Rockaway Township Public Schools
Science Literacy Unit Plan
Life Science:
Grade 3 - Adaptations
Unit Title:
21st Century Theme:
Time Frame:
Adaptations for Life
First Quarter
9.1 - Critical Thinking & Problem Solving
Communication and Media Fluency
Standard:
5.3 Life Science: Life science principles are powerful conceptual tools for making sense of the complexity, diversity, and
interconnectedness of life on Earth. Order in natural systems arises in accordance with rules that govern the physical world, and the
order of natural systems can be modeled and predicted through the use of mathematics.
Strands:
A. Organization and Development: Living organisms are
composed of cellular units (structures) that carry out
functions required for life. Cellular units are composed of
molecules, which also carry out biological functions.
B. Matter and Energy Transformations: Food is required for
energy and building cellular materials. Organisms in an
ecosystem have different ways of obtaining food, and some
organisms obtain their food directly from other organisms.
C. Interdependence: All animals and most plants depend on
both other organisms and their environment to meet their
basic needs.
D. Heredity and Reproduction: Organisms reproduce,
develop, and have predictable life cycles. Organisms contain
genetic information that influences their traits, and they
pass this on to their offspring during reproduction.
E. Evolution and Diversity: Sometimes, differences between
organisms of the same kind provide advantages for surviving
and reproducing in different environments. These selective
differences may lead to dramatic changes in characteristics
of organisms in a population over extremely long periods of
time.
Cumulative Progress Indicator Number(s):
5.3.4.A.1 – Develop and use evidence-based criteria to
determine if an unfamiliar object is living or nonliving.
5.3.4.A.2 - Compare and contrast structures that have
similar functions in various organisms, and explain how
those functions may be carried out by structures that have
different physical appearances.
5.3.4.B.1 - Almost all energy (food) and matter can be
traced to the Sun.
5.3.4.C.1- Predict the biotic and abiotic characteristics of an
unfamiliar organism’s habitat. (introduce only)
5.3.4.D.1 - Compare the physical characteristics of the
different stages of the life cycle of an individual organism
and characteristics of stages among species.
5.3.4.E.1- Model an adaptation to a species that would
increase its chances of survival, should the environment
become wetter, dryer, warmer, or colder over time.
5.3.4.E.2 - Evaluate similar populations in an ecosystem with
regard to their ability to thrive and grow.
Rockaway Township Public Schools
Science Literacy Unit Plan
Life Science:
Grade 3 - Adaptations
Rockaway Township Goals:
Living organisms are made of cells that:
Grow and develop in a predictable manner
Interact with and cause changes in their environment.
Exchange and release materials (such as gases, nutrients, water, and waste) with the environment.
Release energy
Reproduce
Essential functions required for the well-being of an organism are carried out by specialized structures in plants and animals.
Identify sources of energy (food) in a variety of settings (farm, zoo, ocean, forest).
Organisms can only survive in environments in which their needs are met.
Within ecosystems, organisms interact with and are dependent on their physical and living environment.
Animals have life cycles (begin life, develop into adults, reproduce, and eventually die).
The characteristics of each stage of life vary by species.
Individuals of the same species may differ in their characteristics, and sometimes these differences give individuals an advantage in
surviving and reproducing in different environments.
In any ecosystem, some populations of organisms thrive and grow, some decline, and others do not survive at all.
Essential Question
In what ways do organisms interact within ecosystems?
How is matter transformed, and energy
transferred/transformed in living systems?
What do all living things have in common?
Enduring Understandings
Living organisms have a variety of observable features that
enable them to obtain food and reproduce.
All organisms transfer matter and convert energy from one
form to another.
All animals and most plants depend on both other
organisms and their environments for their basic needs.
Organisms reproduce, develop, have predictable life
cycles, and pass on some traits to their offspring.
Sometimes differences between organisms of the same
kind give advantages in surviving and reproducing in
different environments.
Rockaway Township Public Schools
Science Literacy Unit Plan
Life Science:
Grade 3 - Adaptations
Unit Learning Targets:
The Students will be able to…
Identify, group, and compare living, nonliving, and once living
organisms. (NOTE: seeds are the “potential” for life)
Make a presentation providing “proof” for the groups
made of living, nonliving, and once living organisms.
