Nonfiction Text Features

Students will explore and discover different nonfiction text features. They will have the opportunity to practice using the text features to help themselves find different pieces of information. 

RI.3.5 Use text features and search tools to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently. 

Questioning

We make sure to begin questions with a question word and to use to question mark at the end of the question. We focus on asking questions that are helpful for understanding the text. We work on asking right there questions, where the answer is right in the text. We also grow to ask beyond the text questions, where the answer may require more research. 

RI.3.1 Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as a basis for the answers. 

Main Idea and Supporting Details

During this unit students will learn how to identify the main idea of an informational text and find supporting details. When students can identify the main idea and find supporting details, they can use that to summarize a nonfiction text. 

RI.3.2 Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea. 

Informational Text Structures

Informational texts are organized in different ways for different purposes. Students will learn to identify these different structures and purposes. 

RI.3.8 Describe the logical connection between particular sentences and paragraphs in a text. 

*Other reading standards are included in units, but listed above are the main focus of the unit. 

Ice Age

Students learn about one of the first big migrations - The Great Migration. We look into the motivations behind the migration. This unit helps students to see how humans have gotten to the different parts of our world. 

SS.3.12 Use historical examples to describe how scarcity requires a person to make choices. 

SS.3.25 Explain probable causes and effects of events and developments.

Native Americans

For this unit students discover how resources available influence where people may choose to settle. Students learn about how Native Americans used the resources around them to help themselves survive. We dive into the difference between goods and services, and then introduce students to the idea of trade. 

SS.3.13 Identify how people use natural resources, human resources, and physical capital to produce goods and services. 

SS.3.19 Create a geographic representation to explain how the unique characteristics of a place affect migration. 

SS.3.21 Use map evidence to explain how human settlements and movements relate to the locations and use of various regional landforms and natural resources. 

Age of Exploration

Through the use of a simulation students learn about the experiences explorers could have experienced during the Age of Exploration. We focus on this time period being a time of great movement of people. Students think through motivations for exploring and eventually settling in new parts of the world. We also dive into the relationships between the natives and explorers/settlers. Students debate who benefitted more from these relationships, the natives or the explorers/settlers. 

SS.3.15 Analyze why and how individuals, businesses, and nations around the world specialize and trade. 

SS.3.23 Compare and contrast conflicting historical perspectives about a past event or issue. 

Roanoke

One of the first attempts at establishing a settlement in the New World is one of our nation's greatest mysteries. During this unit students will learn about the motivations to stay or go to this settlement. They will learn of the challenges these settlers faced, and they will work to form their own opinion of what they believe happened to this lost colony. 

SS.3.25 Explain probable causes and effects of events and developments.

SS.3.26 Develop a claim about the past based on cited evidence. 

Jamestown

Another attempt at settlement is more successful this go around. Students will learn about the different roles within a settlement that would help the settlement be more successful. More colonies are to follow after Jamestown. 

SS.3.10 Explain how rules and laws impact society. 

SS.3.11 Provide examples of historical and contemporary ways that societies have changed.

Colonization and Expansion

There were different motivations for people to move to the colonies. Students will explore these, and we will take it a step further as we look how there was a movement of people west across the United States. 

SS.3.8 Describe the effects, opportunities, and conflicts that happened when people from different social groups came into contact with each other. 

Iowa History

We will explore the movement of people in to Iowa. We will discover different motivations and patterns. 

*Other standards are included in each unit, but listed above are the main focus of each unit. 

Physical Science

Students will learn more about force (pushes and pulls), motion (regular and random), and magnets. There are many activities we will do to help us learn more about these concepts, such as building bridges, constructing catapults, and build an electromagnet. 

PS2A - I can explain the pattern of motion. 

Life Science

Students will learn more about plant an animal life cycles. We will make connections for how these cycles are similar and different. Students will also learn more about inherited traits and acquired traits. We will also learn more about ecosystems, how ecosystems change, and how these changes effect the living and nonliving parts of the ecosystem. One of the most exciting parts of this unit is planting tickle me plants. Third graders plant the seeds, track their growth and make observations as they proceed in the life cycle, and then take home their plant. 

LS1B - I can explain the growth and development of plants.  

Weather

Students will learn more about the difference between weather and climate. We will learn about the different climate zones and which zone we live in. Students will also dig into the weather disasters of hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods. They will go through the engineering process to plan, construct, and test a house they constructed to withstand the weather disaster. Throughout the year students also create a bar graph of the temperature each day of school and analyze their data each month. Towards the end of the school year they will put their graphs together to analyze the data and patterns from the school year. 

ESS2D - I can explain the weather and climate for an area. 

Science and Engineering

Throughout the school year we work with different science and engineering standards within each unit. 

S&E - I can analyze and interpret data. 

S&E - I can obtain, evaluate, and communicate information. 

S&E - I can plan and carry out investigations. 

S&E - I can ask questions and define the problem. 

S&E - I can construct explanations and design solutions.