Half Hollow Hills CSD Science Department
GRADE: 3 UNIT: Plants Essential Question
How does the structure and function of plants enable them to survive and interact in the environment?
New York State Standards/Key Ideas:
Standard 4: Students will understand and apply scientific concepts, principles, and theories pertaining to the physical setting and living environment and recognize the historical development of ideas in science. KEY IDEA 1: Living things are both similar to and different from each other and nonliving things. KEY IDEA 4: The continuity of life is sustained through reproduction and development. KEY IDEA 5: Organisms maintain a dynamic equilibrium that sustains life. KEY IDEA 6: Plants and animals depend on each other and their physical environment.
New York State Performance Indicators: • Describe the characteristics of living and nonliving things. • Describe the life processes common to all living things. • Describe how the structures of plants and animals complement the environment of the plant or animal. • Describe the major stages in the life cycles of selected plants and animals. • Describe evidence of growth, repair, and maintenance in plants. • Describe some survival behaviors of common living specimens. • Describe how plants and animals, including humans, depend upon each other and the nonliving environment. • Describe the relationship of the sun as an energy source for living and nonliving cycles
GRADE 3
Plants
Major Understandings:
Students will understand that:
• Plants require air, water, nutrients and light in order to live and thrive. • Non living things can be human created or naturally created . • Living things grow, take in nutrients, breathe, reproduce, eliminate waste, and die. • Some traits of living things have been inherited, i.e. color of flowers. • Plants and animals closely resemble their parents and other individuals in their species. • Plants and animals can transfer specific traits to their offspring when they reproduce. • Each plant has different structures that serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction: i.e. roots, leaves, stems, flowers, seeds. • In order to survive in their environment, plants and animals must be adapted to their environment, i.e. seed dispersal, leaf, flower, root, and stem adaptations may include variations in size, shape, thickness, color, smell, and texture. • Each kind of plant goes through its own stages of growth and development that may include seed, young plant, and mature plant. • The length of time from beginning of development to death of a plant is called its life span. • Growth is the process by which both plants and animals increase in size. • Food supplies the energy and materials necessary for growth and repair. • An organisms external physical features can enable it to carry out life functions in its particular environment. • Plants respond to changes in their environment. For example, the leaves of some green plants change position as the direction of light changes; the parts of some plants undergo seasonal changes that enable the plant to grow; seeds germinate and leaves form and grow. • The health, growth, and development of organisms are affected by environmental conditions such as the availability of food, air, water, space, shelter, heat and sunlight.
GRADE 3
Plants
• Green plants are producers because they provide the basic food supply for themselves and animals. • All animals depend on plants. • Animals that eat plants for food may in turn become food for other animals. This sequence is called a food chain. • Decomposers are living things that play a vital role in recycling nutrients. • When the environment changes, some plants and animals survive and reproduce, and others die or move to new locations. • Plants manufacture food by utilizing air, water and energy from the sun. • The Sun’s energy is transferred on Earth from plants to animals through the food chain.
Essential Questions: • • • • • • • • • • •
What do plants need to survive? How do plants take in nutrients? What is the life cycle of a plant? What is the function of each plant part? How do they make food? How is seed disbursement important to the survival of plants? How do plants adapt to their environment? How does the environment affect the growth of plants. How are plants and animals dependent on each other? How are plants and animals affected by the energy from the sun? What are the effects of plants on the Earth’s ecosystem? What are the different kinds of plants that exist on Earth?
GRADE 3
Plants
Students will know: The parts of plants and their functions and the life cycle of a plant. That plants are connected to the food chain. All living things are interdependent. Plant growth depends on seed dispersal and the various means of dispersal. • The environment has positive and negative effects on plant growth and development. • There is a relationship between all living things and the sun’s energy. • Students will know key terms: Vocabulary: embryo dicot pollination fibrous root decompose ovary seedling prop root germinate ovule spores cotyledon interdependence pistil offspring chlorophyll herbivore anther stigma filament life cycle photosynthesis tuber bulb monocot dispersal taproot ecosystems • • • •
Skills:
Students will be able to: • Describe the characteristics of living and nonliving things. • Describe life processes common to all living things. • Draw and label the parts of a plant. • Describe the function and importance of each plant part. · adaptation • Grow plants and perform experiments to demonstrate their knowledge of how plants adapt to their environment. • Record and describe stages of development and other life functions such as movement and respiration. • Chart and graph plant growth. • Design and create their own food chain. • Evaluate the importance and necessity of sunlight, water, and nutrients. • Investigate the various methods of seed dispersal.
