This Grade 6–8 reading comprehension article and questions helps students determine what makes something alive by comparing living, once-living, and nonliving objects at the appropriate reading level. Students learn that movement, growth, or appearance alone cannot prove that something is alive. Instead, scientists examine what an object is doing now, how it is organized, and where its material came from.

The article explains concepts such as cells, DNA, metabolism, homeostasis, dormancy, death, and biological origin in clear, student-friendly language. Students apply these ideas to dormant seeds, dead leaves, wood, cotton, eggshells, fossils, viruses, fire, crystals, and robots. A comparison table helps students classify different examples using multiple lines of scientific evidence.

This resource covers the following topics:

• Living, Once-Living, and Nonliving Objects
• Characteristics of Living Things
• Cells, DNA, and Metabolism
• Homeostasis and Responses to Stimuli
• Dormancy Versus Death
• Once-Living and Biologically Produced Materials
• Fire, Crystals, and Robots
• Why Viruses Are Usually Classified as Nonliving
• Fossils as Evidence of Past Life
• Using Evidence to Classify Unknown Samples

✅ Grade 6–8 Reading on What Makes Something Alive: Students use scientific evidence to classify living, once-living, and nonliving objects.

✅ No-Prep, Editable Resource: Includes Google Docs, Microsoft Word, and PDF versions for flexible classroom use.

✅ Builds Scientific Literacy: Students read an informational article and answer direct, analytical, application, and extension questions.

✅ Includes Questions and Complete Answer Keys: Features 10 reading comprehension questions, 5 extension questions, and full answer keys.

✅ Includes a Comparison Table: Students compare an oak tree, dormant seed, dead leaf, cotton shirt, eggshell, virus, and quartz crystal.

This resource is perfect for characteristics of life units, biology, life science, scientific classification, scientific literacy instruction, and general science classes. It supports both NGSS science practices and literacy standards for science and technical subjects.

➡️ Save 75% by upgrading to the 6th, 7th, and 8th Grade Mega Bundle!

Includes ALL current and future reading resources for middle school. ⏳ Price increases in September and again in February – grab it now! CLICK HERE ⌛

How this product will help your students:

• Improve their scientific and disciplinary literacy skills
• Strengthen their reading comprehension and scientific knowledge
• Distinguish between living, once-living, and nonliving objects
• Explain the difference between dormancy and death
• Recognize the difference between once-living and biologically produced materials
• Use multiple lines of evidence to classify unfamiliar objects
• Evaluate difficult examples such as viruses, fossils, fire, and crystals

How this product will help you:

• Help you address NGSS, TEKS, and Common Core literacy standards
• Provide a concise introduction to living and nonliving classification
• Give you a ready-to-use activity for independent work, homework, review, or enrichment
• Address common misconceptions about dormant, dead, and once-living materials
• Provide an engaging and easy-to-leave substitute plan
• Make assessment easier with complete answer keys

This resource will take your students between 50-60 minutes to complete and includes a variety of questions. An answer key is also included for your reference.

The Problems You Face

• Not having enough time to teach scientific literacy or improve your students’ reading comprehension and analysis skills
• Needing an accessible introduction to living and nonliving classification
• Having students who complete their work at different speeds and need meaningful extension activities
• Creating useful last-minute substitute plans that benefit your students
• Finding activities that combine science content with literacy and evidence-based reasoning

The Solution

This fully editable, NO-PREP reading comprehension article contains relevant, applicable, and engaging activities that can be used to:

• introduce living, once-living, and nonliving classification
• improve students’ reading comprehension and scientific literacy
• strengthen evidence-based reasoning and analysis skills
• address misconceptions about dormancy, death, and biological origin
• help students classify unfamiliar objects using scientific evidence
• provide an extension activity for students who move at a faster pace
• provide extra credit to students in need
• measure students’ literacy skills and scientific understanding

Google Classroom and Distance Learning Ready

• This resource is perfect for in-class or distance learning and integrates seamlessly with Google Classroom.
• Automatically creates a copy of the reading and puts it directly into your Google Drive with a single click.
• Purchase --> Open --> Click --> Assign to your students
• The reading also includes a Microsoft Word and PDF version.

Having all three options allow you to assign the reading to your students without worrying about formatting issues as all the work has already been done for you. It also allows you, as well as your students, to access everything no matter where you are or what kind of equipment is being used.

I have over 200 readings that cover a variety of topics found in:

• Chemistry
• Energy
• Biology
• Health
• Earth and Space
• Physics
• Ecology and the Environment
• Natural Disasters
• General Science

Praise For My Other Reading Comprehension Resources:

• "I teach middle school science and need to include informational text in my classroom. These readings are great for independent reading for my grade-level and upper-level readers. The articles address CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.1 (Citing specific textual evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts.) and CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.10 (By the end of grade 8, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 6-8 text complexity band independently and proficiently.). The leveled questions allow you to subtly assign the questions to different ability students working in a group."
• Topics are relevant to the students and current. Graphics draw the students into the article. I'm going to have one printed and waiting in for my substitute folder too!"
• "THANKS!"
• "Thanks for putting together a wonderful resource."
• "I teach Special Education high school science in Maryland in a special school for children with learning disabilities/Autism. I liked the readings and I think students could relate to the topics.

We don't spend enough time teaching scientific literacy to our students. This is either because we don't have the resources to do so effectively or we don't have the time. However, teaching our students to become scientifically literate is vital if we want them to succeed in life. We need them to know about the world they live in and about the issues they face.

I also have a range of assignments and lessons/units from other grade levels at my store. Please CLICK HERE to have a look around and don’t forget to follow if you like what you see.