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Third Grade Lesson Plans (56 results)

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Flowers Seeking Pollinators
Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-7th
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10 reviews
"European honey bee extracts nectar" by John Severns In this activity, students learn about plant reproduction and use real data to construct explanations about which flowers are the most attractive to different pollinators. Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • 3-LS1-1. Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death.
  • 4-LS1-1. Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
  • MS-LS1-4. Use argument based on empirical evidence and scientific reasoning to support an explanation for how characteristic animal behaviors and specialized plant structures affect the probability of successful reproduction of animals and plants, respectively.
Invent an Insect
Lesson Plan Grade: 2nd-5th
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8 reviews
"Grasshopper" by Ryan Wood There are thousands of species of insects in our world, and each are adapted to survive in their habitat. In this activity, students will learn what an insect is and what some of their adaptations are. Then they will put their knowledge into play by "creating" an insect that is adapted to live in their assigned environment. Read more
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Wind Maze
Lesson Plan Grade: 4th-12th
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2 reviews
Students will explore the elements by designing a wind maze, a device that can direct the wind along a specific path. Learning Objectives Students will: Design and test a wind maze. Consider how to direct the wind down an intended path by creating bends in the maze. Use observations from their tests to compare solutions and iterate on their designs. NGSS Alignment This lesson helps students prepare for these Next Generation Science Standards Performance Expectations: … Read more
Skydive Into Forces
Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd
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7 reviews
Forces, which we might instinctively describe as pushes and pulls, are acting on us at all times, but we cannot always see them. This hands-on lesson offers a fun opportunity to explore "invisible" forces like gravity and air resistance. Students will build parachutes and investigate how they allow skydivers to safely land. Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • 3-PS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to provide evidence of the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces on the motion of an object.
2022 Paper Ball Run Challenge for Grades 3-5
Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-5th
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2 reviews
Add a twist to a classic activity with this fun lesson plan. Your students will design and build a ball run for a ping pong ball using nothing but paper and tape. Their goal is to make the slowest ball run possible. How long can they make it take for the ball to go through their ball run? The 2022 competition is over, but you can see what students built and learn about the winners on the 2022 Engineering Challenge summary page. Teachers, note that middle school and high school … Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • 3-5-ETS1-2. Generate and compare multiple possible solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
Butterfly Algorithms
Lesson Plan Grade: Kindergarten-3rd
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2 reviews
Computational thinking is a problem-solving process that is used in everyday life as well as computer programs. In this lesson, students apply their computational thinking skills to explore the life cycle of a butterfly. They'll create an algorithm, or set of instructions, to model the life cycle of a butterfly. They will write this algorithm using conditionals and then program it on a computer. Learning Objectives Students will: Analyze the life cycle of a butterfly. Develop an algorithm… Read more
Earth's Water: A Drop in Your Cup
Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-5th
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9 reviews
Photo by Tim McCabe, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Our planet's surface may be mostly covered in water, but how much of that can we use? In this activity, students will see how water is distributed across different sources, how much can be used by humans, and will brainstorm ways to decrease their usage of fresh water. Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • 5-ESS2-2. Describe and graph the amounts of salt water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide evidence about the distribution of water on Earth.
Floating Magnets
Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd
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6 reviews
Do your students think making things float in mid-air is a magic trick? Show them how you can do it with science! In this lesson plan they will learn about interactions between magnets and figure out how to make them float. Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • 3-PS2-3. Ask questions to determine cause and effect relationships of electric or magnetic interactions between two objects not in contact with each other.
Food Waste Audit
Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-11th
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4 reviews
"Fresh Food In Garbage Can to Illustrate Waste" by SpeedKingz/Shutterstock.com Have you ever thrown away food after a meal? Have you ever thrown away a whole piece of food? What are some of the reasons you threw away that food? During this Food Waste Audit, students will explore their own impact on our food system. Students will brainstorm solutions to reduce their food waste and be challenged to try out their solution! Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • MS-ESS3-3. Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
Is Coral a Plant or Animal?
Lesson Plan Grade: 2nd-6th
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5 reviews
"Close-up of Coral Polyps" © 2009 Mark Yokohama By building an edible coral polyp, students will learn the anatomy of coral and be able to explain why corals are animals, rather than plants. Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • 4-LS1-1. Construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.
Lifting with a Lever
Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-5th
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5 reviews
Can your students lift a book off the floor with just one finger? Find out and learn about simple machines in this fun lesson plan about levers. Read more
NGSS Performance Expectations:
  • 3-5-ETS1-3. Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.
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