Third Grade - Science

Third-grade students in SFUSD do, talk, read, and write to figure out how the world works. They engage in one hour of science instruction four times a week, starting with a five-lesson launch unit, then four 22-lesson content units. Alternate with history/social studies units throughout the year. 

Students begin to develop their science identities and foundational skills in Launch Unit 0, and then build on them and their content knowledge in the life science, physical science, and earth and space science units that follow.

Prioritize using science to model a sense of awe and wonder about the natural and designed world, and guide students to ask questions, design investigations, and use their observations, data, and text to construct explanations and design solutions to problems.

SEPs are behaviors scientists and engineers engage in to figure out and deepen their understanding of content. Third-grade students predominantly practice:

• Asking questions based on observations about the natural or designed world(s)
• Developing and using models to make sense of science concepts
• Planning and carrying out investigations with guidance and peer collaboration
• Analyzing and interpreting data to describe patterns
• Designing solutions to solve specific engineering problems

DCIs are the fundamental scientific ideas in the four domains: Physical, Life, Earth, and Engineering.

(Continue to view the disciplinary core ideas students figure out through the five third-grade science units.)

Scientists ask questions, make observations, and record their thinking through drawing and writing in science notebooks.

Gravity and magnetism are two invisible forces acting all around us.

Forces can be balanced or unbalanced, which affects the motion of an object.

Some organism traits are inherited and some result from the environment.

Trait variation among individuals of the same species may help some organisms survive when the environment changes.

Meteorologists record patterns of weather across different times and areas in order to predict the weather in a particular season.

CCCs are thinking tools that help students connect the ideas they are learning to ideas used across the science domains. Questions that guide third graders to think across domains include:

• Stability and Change: What makes an object start to move? (Balancing Forces)
• Cause and Effect: Why are some flamingos pink? (Inheritance and Traits)
• Structure and Function: How could the frog’s long legs help it survive? (Environments & Survival)
• Patterns: Which months have the most precipitation? (Weather & Climate) 

• Engage in a Real World Problem
• Collect Evidence from multiple sources (through doing, talking, reading, writing, and visualizing)
• Construct Increasingly Complex Explanations
• Apply Knowledge to Solve a Different Problem

• Mistakes help us grow
• We talk to each other about science
• We can show science and engineering ideas in different ways

Science notebooks are a valuable thinking tool. They allow students to construct their understanding over time through drawing and writing, share their thinking with others, and develop language skills. They act as a storehouse for student observations, questions, and ideas throughout the year!

As scientists and engineers, third-grade students work with others while doing science. They carry out investigations, read and talk about science in pairs so that they can construct knowledge and develop language collaboratively.