• 3rd Grade 

    Unit 1: Playground Forces 

    Essential Question: What happens when several different forces push or pull an object at once? How can an object be pushed or pulled but not move? What do we need to know to predict the motion of objects? How can some objects push or pull one another without even touching?
     
    Big Ideas: 
    • Balanced and unbalanced forces
    • Contact interactions: pushes, pulls, friction, elastic, and tension
    • Non-contact interactions: electricity and magnetism

     

    Unit 2: Weather Impacts
     
    Essential Question: What is typical weather in my local region? How does it compare to other areas of California and the world? What weather patterns are common for different seasons? What weather-related hazards are in my region? How can we reduce weather-related hazards?
     
    Big Ideas: 
    • Weather
    • Climate
    • Impacts of weather 
    • Data collection
    • Tools

     

    Unit 3: Life Cycles for Survival

     
    Essential Questions: Why do organisms grow and develop? How do animals' life cycles help them survive? How similar are plants to their siblings and parents? How does being similar to parents help an animal survive? Why d
    o some animals live alone while other live in large groups?
     
    Big Ideas: 
    • Comparative life cycles
    • Inheriting traits
    • Variations in species; survival of the fittest

     

    Unit 4: Surviving in Different Environments
     
    Essential Questions: How does the environment affect living organisms? How do organisms' traits help them survive in different environments? What happens to organisms when the environment changes? 
     
    Big Ideas: 
    • Environmental traits
    • Fossils
    • Group behaviors