Curated OER
Bats: Need Nectar, Will Travel
Beginning wildlife biologists become adult bats, baby bats, snakes, owls, bobcats, or land-clearing developers in a grand role-playing activity. In a large open space, they play a game in which they move to designated areas based on what...
Berkshire Museum
Backyard Rocks
You don't have to travel far to learn about rocks, just step outside, pick up a stone, and begin investigating. After taking a class walk around the school grounds collecting rocks, young scientists practice their skills of observation...
California Academy of Science
Kinesthetic Astronomy: The Meaning of a Year
How many times have you traveled around the sun? Aspiring astronomers grasp what a year is and they differentiate between orbit and rotation by walking around the sun right within your classroom. Place a lamp in the center of the room to...
Curated OER
Earthquakes: Third Grade Lesson Plans and Activities
Introduce third graders to energy waves with a hands-on geology activity, in which they answer questions and compare seismograms in the San Francisco Bay area. After a demonstration that shows how bigger waves indicate a high-intensity...
University of Wisconsin
Designing a Rain Garden
Now it's time for all of the data collected in previous lessons to be applied to the design of a rain garden. This resource can only be used as part of the greater whole, since learners will need to rely on gathered knowledge in order to...
PBS
Take It in Stride
One step at a time, pupils practice their measurement techniques as they analyze their stride length. They design their own procedures for measuring and relate their stride measurements to the distance traveled by making calculations.
Curated OER
On the Trail of the Hudson's Migratory Fish
Using data related to the fish in the Hudson River area, learners calculate distance, elapsed time, and growth. They learn about migratory fish, the life cycle of a fish, analyze a map, and answer questions.
Curated OER
A Whaling Voyage
Students plot the track of a whaling voyage and relate it to ocean currents. They need to explain and use latitude and longitude to plot ship positions on the globe.
Curated OER
Seed Dispersal
Students explore seed dispersal by designing their own wind dispersed seed structure. Using one piece of paper and a box fan, they construct a seed dispersal structure, record the distance their seed travels, and answer discussion...
Curated OER
Liftoff Into Space
Students explore the history of space exploration. In this history of space exploration instructional activity, students create a timeline of space exploration. Students watch a space video and discuss important events. Students research...
Curated OER
Sound
Students identify sources and importance of sound, discuss sounds heard on way to school, explain why sound waves can be "seen", and participate in various classroom activities and experiments that illustrate how sound travels.
Curated OER
Waterdrops Water Cycle
In this earth science worksheet, learners read an article about the water cycle. Then they continue the story about the travels of a water droplet through time and space. Students also complete sentences by writing in the correct word...
Curated OER
What Lives in the Open Ocean and Where Do They Live?
Young scholars explore oceanography by participating in a flash card activity. In this ocean inhabitant lesson, students define a list of ocean related vocabulary terms and answer ocean geography study questions. Young scholars utilize...
Curated OER
Apple: Seed to Tree
Students grow seeds of an apple and learn about Johnny Appleseed. In this apples lesson plan, students map Johnny Appleseed's travels, learn how he got his name, compare different Johnny Appleseed books, and grow apple seeds themselves.
Curated OER
Blow and Go
Young scholars discover how air can move things by using their breath. In this physics lesson, students hypothesize then attempt to move a pencil 1 meter using nothing but their breath. Young scholars record data from their experiment...
Curated OER
What Can We Lose? What Do We Lose as we Gain Force With A Lever?
Third graders view a demonstration of a teeter totter as a basis for assessing pre-knowledge of a lever. They create a KwL chart. Students work in small groups to conduct a variety of experiments. The first requires students to tie books...
Curated OER
Flying With Mathematics!
Third graders fly miniature airplanes to discover characteristics related to velocity and average speed. After measuring the time and distance of their flights, 3rd graders calculate the average velocity of their planes.
Curated OER
Last Year on Pluto
Students examine the astronomical concept of a year. They relate the passage of time on planets to historical events in the USA.
NASA
Soda Straw Rockets
Three, two, one, blast off to a better understanding of force and motion with this exciting science lesson! Beginning with a discussion about rockets and gravity, young scientists go on to complete a series of worksheets about net forces...
Curated OER
Sounds Like Great Science!
A phenomenal lesson on sound is here for your third graders! In it, learners engage in hands-on activities, watch video, take part in Internet activities, and complete tasks in cooperative groups in order to explore the world of sound...
Curated OER
Understanding Waves
Pupils examine the physical properties of waves to explore the word crest and trough. They use toys to study waves in air, water and light.
NASA
Earth, Earth’s Moon, Mars Balloons
Very specific diameters are given for blowing up three different balloons to represent, in scale, the moon, Earth, and Mars. In groups of three, amateur astronomers explore scale measurements and distance in space.
Curated OER
Reading Miss Lady Bird's Wildflowers
Students discover the impact "Lady Bird" Johnson had on America by reading a short biography. In this historical persons lesson plan, students read a multi page biography of the former first lady and write a summary of her life's work....
Curated OER
Things That Glow
Third graders study the concept of light as an energy source. In this energy lesson students participate in a lab that show them the concept of light as an energy source.