Robert Frost once said, “You can’t get too much winter in the winter”. So why not go all out and do some fun winter-themed science lessons? Winter is a great time to teach topics like snow, ice, insulators, thermal energy, and extreme weather. There are some simple and engaging winter science activities that third-grade students will love!

explore SNOW AND its HAZARDS

To be sure, not everyone experiences snow in winter, but for many people, winter and snow go hand-in-hand. For some people, blizzards are a regular occurrence during the winter.

To teach about snow and its hazards, there are plenty of great activities. Some of them include reading age-appropriate materials about the topic, doing snowflake art, and creating a plan to prepare for a blizzard. Another fun snow activity is to design a device that will launch a snowball (cotton ball) across the classroom.

For more details on these snow activities, click HERE.

learn about ICE AND its HAZARDS

Ice is another phenomenon that many people experience during the winter. There are some fun ways to teach about ice.

Read about ice and its hazards, then create a city safety plan. Experiment with melting points to see which substances will melt ice the fastest. Complete a STEM challenge using matchbook cars, sandpaper, and ice to teach how slippery ice is. Don’t forget to incorporate art by creating colored ice cubes so students can paint with them.

For more ideas and details about these activities, check out this blog about ice and its hazards. 

what are insulators?

Whether it’s watching a YouTube video, reading nonfiction passages, or doing a STEM challenge, there are plenty of ways to engage students while learning about insulators.

Plus, students can study polar bears and learn how insulators help these arctic animals. Be sure to conduct the experiment where students pretend to be a polar bear by covering their finger or hand with some lard and plunging it into ice water.

Check out this blog for more details and science lessons about insulators.

thermal energy in the winter

For a deeper look at insulation, radiation, and conduction check out this blog all about thermal energy.

Drink a cup of tea or hot cocoa with your students and talk about how the heat transfers from the mug into their cool hands (conduction). Sit around a space heater to get warm (radiation). Make ice and have students melt it in their bare hands so they can experience heat transfer.

There are many fun and budget-friendly options for teaching thermal energy. 

wintertime extreme weather

For many places around the world, winter brings extreme weather. This could take the form of extreme wind, rain, snow, or hail. There are plenty of activities for teaching extreme weather.

Research extreme weather and how people prepare for it. Have students construct a weather-resistant bridge in a Tupperware container and test it to see if it will withstand water being poured around it.

Challenge students to design a weather-resistant shelter that you will “attack” with your hairdryer to simulate extreme wind.

For more details and ideas click HERE and read about Extreme Weather activities for 3rd grade. 

These topics feel natural to teach in the winter since students will likely be seeing these phenomena happening around them. Winter science activities are fun! Enjoy!

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When a cold snap hits, there’s nothing I enjoy more than cuddling with a warm blanket and sitting by a fire with my hands wrapped around a warm beverage. This is an image your students might be able to resonate with as they learn about insulators and conductors. There are some great lessons and hands-on activities to teach the concept of insulators and conductors in third grade.

What is an insulator? What is a conductor?

Thermal energy is energy that comes from heat. Simply put, insulators don’t allow heat to move easily. The thermal energy stays where it is. Conductors allow heat to move easily from one object to another. The thermal energy moves.

The EASY Way to Explore Insulators

Ready to learn about insulators in a way that’s engaging and fun? In just a few clicks you can grab all the science and literacy pieces you need: nonfiction reading, comprehension, and an engaging  STEM challenge all about insulators.

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YouTube Videos

Many of the videos out there about conductors and insulators tend to be about electricity. It’s a little trickier to find videos about heat conductors and heat insulators. But here are a couple that I found:

1. This conductivity experiment by Generation Science will give students a great visual. You might even want to conduct this experiment yourself (pun intended!)

2. Here’s another experiment by Next Generation Science to compare the heat conductivity of glass and metal. 

hunt for conductors and insulators

Take a walk around the classroom or the school to search for conductors and insulators. By seeing real-life examples, students will get a better understanding. You might find things like:

• Insulated mugs

• Jackets and cool-weather gear

• Thin clothing, like a t-shirt

• The classroom windows (Feel them! Are they letting out the heat? Is it coming in?)

polar bears demonstrate insulation

Polar bears have a thick fur coat to help keep them warm, but they also have a solid layer of blubber under their fur to retain more warmth. Their black skin absorbs the sunlight which also helps them stay warm. This age-appropriate reading passage about polar bears is a great way to teach students about insulators.

polar bear insulation experiment

After reading about polar bears, it’s time to become a polar bear! Fill a large bowl or basin with water and ice. Then have students cover their finger or hand with lard…that’s right, it’s time to break out the Cristo!

