2014-2015 Curriculum Blueprint
Grade:
3
Course: Science
Flexible Time Line
Life Science
20 - 25 days
District Unit 6: Big Idea 15 – Diversity and Evolution of Living Organisms
Fourth Quarter
Big Idea Overview
In this Big Idea, students will gain an understanding of plant and animal classifications.
Essential Question for Big Idea 15
How can our knowledge of animal/plant classifications help us to better understand living and non-living things?
Learning Goal
Students will be able to classify plants and animals into major groups.
Unit 6 Professional Development
*Intended as a resource to build the teacher’s background knowledge for the current
unit
Teacher Hints:
Animals Groups: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, arthropods,
vertebrates and invertebrates, those having live births and those which lay
eggs)
Plant Groups: Flowering and non-flowering
Digital Resources:
Annenberg Learning: Life Science
Science Misconceptions
Plants:
 Many students do not associate trees, shrubs and grasses as being
classified as plants.
 Students may not understand that plants can change during the four
seasons.
Animals:
 Students have misconceptions about what is and is not an animal.
Students often do not think insects, humans, or sponges are animals.
 Some students may think all birds fly.
 Some students may think that all mammals give birth to live young.
However, there are two different mammals that lay eggs.
Let’s Activate Students Prior Knowledge
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Think Pair Share – students can talk in cooperative groups about
what types of plants are in nature.
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Think Pair Share – students can talk in cooperative groups about
different classifications of animals.
Revised 3/27/15
Vertical Progression:
Second Grade: SC.2.L14.1
Fourth Grade: Big Idea 15 Not Addressed
Recursive Standards for Big Idea 15
*This is a recursive standard that should be integrated though all standards for this unit.
SC3.N1.1 : (DOK 3) Raise questions about the natural world, investigate them in teams through free exploration and systematic observations, and generate appropriate
explanations based on those explorations.
SC.3.N.1.4 (DOK 2) Recognize the importance of communication among scientists.
SC.3.N.1.5 (DOK 2) Recognize that scientists question, discuss, and check each other’s evidence and explanations.
Standards of Instructional Focus
Big Idea 15 Focus Standard
SC.3.L.15.1 Classify animals into major groups (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, arthropods, vertebrates and invertebrates, those having live births and those which
lay eggs) according to their physical characteristics and behaviors.
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Engage students by asking students how scientists could use physical characteristics and behaviors to group animals (e.g. fur, feathers, number of legs, lay eggs,
nurse young)
Explain the benefits of scientists sharing the same grouping system (classification)
Explore animals in major groups according to their characteristics
Elaborate on the different groups
o Vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals)
o Invertebrates (arthropod – segmented body, jointed legs, and hard outer covering)
o Other categories (live births/egg laying; feathers/scales/fur/skin/outside skeleton; warm-blooded/cold-blooded; lungs/gills, skeleton/hard outer covering)
Evaluate students understanding on classifying major groups of animals.
SC.3.L.15.2 Classify flowering and nonflowering plants into major groups such as those that produce seeds, or those like ferns and mosses that produce spores, according to
their physical characteristics.
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Engage students by asking what two categories you could classify plants
Explain that plants can be categorized by flowering and non-flowering
Explore
o Flowering – marigolds, cacti, apple tree, oak tree
o Non-flowering plants that produce seeds – pine tree, cycad, sago, ginkgo
o Non-flowering plants that produce spores – fern, moss, horsetails, liverworts
Elaborate by classifying plants into major groups based on their physical structures
o Flowering (seed) vs. non-flowering (seeds or spores)
o Seed production vs Spore production
Evaluate students understanding of flowering and non-flowering plants by comparing and contrasting the two groups
Revised 3/27/15
Opportunity for Cross-Curricular Connections
*This section is intended to provide resources for Science integration into other areas of instruction.
Literacy Connections:
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Comprehension Passage – How to Have an Adventure
Comprehension Passage – Animals Get Ready
Comprehension Passage – Extreme Animals Passage and Questions
Literary Text - Actual Size by Steve Jenkins
Literary Text - Slugs by Anthony Fredericks
Literary Text - Gulls…Gulls…Gulls by Gail Gibbons
Literary Text - The Magic School Bus: Insect Invaders
Writing/Thinking Map/Graphic Organizer Connections:
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Create a Bubble Map or similar graphic organizer with an individual animal and/or plant and their characteristics.