Half Hollow Hills CSD Science Department
Unit: Plants
Grade: 3
MINILESSON 1 Parts Of A Plant Activity: Plant Parts Chart; Diagram Parts Of A Plant; Activity: Celery Experiment United Streaming: Plant Parts And Their Uses
MINILESSON 2 What A Plant Needs To Live Activity: What Plants Need United Streaming: What Plants Need To Live; The Magic School Bus Gets Planted
MINILESSON 3 Parts Of A Flower Activity: Diagram Of A Flower; Activity: Dissect A Flower United Streaming: The World Of Plants: Our Flowering World
MINILESSON 4 Seeds – All About & Parts Activity 2; Activity: A Trip Inside A Bean Seed; Seeds Worksheet United Streaming: The Magic School Bus Goes To Seed
MINILESSON 5 How Seeds Travel Activity: Seeds Travel Worksheet; Sorting Seeds United Streaming: How Seeds Disperse – Here, There, And Everywhere
MINILESSON 6 Plants – Life Cycle Activity 3; Activity: The Empty Pot; Activity 4 United Streaming: Plants Life Cycle
MINILESSON 7 Plant Adaptations United Streaming: How Plants Adapt
MINILESSON 8 Photosynthesis United Streaming: Photosynthesis
MINILESSON 9 Plants In The Food Chain United Streaming: The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten
MINILESSON 10 Relationship Between Plants, Animals & People Activity 1
MINILESSON 11 Effects Of The Environment On Plants
Half Hollow Hills CSD K-5 Science Unit Assessment
UNIT: Plants Performance Level
Measurable Skill
GRADE LEVEL: 3
The performance level measures knowledge and understanding of the science concepts being taught in this unit. The following items should be considered when determining student performance level: Formal Assessments- tests, quizzes, graded assignments, labs & projects Informal Assessments- discussions, observations, trivia, journal A student who consistently displays this skill will:
Uses Inquiry and observation skills to generate a hypothesis
• •
Applies skills: gathers, classifies, measures, and records data
•
Communicates scientific ideas effectively using content specific vocabulary
•
Makes generalizations, draws logical conclusions, analyzes and interprets data
• • •
•
•
•
Specific Unit Indicator
Ask and answer “why” questions Observe, discuss, record and compare observations Formulate a hypothesis based on observations and background knowledge
Students will predict how seeds will travel based on their shape
Contribute to the development of a plan to test their hypothesis Carry out the proposed plan; collect, measure and record data
Students will measure, chart and graph plant growth over time
Communicate their findings in a variety of ways Use science vocabulary appropriate for the level and unit
Students will explain how plants make their own food
Connect their findings to the real world Ask and answer “what if” questions Make predictions based on collected data
Students will generate a list of “what If” questions relating to their study of plants
After observation of plants, students will predict the function of each part of the plant and its importance
Grow plants and perform experiments to demonstrate their knowledge of how plants adapt to an environment
Students will record and describe stages of development
Students will develop their own experiment to test a theory on plants and explain how this experiment relates to and extends this unit Students will investigate the interdependence of plants and humans and discuss why we need to “go green”
Name ___________________________________________
What If …………………. Think like a scientist. Ask a “what if” question on a topic in _______________ and make a prediction based on what you have learned. Ex. What if you place an ice cube on the sidewalk on a sunny day? I predict the ice cube will melt because if you add heat to water in a solid form, it becomes a liquid.
1._______________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ 2._______________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ 3._______________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________
Sample Questions from the 2008 NYS Science Exam that Correlate to the 3rd Grade Science Curriculum 1. a. b. c. d.
Which property of an object is identified using the sense of smell? color odor temperature weight
2. a. b. c. d.
Which type of energy is needed to cut a piece of wood into smaller pieces with a saw? light heat sound mechanical
3. a. b. c. d.
What force causes objects to be pulled toward Earth? friction gravity light electricity
4. When a rock is placed in a graduated cylinder containing water, the height of the water will‌ a. decrease b. increase c. remain the same 5. a. b. c. d.
Which energy transformation occurs when a person hits a drum with a drumstick? electrical to light sound to electrical light to mechanical mechanical to sound
6. A student rubs her hands together on a cold winter day. The heat that warms her hands is produced by... a. friction b. gravity c. light d. magnetism 7. a. b. c. d.
Which property of a rubber band will stay the same when it is stretched? shape length mass width
8. a. b. c.
In which state of matter does water have a definite shape and volume? gas liquid solid
9. a. b. c. d.
Which part of a plant takes in water and nutrients from the soil root stem flower leaf
10. What is the major source of energy for food chains? a. water b. air c. sunlight d grass