Students can submerge their fingers or hand into the ice water to see how the lard insulates. Then have students stick their “un-larded” hand into the bowl to feel the temperature difference. While this is a messy experiment, it’s fun and it’s memorable!

experiment - testing insulators

Learn about insulators and conductors - then test your knew knowledge in a STEM challenge!

Doing hands-on activities is a great way to reinforce learning. Have students insulate a beaker full of hot water using various materials, such as felt, fabric, tin foil, newspaper, and Styrofoam.

By following the scientific method, students can test a variety of materials to see which is the better insulator. For a more detailed description, check out Insulators and Conductors.

Slow Melting

Insulators and conductors can also keep things from thawing. By doing this insulator experiment from TeachEngineering, students can test which insulators will keep ice frozen the longest.

While the topic of conductors and insulations might initially seem complicated, real-life examples and hands-on activities are a great way to demonstrate the concept to kids. Have fun!

What do you think about when you see snow in the forecast? Snowflakes falling from the sky? Children building snowmen? A snow day closure at school? Back pain from shoveling? Terrible driving conditions? Snow has its ups and downs for sure! Regardless of your thoughts about snow, there are some awesome science activities about snow for third grade!

What is Snow? Why is it Hazardous?

Snow is made from water vapor (a form of gas) in clouds high in the sky. When temperatures in a cloud drop below freezing, the water vapor freezes to form crystals. If the cloud gets too heavy, these crystals will fall as snow.

While snow is beautiful and fun to play in, it also creates hazards. These hazards include dangerous driving conditions, damage to homes and powerlines, and whiteout conditions.

Ways to prepare for these conditions could be staying inside, dressing warmly, having flashlights handy, and having a supply of non-perishable food and bottled water. 

Snow Science and Literacy

Learn all about snow with this easy-to-teach lesson set.

Scripted lessons… check!
Nonfiction Reading… check!
Hands-On Science Experiment… check!
Assessment… check!

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Videos about Snow

Here are a few videos about snow and snow hazards:

1. Peekaboo Kidz - The Dr Binocs Show “SNOWFLAKES”

2. SciShow Kids - Where Do Snowflakes Come From?

3. SciShow Kidz - What is a Blizzard?

4. FreeSchool - What Makes it Snow?

Snow and Blizzards Nonfiction Reading

Reading about snow and blizzards is a great place to start. Check out these grade-appropriate reading passages on Snow & Its Hazards, and Blizzards.

Each passage also comes with comprehension questions. The blizzard passage comes in two reading levels and two versions of the reading comprehension activity. 

Art Integration -Snowflake Art Projects

There are some amazing snowflake art projects that you could do with your students. Here are a few ideas:

1. Wax Resist Snowflakes: This is a simple project that has radical results. Have students use a white crayon or oil pastel to draw a snowflake on a white piece of paper. They will have to press hard to get the best result.

   After they’ve finished drawing the snowflake, use watercolor paint to paint over the crayon. The oil from the crayon or pastel will resist the paint and the snowflake will pop. If you look up Wax Resist Snowflake Art on Google, there will be dozens of examples. 

2. Catching Snowflakes Art: This is a classic art project where students draw themselves catching snowflakes.

3. Pattern Block Snowflakes Art: This is a great way to combine science, art, AND math,

Snowball Fight STEM Challenge

In this snowball fight STEM challenge, students are challenged to design a device that will launch a cotton “snowball” the furthest distance. Students will design, test, and execute their launch in this fun take on a snowball fight!

weather-related hazards, BLIZZARD PREPAREDNESS activity

A fun way to engage students in determining ways to prepare for a blizzard is to create a shopping list and a To-Do list. You could do this as a whole group or have students create their own lists by using the snow preparedness To-Do list template in this resource. 

These are just a few of the fantastic ideas out there for teaching snow and its hazards. Have fun!

