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Science Scope and Sequence (I will Update Science Monthly!)
*I will provide a combination of 3rd and 4th grade assignments to last us the year!*
I will upload science units here (most recent first) and, if you're interested, you can click the scope and sequence links below for the standards and detailed info on what the units will be about! *If you wish to edit the forms, you'll need to make your own copy!*
I have arranged unit lessons into weeks, but if you want to go through them a little slower or faster, that's okay too! Here's the pacing I recommend for the lessons:
Day One: Prep materials. Have your child watch the introductory video of the lesson.
Day Two - Day Three: Have your child engage in the lesson activities.
Day Four: Re-discuss what your child learned and engage in the extension activities provided. (Let me know if links don't work!)
Day Four-Five: Some extension activities may take a few days. If you've finished the lesson, check out one of the slides presentations I've uploaded on the "extension activities" tab above (I'll recommend specific slides at the end of each unit / month below). Some of my students will be familiar with these slides, but they're still fun! Remember to make a copy if you need to edit.
October Assignments (Grade 3):
Week One: Circle of Life, Lesson Two.
Day One: Environmental Changes & Engineering. Click here. Prep and watch introductory video.
Day Two-Three: Revisit the above link. This time, engage in the learning activity.
Day Four-Five (see below):
Read and discuss "Bugged," about Riley, who can't figure out why mosquitoes find him so tasty! This book has tips on how to avoid these flying pests, and has comprehension questions at the end. Your child should be able to access this book through Epic, which is available on Clever.
In this video, take a close-up look at the mosquito's bite. (Warning! You may want to close your eyes for some of the yucky parts!--PBS)
In this video, find out how mosquitoes can make you sick!
In the movie Jurassic Park, fictional scientists create dinosaurs from blood found in long-dead mosquitoes. When that movie was made, nobody had ever really found a blood-filled mosquito from a long, long time ago---but now they have! Could blood from a real fossilized mosquito be used to resurrect dinosaurs? Well, no---but it's still a cool find!
Week Two: Circle of Life, Lesson Three.
Day One: Pollination & Plant Reproduction. Click here. Prep and watch introductory video.
Day Two-Three: Revisit the above link. This time, engage in the learning activity.
Day Four-Five (see below):
Bees, butterflies, and birds aren't the only animals that pollinate plants. This reading describes how the Sauaro cactus depends on bats to move pollen from flower to flower!
Interested in seeing how bats pollinate plants? Look at these amazing photos of bats in action (click on a photo to enlarge it).
Activity Extensions:
More paper flowers: If you liked making paper flowers for this mystery, here are some ways to take that activity further.
Experiment with where you put the sticky stigma. Can you make a flower where the bee ALWAYS gets pollen on the stigma when he enters the flower?
Make a garden of flowers of different colors using construction paper or coloring the flower template.
Make flowers of different shapes. You can make a narrower cone using the flower template. Just cut off the gray triangle and overlap two or three petals.
Garden observation: For ideas on observation in the garden, check out the Pollinators in the Garden and other activities from the Denver Urban Garden.
Week Three: Circle of Life, Lesson Four.
Day One: Fruit, Seeds, & Plant Reproduction. Click here. Prep and watch introductory video.
Day Two-Three: Revisit the above link. This time, engage in the learning activity.
Day Four-Five:
Reading: After the lesson and activity, try this extension.
This is a fun video with a catchy song about the life cycle of an apple tree!
If you've ever been pestered by bees at a picnic, you might think that a barbecue would be better if there were no bees at all. Not so! Without the bees to pollinate crops, your barbecue would have no mustard, no ketchup, no pickles, no lemonade. In this activity from the Smithsonian, students explore what foods the barbecue would be missing if there were no bees.
Week Four: Circle of Life, Lesson Five.
Day One: Plant Life Cycles. Click here. Prep and watch introductory video.
Day Two-Three: Revisit the above link. This time, engage in the learning activity.
Day Four-Five:
The following readings are free with registration at Readworks. Both reading sets also include challenging articles to help differentiate!
This collection of readings is all about insects and other animals that pollinate plants. Review the process of pollination and discover even more about pollinators.
This collection of readings is all about the interactions between organisms and their environments. Students will explore what an ecologist is and review the relationships between bees and flowering plants.
