This parent guide supports parents in helping their child at home with the 3rd grade Science content.

This resource accompanies our Rethink 3rd Grade Science course. It includes ideas for use, ways to support exceptional children, ways to extend learning, digital resources and tools, tips for supporting English Language Learners and students with visual and hearing impairments. There are also ideas for offline learning. 

This resource is a 4 day, 3rd grade unit on Soil and Plants.Profile image: soil by Creative Mania from the Noun Project

This resource is a 4 day, 3rd grade unit on Soil and Plants.This resource has been enhanced with a section of resources including activities and digital learning opportunities.

In this activity students compare plant growth under two conditions. Through the activity students will observe the life cycle of seed plants and determine in which conditions plants grow well. Students will also collect data such as number of days to germination for each plant and daily plant height.

In this field investigation activity, students compare various soil samples taken from specific locations. Students create a controlled experiment, using a step-by-step procedure.

In this activity, students will measure off a 2' by 2' square area and examine the soil and its components in the designated area.

In this multi-age lesson, students will work with an upper elementary partner to collect and observe soil samples from the school grounds. They will divide a paper plate into four sections and label them animals, pllants, rocks and other and dissect their soil, placing what they find on the labeled paper plate sections. At the end of the lesson, students discuss as a group what they found in the soil.

Students will create experimental conditions in terrariums in order to study what plants need to live. Students will record the growth of radish plants as well as the observations of the water cycle in the terrariums.

Students will investigate soils and learn about soil texture, soil water-holding capacity, and other properties of soils.

In this lesson students review the concept of the 4 R's and what they have done, and can do, to make the world a more beautiful place. Students will explore how nature sets a good recycling example by analyzing earthworms. As a culminating project, students will make a mini-compost bin to take home. A unit post-assessment is conducted using the pie graph or anchor charts from the first lesson in the unit. This lesson was developed by Lee Ann Smith as part of their completion of the North Carolina Global Educator Digital Badge program. This lesson plan has been vetted at the local and state level for standards alignment, Global Education focus, and content accuracy.

This article starts with interesting facts about corn. The two next sections focus on the history of corn as a cultivated plant and the multitude of corn varieties and adaptations. The text is written for native speakers age 8 and up.

This content resource builds students' knowledge and conceptual understanding about plants through interactive activities, printable worksheets, and hands-on explorations. There are six investigation cases for students to complete; each case examines a different aspect of plant life, including plant structures, life cycles and reproduction, proper environmental conditions for growth, and ecological importance. Supplemental background information and a teacher's guide with suggestions for using the materials in the classroom are also provided. A Spanish version of the web site is available.

In this lesson, students examine soil and determine which soil will be the best for plant growth. The students will also investigate the effect of sunlight on plants and the importance of sunlight in producing chlorophyll.

In this activity students will work to classify soil as sand, silt, or clay.

In this lesson, students will investigate how forests maintain water absorption and how people have altered the forests' ability to replenish groundwater.

In this lesson, students will visit three investigation sites and perform an infiltrometer investigation at each site.

In this lesson, students investigate different types of local soil and rock samples collected form the school grounds. Printable student task cards and recording/observation sheets are included with the lesson. Formtaive assessment ideas are also provided.

In this activity, students collect soil samples and use a simple procedure dividing the soil into clay, sand, silt, and humus.

This activity is a guided inquiry investigation where students gather data on which soil is the best for growing plants. Student will interpret their data, and develop a conclusion from the data. The student will determine which type of soil they would like to use in the next activity of making their own terrariums. The data collected could lead to further questions, which can be investigated in some extension activities.

This resource supports English language development for English language learners. Students help Detective LePlant to solve the mystery of soil: find out what soil is, why it is important, what types of living organisms can be found in and around soil, and in what kinds of soil plants grow. A window opens to define vocabulary words in English with an option in Spanish. The case has a case brief, facts, a quiz, and activities such as classifying the components of soil. This lesson is available in Spanish, also.

In this short video and accompanying activity and readings, students learn about Longleaf Pine Ecosystems by exploring Weymouth Woods Sandhills Nature Preserve in North Carolina.

This lesson introduces students to the natural resources that help plants grow. Students will work in small groups to explore natural resource items and discuss their importance to humans. The teacher then shares with students a booklet about the natural environment, which provides information via a series of concept maps and allows recording of students' experiences and thoughts through both writing and drawing. Students will also read, discuss, and illustrate booklets about seeds and plants.

I bribed my family with brownies to participate in an educational game night! In this video, we play a farm-themed word association game called Expression Connections taken from the Food, Land, and People curriculum. Try it out with your own family or classroom, and discover how many connections exist between you and the food that you eat!

Correlations to NC Essential Standards: Depends on how the lesson is adapted, but there is a lot of flexibility in this activity to be adapted to many standards in Science, Language Arts, and Social Studies.

Students will place a peat pot in water to observe and calculate the rate of capillarity in a model of a soil. This task assesses students' abilities to make simple observations; collect, record, and represent data; use a data table to represent data; apply mathematics to solve for an unknown; use a graph to represent data; and draw conclusions from experiments.

This resource is a compilation of text, videos, and other elements to create a scaffolded 5E learning experience for students. In this lesson, students explore how the basic properties and components of soil support the growth and survival of plants.

Students will determine which of several soil samples are most permeable. This task assesses students' abilities to make simple observations, collect, organize, and represent data, make conclusions from that data, and generalize about scientific concepts.

In this lesson, students will investigate the differences between three to five types of soil, will understand how particle size affects water movement and use, will explain how soil use can be improved through use of rain gardens, will describe community benefits of rain gardens.

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 3rd Grade Science. 

This course was created by the Rethink Education Content Development Team. This course is aligned to the NC Standards for 3rd Grade Science.

In this virtual resource, students will explore soil texture on their school ground, and demonstrate the connection between texture and plant growth through a kinesthetic activity.

The wakelet site features videos demonstrating hands-on activities for students to complete at school in small, socially-distanced settings. Activities may also be adapted for at-home learning. Some activities incorporate an outdoor component, acknowledging the need to balance screen time with green time to support mental health. Tips for taking your students outside can be found here: https://education.eol.org/cnc_materials/TipsForTeachingOutside.pdf

In this three-month project, students investigate the best conditions for growing plants. Students create a problem statement, develop a study plan, test their ideas and use construction technology and computer technology as tools for research, planning, recording data and communicating.

Students will test different types of soil to determine which is best for growing plants.

In this hands-on activity students sort a soil sample. They will observe the basic components of soil and relate the components to plant growth.

In this activity students will create a soil profile and examine soil texture and water holding capacity.

The activities in Underground Adventure guide students through an outdoor field study of soil life and some of the variables that affect soil biodiversity. Through these activities, students will gain experience in scientific skills such as hypothesis, observation, and inference. When done together as a unit of study, the activities are designed to help students answer this research question: What is the relationship between the soil's physical properties, environmental and human factors, and soil biodiversity?

Healthy soil is the foundation of a healthy ecosystem, and is inextricably linked to the biota found beneath the surface. This activity demonstrates an easy way to discover life within the soil.

Students demonstrate how substances are dissolved and transported by water through the soil.