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When someone says the word ‘ice’, I can’t help but think about Elsa’s “Let It Go” song as she builds her ice castle. Am I the only one? Maybe I’m unique in that, but that’s OK. Ice is an exciting topic for kids to explore, and there are some awesome science activities for third grade to teach about ice and its hazards.

What is Ice? Why is it hazardous?

Ice is the solid state of water. Water will freeze when temperatures reach 0 degrees Celsius or 32 degrees Fahrenheit. Black ice is a thin layer of transparent ice and is a hazardous form of ice.

To help negate the effects of ice, trucks can sprinkle sand, dirt, or salt on the roads. People can also put snow tires on their vehicles to keep them from slipping as they drive.

The Easy & Fun Way to Explore Ice

Ready to explore the hazards of ice AND meet science and literacy outcomes? In just a few clicks you can grab everything you need: nonfiction reading, comprehension, and an engaging  science experiment.

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Ice, Icicles, and Frost - Videos for Kids

Here are a few engaging videos to help spice up any lessons about ice!

1. Where Do Icicles Come From? by SciShow Kids is a fun video about icicles and how they form when snow melts and refreezes.

2. Where Does Frost Come From? by SciShow Kids

Reading about Ice

Reading about ice is a great way to incorporate literacy into science. Students will read about the science of ice. They will also read about some of its hazards and ways to stay safe when the conditions are icy.

After reading, they will have the opportunity to answer comprehension questions.

Integrating Art - Ice Cube Painting

For a way to incorporate art into science lessons about ice, Thimble And Twig has a fun idea for making colored ice. Add food coloring to water and freeze it in an ice cube tray. Make sure to add a popsicle stick before freezing. Then students can paint on paper using the frozen cubes.

science experiment - Melting Mayhem

Experiment to see which substances help ice melt. Use substances like salt, baking soda, hot water, etc. Or have students brainstorm things they’d like to try.

While experimenting, review states of matter and have students record their findings. For step-by-step instructions and templates, check out the resource linked above. 

science experiment - Slick as Ice

To teach students how slippery ice can be, experiment to see how far an object will slide. The night before the experiment lesson, freeze water on a long cookie sheet. Collect materials like a piece of carpet, cloth, and sandpaper. Gather straws and a small car.

To execute the experiment, lay the cookie sheet, carpet, cloth, and sandpaper on a flat surface. Have students take turns using the straw to blow the car across each surface. They will see that the cars travel more easily on the ice than the other items.

This isn’t a ‘proper’ experiment because there are uncontrolled factors like students using different-sized breaths while blowing through the straw, but this will help demonstrate that roads can be slippery when icy. 

How Cars Lose Control on Icy Roads

The UCAR Center for Science Education has a similar experiment, focusing on cars losing control on ice roads.

City Safety Plan

Plan for a weather-related hazard in a fictional city with this quick and fun activity.

After learning about the hazards of ice, have students imagine they are in charge of a community that has never experienced a cold snap. Their job is to create an ice safety plan for their city so they can demonstrate their understanding of the topic. To save you time creating the template, check out the template in the resource. 

The topic of ice can be quite exciting for our students. Have fun teaching about ice to your third-grade students!

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I think that the 3rd grade science standards are my favorite. Shh… don’t tell 2nd grade! By the time students are in 3rd, they’re ready to dive a little deeper and be a little more independent in STEM activities. They’ve (hopefully) learned foundational skills like how to create a diagram or complete a STEM challenge, and now they’re ready for something a little more challenging. In 3rd grade science (especially using the Next Generation Science Standards) there is so much opportunity for hands-on activities and experiments. 

For those more longtime blog readers, you probably already know how much I value integrating science with other content areas (like reading!) and allowing opportunities for inquiry and student-led learning. The topics in 3rd grade science are perfect for things like this! They’re interesting, and open-ended enough to allow you to choose subtopics that really interest your class.

do you use science worksheets?

I truly believe that science should be a hands-on experience. However… there is a place for print based activities (worksheets) in science. I usually start a new science unit with nonfiction reading that directly relates to the topic. I find that when students are given a chance to interact with nonfiction texts and reading comprehension that it gives them a solid foundation to move on to experiments and STEM challenges in that subject area. Each of the subjects below also includes a link to nonfiction reading about that topic, and it’s one of the ways we find success in science.

