Below are the third grade focus areas for science.  

Becoming a Scientist

• This unit focuses on the eight Science and Engineering Practices outlined in the Next Generation Science Standards. The practices describe behaviors that scientists engage in as they investigate and build models and theories about the natural world and the key set of engineering practices that engineers use as they design and build models and systems.  

1. Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering)

2. Developing and using models

3. Planning and carrying out investigations

4. Analyzing and interpreting data

5. Using mathematics and computational thinking

6. Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering)

7. Engaging in argument from evidence

8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

Earth and Space Science: Weather/Climate

In this unit we...

• Use tools to record and predict weather patterns and phenomena that occur over a long or short period of time

• Describe and record the climate in different regions of the world

• Explain how water, wind, ice and gravity cause changes to the Earth's landscape and features

• Model how soil and sediment is moved by wind, water and gravity

• Use local maps to locate different land and water features, including watersheds

• Model how humans can reduce the impact of natural hazards

Physical Science: Magnets and Motion

In this unit we...

• Observe magnetic interactions

• Experiment with magnets in order to explain that opposite poles attract and like poles repel one another

• Use a model to test the relationship between two magnets

• Model amplitude and wavelength

• Demonstrate that waves can cause objects to move

• Model that light reflecting from objects and entering the eye allows objects to be seen

• Determine properties of materials that absorb, reflect, or transmit light

• Design a system of mirrors to direct light beams

• Investigate and record the color composition of white light

Life Science: Life Cycles and Adaptations

In this unit we...

• Model the life cycle of an animal

• Explain how animal adaptations help them survive changes in their environment

• Summarize the benefits to animals of being a member of a group

• Identify examples of inherited adaptations in animals

• Analyze how an animal's environment shapes its traits and characteristics

• Predict animal survival in a particular environment based on their inherited traits

• Predict animal survival in a changing habitat

• Explain that some plants and animals no longer exist on Earth

• Observe and explain that fossils are evidence of plants and animals that once lived on Earth