South Dakota Grade 1 Science

Notice Similarities and Differences in Young Living Things

Compare an invented parent-and-young observation record, explain similarities and differences, and plan a careful follow-up observation.

The current South Dakota science page identifies the science standards adopted April 22, 2024. The assessed-standards timeline identifies 2025–26 for implementation and assessment. This activity selects a reference from the South Dakota Science Standards 2024. Check the school’s implementation plan and the full chosen edition. This activity selects a Grade 1 South Dakota science expectation. It is one part of a science course, not a complete curriculum.

The South Dakota science standards combine science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts. Read the complete performance expectation and its listed practices, core ideas, and crosscutting concepts. Read the complete grade objectives alongside the school’s course, including investigations, models, evidence, and explanations. The general lesson library below may include review or enrichment beyond this grade’s course. This original activity is a focused starting point, not a complete curriculum crosswalk.

Alike does not mean identical

A teacher supplies two invented observation records with parent relationships already identified. One compares a cat and its kitten; the other compares a bean plant with a young plant grown from one of its seeds. Find a similarity and a difference in each pair. Explain why a shared feature does not mean the two living things look exactly alike.

Explain the evidence or model

The cat and kitten both have black-and-white fur, but the recorded patches are in different places. The bean plants both have green, oval leaves, but the young plant’s leaves are smaller in this observation. Each record supplies a similarity and a difference. These observations support saying the identified young living thing resembles its parent without being identical to it. Size also changes as a living thing grows, so a smaller young plant is not evidence that it will always remain that size. An explanation points to visible recorded features; it does not guess a genetic cause for every difference. The parent relationships are given in the task, rather than inferred only from appearance.

What to check in the explanation

These are fictional records, not observations of actual families. Two pairs do not establish a rule about every plant or animal. Do not infer parentage from a matching color alone or require children to describe their own family relationships. Use teacher-selected photographs or observations, and avoid disturbing plants or handling animals.

Plan the next activity

1. Identify the parent-and-young pair named in the record.
2. Describe one shared feature and one observed difference.
3. Explain how the evidence supports resemblance without identity.

Compare two teacher-selected photographs of the same young plant taken on different dates. Describe a feature that remains similar and a feature that changes as it grows. Explain why this new comparison answers a question about growth, rather than identifying its parent.