns its flower toward the light during the day. Which characteristic of living things does this show? Explain your answer.
- 3
A puppy eats food, drinks water, and gets bigger over several months. Name two characteristics of living things shown in this example.
- 4
A robot dog can walk, bark, and follow commands, but it does not grow, reproduce, or need food for energy in the same way living things do. Is the robot dog living or nonliving? Explain your answer using MRS GREN.
- 5
A fish opens and closes its gills to take in oxygen from the water. Which characteristic of living things is this an example of?
- 6
A maple tree drops seeds that can grow into new maple trees. Which characteristic of living things does this show? Explain your answer.
- 7
A person sweats on a hot day. The sweat helps remove extra water and salts from the body. Which characteristic of living things does this show?
- 8
A rock is outside for many years. It may crack, change shape, and move downhill during a landslide. Is the rock living or nonliving? Explain using at least two MRS GREN characteristics.
- 9
A Venus flytrap closes its leaves when an insect touches tiny hairs inside the trap. Which characteristic of living things does this show, and what is the stimulus?
- 10
Sort these items into living and nonliving: mushroom, bicycle, grass, pencil, worm, cloud.
- 11
A bean seed is planted in soil. After several days, a small root and shoot appear. Which characteristic of living things is shown most clearly?
- 12
Choose one living thing, such as a cat, oak tree, frog, or butterfly. Give one example for each of the seven MRS GREN characteristics for that living thing.