Biotic and Abiotic Factors

Help your sixth graders sort out the living and nonliving parts of an ecosystem! In this one-page worksheet, students read a short passage about biotic and abiotic factors, sort eight examples into a table, and then decide if four sentences are true or false.

The passage explains that an ecosystem is all the living and nonliving things in one area and the ways they interact. Students learn that biotic factors are living things like plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria, and that things that were once alive, like a fallen log or dead leaves, count as biotic too. They also learn that sunlight, water, air, temperature, rocks, and soil are abiotic factors. A pond frog example shows how one organism depends on both kinds. In the sorting activity, students place eight examples, such as mushrooms on a log, sand in a stream, and oxygen in the air, into a Biotic or Abiotic column. The true or false items target a common mix-up: thinking that water and sunlight are biotic because living things need them. The sheet is written to Texas TEKS 6.12A and also fits NGSS MS-LS2-1.

What's inside:

• A short passage with key words in bold
• An 8-item biotic and abiotic sorting table
• 4 true or false sentences
• A visual answer key with every answer marked in red

How teachers use it:

• As a warm-up to start an ecosystems unit
• For bell work, stations, or an exit ticket
• As homework or sub plans, with no prep needed

It takes about 5 to 10 minutes and prints clearly in black and white. This worksheet is part of our Reading in Science series for grade 6.