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3rd grade · Science · Unit 5 of 10

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.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 3-LS3-1; 3-LS3-2 · traits are inherited from parents, vary within a group, and can be influenced by the environment

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 New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 5 of 10 in 3rd grade Science, after Speed & Motion 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: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

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

    Where do puppies get their fur color from?

    • The weather
    • Their food
    • Their parents
    • Their toys

  2. Question 2

    A trait is…

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

  3. Question 3

    A sprout grows pale and tall in the dark. Its color is affected by…

    • lack of light
    • its seed shape
    • its age only
    • its parents

  4. Question 4

    Which is NOT an inherited trait?

    • Height range
    • Freckles
    • Speaking a language
    • Hair color

  5. Question 5

    A plant grows short because it got little sunlight. This trait was affected by…

    • magic
    • its parents only
    • the moon
    • the environment

  6. Question 6

    A data table shows bean plants' heights: 8, 10, 12, 9 cm. What does it show?

    • All the same height
    • Variation in height
    • Plants shrank
    • No plants grew

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