Extend the Future Flowers Game. If your child would like to continue playing the game from this lesson, here's an additional set of plant cards. The rules and pollinators will all remain the same as the original game, just cut these cards out and shuffle them into the deck!
This activity from Smithsonian Education invites students to consider the adaptations flowers have developed that support pollination. Students match a particular flower's adaptation with a particular pollinator. They also consider their own personal preferences like favorite colors and scents, and imagine what kind of flower they would want to pollinate!
Recommended Slides on "extension activities" page: Bats and Owls
September Assignments (Grade 3):
Week One: Animals Through Time, Lesson One.
Day One: Habitats, Fossils, and Environments Over Time. Click here. Prep and watch introductory video.
Day Two-Three: Revisit the above link. This time, engage in the learning activity.
Day Four-Five (see below):
Read and discuss "A Whale of a Find," which tells of the discovery of many whale skeletons in a South American desert.
This website from the Kentucky Geological Survey includes several hands-on activities that demonstrate how different types of fossils form. It includes a variation on the classic plaster and mold activity using white glue instead. You could spend a couple days on this if you want!
In this video, paleontologists in Argentina discover and transport fossils to a museum for further study. (4:19, PBS)
Meet Mark Rentz, a paleontologist who studies fossils in Florida. Watch this video to see him talk about finding shark and whale teeth in a Florida creek. (3:13, WGCU Curious Kids)
Week Two: Animals Through Time, Lesson Two.
Day One: Fossil Evidence and Dinosaurs. Click here. Prep and watch introductory video.
Day Two-Three: Revisit the above link. This time, engage in the learning activity.
Day Four-Five (see below):
Reading: "Biggest dino ever?"
Students think about why dinosaurs looked like they did and use their imaginations to design a dinosaur in Fossilized Fashion, a hands-on activity from the American Museum of Natural History.
In this video, dinosaur hunter Tyler Lyson talks about hunting for fossils in North Dakota.
Week Three: Animals Through Time, Lesson Three.
Day One: Fossil Evidence, Trace Fossils, and Animal Behavior. Click here. Prep and watch introductory video.
Day Two-Three: Revisit the above link. This time, engage in the learning activity.
Day Four-Five (see below):
Reading: First impressions tells of the discovery of dinosaur tracks in a Massachusetts field 200 years ago.
Reading: Some Arctic Dinosaurs Lived in Herds
Your child can apply their detective skills to dinosaur footprints in Be a Sleuth: How Dinosaurs Behaved, a hands-on activity from the American Museum of Natural History.
Recommended Slides on "extension activities" page: Bones
Week Four: Circle of Life, Lesson One.
Day One: Animal Life Cycles. Click here. Prep and watch introductory video.
Day Two-Three: Revisit the above link. This time, engage in the learning activity.
Day Four-Five (see below): The following readings are free with registration at Readworks.
These readings about frogs and bees, and hummingbirds will keep your third graders thinking about animal life cycles.
For students who are reading below grade level, here are readings about the life cycles of kangaroos (grade1), moths (grade 2), and sea turtles (Grade 2).
For students reading above grade level, check out these readings about the life cycles of butterflies (grade 5), cicadas (grade 5)
Make a Growing Caterpillar Card — This Mystery Science mini-lesson includes an activity that explores the world through the eyes of a hungry caterpillar. Students make a card that contains a caterpillar that grows! The accompanying video discusses the question: “Are butterflies the only animals that start out as caterpillars?"
Make a Poster — Have students research two different animals and then make a poster comparing and contrasting the life cycles of those animals. For students who need help getting started, check out these free printable coloring pages showing the life cycles of Birds (chicken, penguin), Fish, Reptiles (turtle), Amphibians (frog, salamander), and Insects (ladybug, mealworm, butterfly, ant, mosquito, dragonfly).
Butterfly & Frog Life Cycle Videos
Close-up videos let students observe the stages of the Monarch butterfly’s life cycle – from the caterpillar chewing its way out of the egg to the butterfly taking flight.
A nine-year-old describes the frog life cycle and shows us tadpoles at different stages. These tadpoles are from a type of frog that develops much more quickly than the bullfrog from this lesson, going from tadpole to frog in just a few weeks.
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