3rd grade Science
10 units matched to the California Content Standards.
Focus areas
- Forces and magnets
- Life cycles, traits and survival
- Weather and climate
Units
Unit 1
How Plants Grow & Change
From seed to flower and back to seed, how seeds travel, how plants react to light and seasons, and how they use sunlight, water and carbon dioxide to make food and release oxygen.
Learning standard: 3-LS1-1 · the life cycle of flowering plants
Unit 2
Pushes, Pulls & Forces
Forces as pushes and pulls, contact and non-contact forces (gravity, magnetism, static electricity), friction, how bigger forces change motion more, and helmets and seat belts as safety devices.
Learning standard: 3-PS2-1; 3-PS2-3 · balanced and unbalanced forces, and magnetic forces that act without touching
Unit 3
Basic Needs & Life Cycles
Practices the basic needs of organisms (food, water, air, shelter) and the life cycles of plants and animals, including metamorphosis in butterflies and frogs.
Learning standard: 3-LS1-1 · life cycles of birth, growth, reproduction and death
Unit 4
Speed & Motion
Practices speed as the distance an object travels in a certain time, inertia (objects keep doing what they are doing until a force acts), and how mass and force affect how quickly motion changes.
Learning standard: 3-PS2-1; 3-PS2-2 · how forces change motion and patterns that predict motion
Unit 5
Traits & Variation
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.
Learning standard: 3-LS3-1; 3-LS3-2 · traits are inherited from parents, vary within a group, and can be influenced by the environment
Unit 6
Surviving in a Habitat
Practices why some animals live in groups, how small differences in traits can help some individuals survive, and why some organisms do well in a habitat while others cannot survive there.
Learning standard: 3-LS2-1; 3-LS4-2; 3-LS4-3 · living in groups, trait differences that help survival, and how well organisms survive in a habitat
Unit 7
Weather Hazards & Solutions
Practices judging design solutions that reduce harm from weather hazards like floods, windstorms, lightning and snow, and solutions to problems when habitats change.
Learning standard: 3-ESS3-1; 3-LS4-4 · comparing solutions that reduce the impacts of weather hazards and environmental change
Unit 8
Magnet Inventions
Practices using what magnets do to solve simple design problems, such as a latch or a sorter, by setting criteria and constraints and running fair tests that change one thing at a time.
Learning standard: 3-PS2-4; 3-5-ETS1-1; 3-5-ETS1-3 · solving design problems with magnets, setting criteria and constraints, and running fair tests
Unit 9
Fossils & Long Ago
Practices how fossils form and what they show about plants, animals and environments long ago, such as sea fossils found on dry land and Ice Age fossils from the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles.
Learning standard: 3-LS4-1 · fossils as evidence of organisms and environments of long ago
Unit 10
Weather & Climate
Practices reading weather data by season and comparing climates around the world, including California's dry summers and rainy winters, Sierra Nevada snow and desert heat.
Learning standard: 3-ESS2-1; 3-ESS2-2 · weather patterns by season and climates in different regions of the world
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