Critique the claims made by other students about
grouping living, nonliving, and once living organisms.
Examine and compare a variety of ecosystems.
Categorize and justify, with evidence, organisms
within an ecosystem according to the function they
serve as producers, consumers, or decomposers.
Identify environmental factors that are essential to
growth and reproduction of organisms in an
ecosystem.
Conduct investigations to simulate terrestrial and
aquatic ecosystems and their interdependence.
Observe, describe, and explain the complete life cycle of a
crayfish and/or beetle in the classroom, from egg, to young,
to mature adult, to death.
Observe and recognize that life cycle stages are
predictable and describable (use live specimens or
digital media).
Discuss and describe how physical appearances can
differ and still remain within the same species (i.e.
what traits are common to all species).
Predict, determine, and explore how one species’
variations may impact their survival under a variety
of conditions.
Identify living organisms based on similarity of
Suggested Activities:
Including Differentiated Strategies (DI)
Create a visual representation that identifies the Sun as a
source of energy and describes the path of energy from the
Sun to producers, then to consumers in the food chain. (3rd
grade text – activities)
Be presented with a number of different objects, some
living, some non-living, and some once-living. They engage
in class discussion, building claims about the objects they
are presented (This object was once living because…), and
critiquing the claims made by other students.
Identify living things & order food chain online
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/scienceclips/ages/8_9/habi
tats.shtml
FOSS – Structures of Life (animal activities only)
Life cycle activities : use Crayfish and beetles from FOSS
kit
“Crail” activity (FOSS)
Bird Beak Adaptions
Food Chain activities terrestrial and aquatic activities to be
added from the 3rd grade textbook
Colleen- Jelly Bean Ecosystem Activity (biodiversity and
habitat destruction)
Adaptations of Living things: ACTIVITY: Tree root
adaptations in the ecosystem
Website Activity
Vanessa -Writing Activity
Extension activities in FOSS kit
Rockaway Township Public Schools
Science Literacy Unit Plan
Life Science:
Grade 3 - Adaptations
features and the environment in which they live.
Resource Materials:
Assessments:
Written:
Your younger brother is convinced that a car is a living thing.
NJCCS.org Resources:
He explains the evidence for his claim to you, providing
evidence that it moves, eats gas, makes noise, and releases
Annenberg Media’s Teachers’ Resources offer short video
gas waste. He thinks the car’s engine is the heart, the
courses covering essential science content for K-6 teachers.
battery is the nervous system, the hoses and tubes are the
http://www.learner.org/resources/series179.html
circulatory system, and the gas tank is the stomach. At
Teachers’ Domain provides lesson plans and other multimedia
recess, he explained this idea to his friends in his class, and
resources (video clips and simulations) that support this CPI.
half the class agrees with him. While these ideas make
http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.colt.a
some sense, you claim that a car is not a living thing. You
live/
think that more students have the same idea, so you write a
http://www.teachersdomain.ord/resource/tdc02.sci.life.colt.l
fictional story that explains the essential characteristics of
p_living/
life.
Draw conclusions from an image of an unfamiliar species
about the species’ habitat based on observations and
comparisons to features of known species, Discuss and
defend claims made about each species’ habitat as a class,
using physical or structural evidence of features (colors,
bone structures, skin textures, etc.) and scientific reasoning.
Discovery Education – www.discoveryeducation.com
Rockaway Township Public Schools
Science Literacy Unit Plan
Life Science:
Grade 3 - Adaptations
Technology Integration:
Interactive websites
Vocabulary:
abiotic factors
behavior
community
ecosystem
habitat
omnivore
resources
terrestrial
adaptations
biotic factors
consumers
environment
habitat destruction
population
solar energy
transfer of energy
aquatic habitat
carnivore
decomposers
food chain
herbivore
producers
structures
Related Literature:
Suggested literature to integrate ILA with Science: http://www.thereadingnook.com/kindergarten2/
Science and Children’s Literature: https://www.msu.edu/~stanawa8/Science%20and%20Children's%20Literature.htm
Science activities Based on Children’s Literature: http://www.ehow.com/list_6197241_science-activities-based-children_sliterature.html