What do you teach in 3rd grade science?

There is SO much to learn in 3rd grade science, and it’s such a perfect mix of hands-on experiments, intriguing research and new ideas! If you’re using the 3rd Grade Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), then you’re studying…

• Molecules to Organisms: Structures and Processes - The life cycles of different animals and flowering plants. Comparing and contrasting different life cycles.

• Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics - How do some animals form groups to survive? 

• Heredity: Inheritance and Variation of Traits - Plants and animals have traits inherited from their genetic parents. Some traits can be influenced by the environment. 

• Biological Evolution: Unity and Diversity - Gathering information from fossils, animal characteristics can provide advantages for survival, surviving in a particular environment, how environmental changes affect animals and plants

• Earth’s Systems - Using tables and graphs to display typical weather patterns, climates in different regions of the world

• Earth and Human Activity - Reducing the impact of a weather-related hazard

• Motion and Stability - the effects of balanced and unbalanced forces, predicting motion, magnets

STEM Activities and Nonfiction Reading for Every NGSS topic

The EASY button for your 3rd grade science lessons. Two paired passages about each topic, scripted instructions and a hands-on STEM activity.

Click and print. Planning is that easy.

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Let’s dive in to some of the best science lessons for each 3rd grade NGSS topic!

Life Cycles of Living Things

There are so many ways to get hands-on when you are learning about life cycles. I always start by narrowing down this unit to one or two animals and/or plants. Once you look at one life cycle in depth, it’s easier to compare and contrast it to others.

In the past I’ve looked at butterflies (and hatched them!), salmon, penguins, beans (and grown them), sunflowers, and dolphins!

Ask your students which life cycles they are passionate about and go from there! Some of my favorite activities and projects for life cycles are here in this post.  

why do some animals live in grous?

So many animals survive in groups! This animal groups post breaks down ways to explore the animals that live in a group, and the advantages that this can provide. It also includes a free activity where students sort animals into two categories: ‘live in groups’ and ‘live solitary’. 

Teaching Kids About Inherited Traits

Why do animals look like their parents? Do plants even have parents? ‘Inherited Traits’ are traits passed down parent to offspring, and are traits an organism has from birth. There are so many fun ways to learn about inherited traits during 3rd grade science. The play-doh activity is one of my favorites!

This ‘teaching inherited traits’ post specifically looks at inherited traits in animals and plants, so it’s perfect for classrooms that don’t want to touch on inherited traits in humans (this can be a tricky topic when families are created in so many different ways!). 

Fossil Activities for Kids

Fossils are the preserved remains of plants and animals that turn into stone over a long period of time. But what information can we gather as we look at these fossils?

This post breaks down my four favorite activities when teaching 3rd grade students about fossils and includes a fossil making activity that is so much fun.  

https://www.poetprints.ca/blog/4-lessons-about-fossils-for-3rd-grade 

Animal Adaptations

Adaptations help animals to survive in their environment. Have you ever seen an animal that camouflages into their environment? This is an adaptation! Animals are uniquely adapted to their own environment.

Take a peek at this animal adaptations blog for some of the best videos, projects, experiments, and nonfiction reading all about how animals adapt to their environment. 

Changes in the Environment

Our environment is constantly changing, and it affects the plants and animals that live there. There are so many different topics you can look at when exploring changes in the environment: deforestation, urbanization, pollution, garbage collection, and more.

This post about changes in the environment specifically looks at how ocean pollution and litter negatively affect an environment… and what we can do to help!  

Weather Related Hazards

This 3rd grade science topic is broad because there are SO many different weather related hazards.

This topic can be taught  as an overview where you look at a variety of weather related hazards, or in a more narrow approach where you focus on a single hazard (like blizzards or hurricanes). Students will research and design a solution to weather-related hazards.

I suggest keeping this topic local. Which hazards can affect your community? Where do you students have real-life connections to a weather related hazard? Start there! 

I’ve rounded up some of the best videos, projects and ideas for teaching weather related hazards over here.

Weather vs. Climate

What’s the difference between weather and climate?

Climate is what you expect, and weather is what you get! Weather changes from day to day and climate is the long term patterns of weather in a particular area.

