A third-grade trip to the Outdoor Lab
The focus of science in third grade is interactions in our world. Students look at how plants and animals, including humans, are constantly interacting with living and nonliving aspects of the environment. This includes examining how adaptations satisfy life needs and the importance of water, soil, and the sun in the survival of plants and animals.
Key Ideas of Third Grade Experiences:
Aquatic and Terrestrial Habitats
Students learn how living organisms are part of a system and interact with other living organisms and their surroundings. Organisms possess physical characteristics and behaviors that enable them to survive in their environment and obtain resources to meet basic needs and carry out life processes.
- Adaptations are physical features or behaviors that aid organisms in survival.
- A population is a group of organisms of the same kind that live in the same place.
- For populations to survive, their life needs must be met. This includes finding food, defending themselves, and reproducing.
- Physical adaptations help animals survive in their environment. An example is camouflage, a means by which animals escape the notice of predators, usually because of a resemblance to their surroundings using coloration or outer coverage patterns. Another example of a physical adaptation is the webbed feet of a swimming bird such as a duck or snapping turtle.
Living vs Non-Living parts
Ecosystems are diverse in both their living and nonliving components. These complex environments lead to a diversity of organisms that engage in a variety of relationships as they strive to meet life needs.
- Students observe that living things are a part of a system that provides resources necessary for survival and how food chains/webs can illustrate the energy pathways in an ecosystem.
Soil
Soil is often referred to as dirt; however, it is a complex combination of organic and inorganic materials. Soil is composed of different components that have properties that support organisms within an ecosystem.
- Soil is composed of different components that have properties that support organisms within an ecosystem.
- Soil is important because it provides support, nutrients, and a habitat for plants and animals to live and grow
- Rock, clay, silt, sand, humus, air, and water are components of soil
- Evidence of erosion in areas throughout the Lab site.
Water Cycle
Water is essential to Earth processes
- Water is essential for life on Earth. The water cycle is important because its process provides Earth with the natural, continual water supply all living things need to survive. We see evidence of water collection in different forms across the Lab site.
Conservation
Human behaviors can negatively affect organisms and their habitats. Conservation practices can lessen the effects of human activity and natural disasters on the environment.
A variety of factors can affect an ecosystem; human actions may reduce the effects of these factors on an ecosystem.
- Humans can make choices that reduce their impact on an environment.
- The water supply on Earth is limited. Pollution reduces the amount of usable water; therefore, the supply should be conserved.
- Conservation is the careful use and preservation of natural resources. Humans need to help conserve limited resources.
