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3rd grade · Science · Unit 2 of 6

Basic Needs & Life Cycles

What living things need, and the stages of their lives.

What your child practices

Practices the basic needs of organisms (food, water, air, shelter) and the life cycles of plants and animals, including metamorphosis in butterflies and frogs.

Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards benchmark: 3L.3.1.1.2 · life cycles: every living thing is born, grows, reproduces and dies

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Living things need food, water, air and shelter.
  2. Plants make food from sunlight, air and water. Animals eat plants or other animals.
  3. Butterfly: egg, larva (caterpillar), pupa (chrysalis), adult.

Example: A caterpillar is which stage of a butterfly? Egg comes first, then the young form that eats leaves. Answer: larva

Basic Needs & Life Cycles in Minnesota

In the Minnesota K-12 Academic Standards, this is unit 2 of 6 in 3rd grade Science, after How Plants Grow & Change and before Adaptations & Habitats.

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: Minnesota Department of Education (MDE)

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

    An organism that stops getting food will eventually…

    • get younger
    • become weak or die
    • grow faster

  2. Question 2

    A plant kept in a dark cupboard would…

    • grow stronger
    • grow weak without light
    • make extra food

  3. Question 3

    Which pair grows up looking like smaller adults?

    • puppy and dog
    • caterpillar and butterfly
    • tadpole and frog

  4. Question 4

    Which is a basic need of all living things?

    • Food or energy
    • A toy
    • A television

  5. Question 5

    A baby frog that lives in water and has a tail is a…

    • chick
    • pup
    • tadpole

  6. Question 6

    A drought (no rain) is hard for plants because they lack…

    • water
    • sunlight
    • air

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