Create a Tree Map or similar graphic organizer classifying different plants and/or animals.
Create a Brace Map or similar graphic organizer for invertebrate characteristics.
Create a Double Bubble Map or similar graphic organizer to compare seed plants with spore plants.
Create a Brace Map or similar graphic organizer for parts of a plant.
STEM Connection(s):
Suggested MEA Activity: Animal Habitat - Animal Habitat MEA is where the students will help a pet store choose which habitat they should buy to house their snake and lizard
families. The students will solve an open-ended problem and give details on the process that they used to solve the problem.
Revised 3/27/15
Textbook Support
Additional Teacher Resources
*Be selective in choosing content from the textbook resource that meets
the full intent of the focus standard(s). Using only the textbook will NOT
cover all areas of the focus standard.
*The intent of this section is to provide teachers with additional resources to teach to the full
intent of the standard. They are suggested resources, please use professional discretion to plan
your lesson based on your specific classroom needs.
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Pearson Interactive Science:
Chapter 6, Lessons 1 and 2
Lessons 1-2: Try IT! Explore it! and Directed, Guided, and Open
Inquiry
Differentiated Instruction
BL: Classify Living Things
OL: Classify Plants and Animals
AL: Invertebrates
Vertebrate – animal
with a backbone
Arthropod - animals
that have a hard
covering outside
their body
Flowering Plant plants with seeds
that grow flowers
Invertebrateanimals without a
backbone
Spore – a small cell
that grows into a
new plant
Mammal – warmblooded vertebrates
that usually have
hair, breathe air,
and feed milk to
their young
Diversity – having
many different forms
*Please preview ALL resources before showing them to your class this will ensure appropriate
content for your particular group of students.
Safari Montage Video – All About Plant Pollination: Fruit, Flowers & Seeds
Safari Montage Video – Bill Nye: Plants
Safari Montage Video – The Magic School Bus Gets Planted
Academic Language/Vocabulary
Trait – a feature
passed on to a living
this from its parents
Plant Resources:
Classify – to
arrange into
groups based on
characteristics
Cones – are made
from coniferous
trees instead of
flowers to make
seeds
Amphibians – coldblooded
vertebrates such
as frogs and toads
Non-flowering
plant – plants that
do not grow
flowers to make
seeds
Safari Montage Video – The Magic School Bus Goes to the Seed
Safari Montage Video – Bill Nye: Flowers
Scholastic Study Jams – Plants with Seeds
Scholastic Study Jams – Plants without Seeds
PBS Learning Images – Flowering Plant Images
Animal Resources:
Safari Montage Video – Bill Nye: Mammals
Safari Montage Video – Bill Nye: Marine Mammals
The Happy Scientist – Videos, games, images and more
Scholastic Study Jams – Invertebrates
Scholastic Study Jams – Vertebrates
Scholastic Study Jams – Arthropods
Revised 3/27/15
Higher Order Questions Link to Webb’s DOK Guide
*Question stems should be utilized to create text dependent questions to encourage close reading, speaking, listening, and writing throughout the unit. The following are
suggested Higher Order Questions, please use professional discretion to plan your lesson based on your specific classroom needs.
SC.3.L.15.1 Classify animals into major groups (mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians,
fish, arthropods, vertebrates and invertebrates, those having live births and those
which lay eggs) according to their physical characteristics and behaviors.
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How can you compare and contrast major animal groups?
How can you describe an arthropod?
How can you compare and contrast vertebrates and invertebrates?
How could you show your understanding of major animal groups?
SC.3.L.15.2 Classify flowering and nonflowering plants into major groups such as
those that produce seeds, or those like ferns and mosses that produce spores,
according to their physical characteristics.
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How can you compare and contrast major plant groups?
How can you describe spores?
How can you compare and contrast flowering and non-flowering
plants?
How can differences in plants give some plants advantages over
other plants?
Can you describe how plants change over the four season?
Suggested Formative Assessment Strategy
* Strategy may be used as a tool to observe progress toward mastery of standard(s) taught in this unit.
Strategy:
Description:
First Word – Last Word
First Word-Last Word is a variation of
acrostic poetry. Students construct
statements about a concept or topic before
and after instruction that begins with the
designated letter of the alphabet. The
acrostic format provides a structure for
them to build their idea statements off
different letters that make up the topic
word.
Example:
Revised 3/27/15
Revised 3/27/15