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3rd grade · Science · Unit 8 of 12

Traits & Variation

Traits come from parents, and the environment matters too.

What your child practices

Practices how plants and animals inherit traits from their parents, how traits vary within a family, and how the environment can change traits like size or health.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 3.6; 3.7 · traits passed from parents, variation in a group, and how the environment changes traits

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Inherited traits come from parents, like eye color or hair type.
  2. Brothers and sisters can have different traits.
  3. The environment can change traits too, like a plant growing short with little water.

Example: A dog has spots like its mother. Is that inherited or from the environment? It came from a parent. Answer: inherited

Traits & Variation in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 8 of 12 in 3rd grade Science, after Basic Needs & Life Cycles and before Surviving in a Habitat.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    A trait is…

    • a kind of weather
    • a type of rock
    • a place to live
    • a feature of a living thing

  2. Question 2

    Which is an inherited trait?

    • A scar from a fall
    • Knowing how to read
    • A haircut
    • Eye color

  3. Question 3

    Which can a parent pass to its young?

    • A broken leg
    • A learned trick
    • A muddy coat
    • Spots on its fur

  4. Question 4

    A dog that eats too much becomes heavy. Its weight is affected by…

    • its name
    • inheritance only
    • its fur color
    • the environment

  5. Question 5

    Why don't all salmon in a river look exactly alike?

    • They are not salmon
    • There is variation in traits
    • They are all the same age
    • Water changes their species

  6. Question 6

    Which pair shows an inherited trait AND an environmental effect?

    • Tall parents, but a short child who ate poorly
    • Blue eyes and brown eyes
    • Two black cats
    • Brown fur and a long tail

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