“Living and Nonliving” by Carol Lindeen
This book focuses on characteristics of living things – Living things breathe, eat, grow, and move. It has great photos of plants and animals that kids are familiar with.
“My World of Science: Living and Nonliving” by Angela Royston (2.8 AR)
This book looks at many characteristics of living things: moving, senses, eating and drinking (finding food), breathing, getting rid of waste, reproducing. They also discuss things that were once alive such as wool, paper, and cotton.
“What’s Alive?” by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld
Reading like a narrative, this book seems to be more engaging for kindergarteners. Rather than being organized by characteristic, each page focuses on a different living organisms or nonliving object: cat, flower, tree, bird, stone, tricycle, book, doll. It reads like a conversation posing questions about similarities and differences for students to draw their own conclusions about the characteristics of living and nonliving things.
Tending Our Common Ground 