Third Grade Lesson Plans (Page 5)

Volleyball Machine Challenge for Grades 3-5

Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-5th

Teach your students about the engineering design process with this fun lesson plan. They will design and build two "volleyball machines" that launch a ping pong ball back and forth over a net. While the 2019 Engineering Challenge is over, your students can still try this project and compare their scores to top scores from around the world! Teachers, note that middle school and high school versions of this lesson plan are also available. Looking for this year's challenge? Check out our… 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.

Water Striders: Survival Adaptations

Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd

How do water striders skip across the surface of the water? What advantage does this give them over other insects that helps them survive in their environment? Your students will find out in this lesson as they build their own insects from pieces of wire, and see which ones sink and which ones float. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

3-LS4-3. Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.

Weather: Can You Measure Wind?

Video Lesson Grade: 3rd

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Wind is a part of our everyday weather. Its strength can range from a soft breeze to a violent storm. In this lesson, students learn how to measure wind speed by building anemometers (wind speed meters) from paper cups and straws and experimenting with them. Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

3-ESS2-1. Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.

How High Can a Super Ball Bounce?

Lesson Plan Grade: Kindergarten-5th

Students determine the coefficient of restitution (or the elasticity) for super balls. Working in pairs, they drop balls from a meter height and determine how high they bounce. They measure, record and repeat the process to gather data to calculate average bounce heights and coefficients of elasticity. Then they extrapolate to determine the height the ball would bounce if dropped from much higher heights.Engineering Connection Mechanical engineers select materials that meet… Read more

NGSS Performance Expectations:

3-PS2-2. Make observations and/or measurements of an object's motion to provide evidence that a pattern can be used to predict future motion.

Kinesthetic Astronomy: Birthday Stars

Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-8th

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"Star" © 2014 Tom Hall Constellations have been used for centuries for navigation and time keeping. In this interactive lesson, students will learn the difference between their sun sign and their birthday stars. Read more

Kinesthetic Astronomy: Mars Opposition Dance

Lesson Plan Grade: 2nd-8th

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"The Plane of the Ecliptic" © 2017 NASA Because of the different amounts of time it take for Mars and the Earth to each orbit the sun, it sometimes may look like Mars is traveling backwards. In this interactive lesson, students will learn what "retrograde" and "opposition" means in astronomy while modeling this phenomenon. Read more

Kinesthetic Astronomy: Moon Phases

Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-8th

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"Full Moon 2010" © Gregory H. Revera You'll be surprised at how many misconceptions you can debunk by modeling the phases of the moon with a light and a styrofoam ball! Read more

Kinesthetic Astronomy: The Meaning of a Year

Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-8th

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Macroinvertebrate Manor

Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-5th

"Earthworms!" © 2009 Yun Huang Yong Let's construct a home for macroinvertebrates! Third graders observe the manor discovering which organisms can survive well and how they change when their environment changes. Fifth graders develop a model to describe the manor and the movement of matter among the plants, animals, decomposers and the environment. This project is designed to span a month or longer. Read more

Patterns of the Moon

Lesson Plan Grade: 3rd-5th

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Computational thinking is a problem-solving process that is used in everyday life as well as in computer programs. In this lesson, students apply their computational thinking skills to understand the patterns of the moon. Students will use past data patterns to predict a new month's moon cycle. They will then use these patterns to modify a Scratch program and showcase their learning. Learning Objectives Students will: Analyze the moon cycle of a previous month. Use the data patterns to… Read more

Third Grade Lesson Plans (56 results)

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