BFSU Enrichment
LESSON B-2

Living, Natural, or Human-Made?

Everything you have ever seen fits in just three boxes — living, natural, and human-made — and every made thing began as something from the other two.

Free enrichment to teach alongside Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding, Volume 1 by Dr. Bernard J. Nebel. It reproduces none of his text — you'll want the book to teach from it. Get the book on Amazon →
Developed by Jesse Genet · @jessegenet
Download the kit
⬇ Full packetEverything, print-ready · 15 pp ⬇ Kid sheets onlyWhat goes in the notebook ⬇ Teacher sheets onlyGuide · oration · supply list
Poster
Everything Fits in Three Boxes
Everything Fits in Three Boxes
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The activities — hands-on experiment cards
Trace the Origin
Card 1 · Kids hands-on

Trace the Origin

Every human-made thing can be walked backwards to a natural beginning — a tree, a dune, a rock, ancient buried life. Nothing comes from nothing.

⬇ This card
Magnification Detail Reveal
Card 2 · Kids hands-on

Magnification Detail Reveal

Living things are built from tiny parts made of tinier parts — up close they explode into fine repeating detail. A shaped, made thing stays smooth and blank.

⬇ This card
One more idea — a bonus for the review
Made things beside the living creatures they came from
🎁 Reveal at the review

Made From Living Things

Human-made isn'''t the opposite of living. Here'''s one to hold back for the review: many made things come straight from an animal — wool from a sheep, honey from bees, silk from a caterpillar, a pearl from an oyster.

A peek ahead → every maker is a plant or an animal, the two kingdoms we sort next (B-3).
⬇ Bonus card
The song
🎵
Three Boxes
B-2's sing-along — press play
⬇ Lyric sheet
In the student binder
📖OverviewThe big idea, key vocabulary & everyday takeaways — for the notebook.⬇ ✎CopyworkSee it, trace it, write it — living, natural, human-made, in big primer handwriting.⬇ 🗂️The Three-Box WalkHunt down all three kinds of things, then trace every made thing back to what it was.⬇
Everything that's included