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3rd grade · Science · Unit 11 of 12

Weather, Soil & Sudden Changes

Weather in different places, how soil forms, and fast changes like earthquakes.

What your child practices

Practices comparing weather in different places on the same day (temperature, wind direction, precipitation), how sand and clay form from weathered rock and how decomposed plants and animals add to soil, and rapid changes to Earth's surface such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and landslides.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 3.10(A); 3.10(B); 3.10(C) · comparing weather in different places, how soils form, and rapid changes to Earth's surface

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Weather can differ from place to place on the same day: temperature, wind and rain.
  2. A wind vane points to where the wind comes from.
  3. Soil forms very slowly from weathered rock and decomposed plants and animals. Earthquakes change land fast.

Example: Which change is fast: soil forming from rock or an earthquake? Soil takes a very long time to form. An earthquake happens in seconds. Answer: an earthquake

Weather, Soil & Sudden Changes in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 11 of 12 in 3rd grade Science, after Sun, Earth, Moon & Planets and before Resources, Floods & Droughts.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

    At noon it is 98 °F in Laredo and 75 °F in Amarillo. Which city is warmer?

    • They are the same
    • Laredo
    • Neither
    • Amarillo

  2. Question 2

    Which helps break down dead plants into soil?

    • Wind vanes
    • Worms and fungi
    • Rocks
    • Glass

  3. Question 3

    Two towns have different weather on the same day. This shows weather…

    • never changes
    • is always the same everywhere
    • only happens at night
    • can differ from place to place

  4. Question 4

    Which tool measures wind direction?

    • A rain gauge
    • A wind vane
    • A balance
    • A thermometer

  5. Question 5

    The ground shakes suddenly. This is an…

    • eruption
    • erosion
    • earthquake
    • eclipse

  6. Question 6

    Lubbock's wind is from the west and Dallas's is from the south. The wind directions are…

    • different
    • the same
    • both from the north
    • both missing

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