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3rd Grade Science Curriculum Map
The 3rd Grade Science Curriculum Map outlines the following information:
- Recommended pacing, scope, and sequence for each unit.
- Alignment with standards, conceptual understandings, and performance indicators
- Links to Unit Concept Storyboard Maps, Content and SEP Support Documents, and Curriculum Guides
- Details for Evidence of Understanding, Essential Learning Experiences, and Suggested Learning Engagements
- Where appropriate, alignment with specific FOSS, DSM, GEMS, and STC kit Activities and Investigations
Standards
- 3.L.5A.1 Analyze and interpret data about the characteristics of environments (including salt and fresh water, deserts, grasslands, forests, rain forests, and polar lands) to describe how the environment supports a variety of organisms.
- 3.L.5A.2 Develop and use a food chain model to classify organisms as producers, consumers, and decomposers and to describe how organisms obtain energy.
- 3.L.5B.1 Obtain and communicate information to explain how changes in habitats (such as those that occur naturally or those caused by organisms) can be beneficial or harmful to the organisms that live there.
- 3.L.5B.2 Develop and use models to explain how changes in a habitat cause plants and animals to respond in different ways (such as hibernating, migrating, responding to light, death, or extinction).
- 3.L.5B.3 Construct scientific arguments using evidence from fossils of plants and animals that lived long ago to infer the characteristics of early environments.
- (This indicator can be addressed in this unit or in Unit 2)
Unit Focus
- The focus of this unit is for students to gather information through research and acquire data through observations and measurements about organisms and their interactions in their habitats. Students will select or be assigned a habitat and conduct research through informational sources and observations how animals and plants interact and are adapted to survive in their habitat.
Standards
- 3.E.4A.1 Analyze and interpret data from observations and measurements to describe and compare different Earth materials (including rocks, minerals, and soil) and classify each type of material based on its distinct physical properties.
- 3.E.4A.2 Develop and use models to describe and classify the pattern distribution of land and water features on Earth.
- 3.E.4A.3 Obtain and communicate information to exemplify how humans obtain, use, and protect renewable and nonrenewable Earth resources.
- 3.E.4B.1 Develop and use models to describe the characteristics of Earth’s continental landforms and classify landforms as volcanoes, mountains, valleys, canyons, plains, and islands.
- 3.E.4B.2 Plan and conduct scientific investigations to determine how natural processes (including weathering, erosion, and gravity) shape Earth’s surface.
- 3.E.4B.3 Obtain and communicate information to explain how natural events (such as fires, landslides, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, or floods) and human activities (such as farming, mining, or building) impact the environment.
- 3.E.4B.4 Define problems caused by a natural event or human activity and design devices or solutions to reduce the impact on the environment.
Unit Focus
- Part of the focus of this unit is for students to gather data through observations and measurements of rocks, minerals, and soils in order to identify, describe, and classify different samples. Students will investigate the physical properties of these Earth materials and, using identification charts and resources, identify and classify unknown specimens. Based on their physical properties, students will research different Earth materials and determine how humans obtain, use, and conserve them.
- Part of the focus of this unit is for students to gather data through research, observation, and measurement of different Earth processes and describe how these processes result in landforms and impact human activities. Students will gather data through direct observation of weather, erosion, and deposition and will construct explanations for how moving water results in the distribution of water and different landforms on the Earth’s surface. Students will define problems related to these processes and design solutions.
Standards
- 3.P.2A.1 Analyze and interpret data from observations and measurements to describe and compare the physical properties of matter (including length, mass, temperature, and volume of liquids).
- 3.P.2A.2 Construct explanations using observations and measurements to describe how matter can be classified as a solid, liquid or gas.
- 3.P.2A.3 Plan and conduct scientific investigations to determine how changes in heat (increase or decrease) change matter from one state to another (including melting, freezing, condensing, boiling, and evaporating).
- 3.P.2A.4 Obtain and communicate information to compare how different processes (including burning, friction, and electricity) serve as sources of heat energy.
- 3.P.2A.5 Define problems related to heat transfer and design devices or solutions that facilitate (conductor) or inhibit (insulator) the transfer of heat.
Unit Focus
- The focus of this unit is for students to gather data through observations and measurements to classify matter as a solid, liquid, or gas and to investigate how heat transfer and the adding or removing heat results in changes in matter. Students will determine through investigations how changes in heat affect states of matter and how heat transfer can be facilitated and/or inhibited by conductors and insulators.
Standards
- 3.P.3A.1 Obtain and communicate information to develop models showing how electrical energy can be transformed into other forms of energy (including motion, sound, heat, or light).
- 3.P.3A.2 Develop and use models to describe the path of an electric current in a complete simple circuit as it accomplishes a task (such as lighting a bulb or making a sound).
- 3.P.3A.3 Analyze and interpret data from observations and investigations to classify different materials as either an insulator or conductor of electricity.
- 3.P.3B.1 Develop and use models to describe and compare the properties of magnets and electromagnets (including polarity, attraction, repulsion, and strength).
- 3.P.3B.2 Plan and conduct scientific investigations to determine the factors that affect the strength of an electromagnet.
Unit Focus
- The focus of this unit is for students to carry out investigations to explain how electrical energy is transformed into other forms of energy, including electromagnetic attraction, through electrical circuits. Students will determine how to construct a simple electrical circuit using a battery, wires, a switch, and a bulb. Students will demonstrate how electrical energy can be transformed into other forms of energy (light, sound, heat, motion) through a simple circuit. Students will create and test a simple electromagnet by applying their understanding of simple circuits.
Harbor Seal, Volcano, Flowers, and Robot Banner Images Courtesy of National Science FoundationHurricane Banner Image Courtesy of National Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationGalaxy Banner Image Courtesy of NASA
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