• Driving Question(s): How do living things adapt to change?

• PBL Elements: Sustained Inquiry, Reflection

Students launched into this unit with an exciting inquiry-based activity focused on animal adaptations. Third-grade teachers prepared 10 hands-on stations to simulate different adaptations, such as a bird using its beak to hunt for worms (gummy worms, in this case) or a duck using its webbed feet to swim through water. Students rotated through each station and then reflected on what they learned. As teachers circulated, it was clear that many students already had background knowledge of common adaptations, such as camouflage, which will help them engage with the essential questions of this project-based learning unit. 

• Driving Question(s): How do living things adapt to change?

• PBL Elements: Sustained Inquiry, Reflection

• Common Core Alignment: 

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

    • Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area.

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

Students begin with a K-W-L activity, drawing on what they learned from the Launch Stations and their own prior knowledge. They are invited to share what they "already know" in both English and Spanish. Next, students read grade-level passages (from Benchmark Close Reading Unit 3, "Animal Adaptations") about animals around the globe to build foundational knowledge and vocabulary. They explore how animals such as polar bears, flying frogs, cheetahs, and sloths adapt and survive in their habitats. Students reflect on animals worldwide and consider the challenges they face. 

• Driving Question(s): How do living things adapt to change? What is impacting the survival of wildlife in our community? How can we help wildlife survive and thrive in our community?

• PBL Elements: Challenging Problem, Sustained Inquiry, Authenticity, Student Voice & Choice, Reflection 

• Common Core Alignment: 

  • • Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

    • CAASPP Informational Performance Task Rubric

Students engage with Part 1 of the San Diego Zoo's third-grade educational program, "What's the Buzz?" A program where students participate in hands-on learning, understanding the broader impact of habitat changes on plants and pollinators due to urbanization, and the importance of habitat restoration. Students take home their animal observation sheets to begin tracking the animals that they see in their community and to begin their journey as scientists themselves. Students observe their teachers gather information and craft an informative paragraph on mountain lions. Students start to think about their own informative writing. Students vote on the animal that they would like to research, and begin to dive into their Local Wildlife Research. 

• Driving Question(s): How do living things adapt to change? What is impacting the survival of wildlife in our community? How can we help wildlife survive and thrive in our community?

• PBL Elements: Challenging Problem, Sustained Inquiry, Authenticity, Student Voice & Choice, Reflection

• Common Core Alignment: 

  • • Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

    • CAASPP Informational Performance Task Rubric

The Senior Park Ranger, Timothy Leon, from Los Peñasquitos Canyon Preserve, presents to students on the wildlife that can be found close to their school and community. Leon focuses on the animals that students will be studying throughout their PBL cycle and solidifies students' understandings of: adaptations, habitats, and other vocabulary such as scavenging. Students get to see firsthand different animal adaptations by looking at animal skulls, feeling animal pelts, and observing a taxidermied coyote. Students pre-write questions for Leon based on their research so far. 

• Driving Question(s): What is impacting the survival of wildlife in our community? How can we help wildlife survive and thrive in our community?

• PBL Elements: Challenging Problem, Authenticity, Student Voice & Choice, Reflection, Critique & Revision, Public Product

• Common Core Alignment: 

  • • Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.

    • CAASPP Informational Performance Task Rubric

Students continue to write their informative writing pieces on the animal that they have researched. Students type their writing and add a labeled infographic. Students accompany their writing with a diorama that displays their animal's habitat and other interesting information. Both third-grade classes come together to share their research and writing with one another and celebrate their learning up until this point. 🎉 Students gave compliments to one another on their dioramas.  

Students engage with an Anticipatory Guide to LAUNCH into the action portion of their project-based learning journey. This activity dives into the inquiry aspect of PBL and activates students' brains on animal advocacy and co-existence. Students grapple with the following questions: 

1. Your friend finds a baby lizard and wants to keep it for a pet. Do you think that's okay?

2. A skunk sprayed my dog! Should I put out poison?

3. You see a hungry raccoon and you have leftovers. Is it okay to feed it?

4. The city wants to build a new soccer field right in the middle of the Penasquitos Canyon Preserve. Do you agree?

• Driving Question(s): Driving Question(s): How do living things adapt to change? What is impacting the survival of wildlife in our community? How can we help wildlife survive and thrive in our community?

• PBL Elements: Challenging Problem, Sustained Inquiry

Students put on their investigative hats and head off campus to the San Diego Zoo! Students engage with Part 2 of the San Diego Zoo's third-grade educational program, "What's the Buzz?" A program where students participate in hands-on learning, understanding the broader impact of habitat changes on plants and pollinators due to urbanization, and the importance of habitat restoration. What an amazing opportunity to go behind the scenes and learn more about the real-world issues that many animals and insects face each day in San Diego and what the folks at the San Diego Zoo (and our students) can do to combat these issues.