There are so many different ways to explore weather and climate, and this post breaks down the best ideas for teaching about weather and climate in 3rd grade science. Don’t miss the weather journal that asks students to track and graph the weather outside your classroom - no supplies required! 

Forces and Motion activites for kids

Force and motion is the ultimate hands-on unit in 3rd grade. The topics absolutely begs to be taught with experiments and STEM challenges… so we do!

I have found that the best way for students to understand push vs. pull, balanced and unbalanced forces, friction, static electricity (and more!) is to see them in action! The experiments in this post are designed to help students get familiar with forces and explore them firsthand.

This is the post you need to teach force and motion - don’t miss the magnet maze freebie!

lessons and experiments with magnets

Magnets are materials with a magnetic field that draws objects to the magnet itself.. and there are so many fun experiments that use magnets.

Lessons on magnets are a big part of our force and motion unit, but I’ve put it here separately because sometimes we teach them one after the other.

This post looks at magnets in real life, nonfiction reading, and hands on STEM challenges. 

Third grade science is a blast! It’s a great time to plan for science units that are full of experiments and STEM challenges. I try to limit the amount of worksheets we use during science time… but I do find that integrating science-based nonfiction reading and comprehension can give students the background knowledge they need to complete an experiment. 

Need print and go 3rd Grade Science lessons that include nonfiction reading and STEM extensions?

There is something about animals that fascinates children of all ages. Let’s be real, even adults are fascinated by animals! Whether it’s learning about why zebras have stripes or learning about how to classify animals, kids are drawn into the world of animals. Some animals survive by living in a group. Working together helps in so many ways. Take a peek at some of the best ways to learn about why some animals live in groups!

Why do animals live in groups?

Animals live in groups to help each other survive. Animals can hunt together, protect each other and help raise their young. A lone lion would have to do a lot of work in order to survive, but a pride can work together to thrive. One honeybee isn’t going to be able to survive alone, but a hive full of bees can thrive. 

What kinds of animals live in groups?

Some animals do thrive alone, like robins or polar bears. Other animals live in groups. Some of these animals include gorillas, bats, honey bees, deer, buffalo and lions. 

Teach About Animal Groups with One Click!

Looking for a FAST way to plan out your animal groups unit that already includes paired nonfiction passages? In just a few clicks you can grab all of the pieces you need: lesson plans, paired passages, reading comprehension, key reading skills, and a fun science project.

Click and print. Planning is really that easy.

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teach the importance of animal groups with a video

When putting together any Science unit, I like to have a few good YouTube videos on hand. I find that videos are great for introducing concepts or reviewing concepts. They also help to break up the teaching time. So here are a couple youtube videos I found about Animal Groups:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwH8xGmqGmo - I love a good SciShow Kids video and so do the students.

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2_npLl4Cyc - This video answers the question “Why do animals live in groups?”

Reading Passages

Reading Passages all about two animals who form groups to survive.

Combining science with reading is a great way to sprinkle in some informational text and reading comprehension. In these passages, we explore two different animals that form groups to survive. ‘Busy Bees in Action’ is a reading passage all about how honeybees work together and ‘Fierce Savanna Predators’ is a reading passage all about how lions work as a team to survive. While reading these passages, student get a good overview of the jobs each member of the pride or hive is responsible for.

Lone Lion Tag

A great way to demonstrate the power of teamwork is by playing a game of tag. In the first round, have one student (the “lone lion”) try to catch as many of their classmates (“the prey”) as possible. In the second round, have a group of students (“the pride”) try to catch as many students as possible. Your students will quickly see that working together as a team gives better results. In the same way, animals work together to get better results.

Animal Groups Science Project

Animal Group Spinners are fun to make with your students. Photocopy templates for your class so each student can choose the animal they would like to write about. Students then research either bees or lions. They can gather facts about their animals. They write these facts into the spinner template. This is a fun way to have students research and write. I especially like this activity because they don’t have to write in the traditional paragraph form.

animal groups sorting activity

If your students are extra interested and engaged in this topic, you can have students do some additional research about animals that live in groups. This sorting activity and research template is such a great way to help students discover which animals live in groups, and which prefer a more solitary life.

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There are so many activities you can do to teach your students about animals. And I’m just scratching the surface! You’re probably already thinking of an idea or two. Teaching students about animals that live in groups can be exciting and engaging.

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There’s something about animals and plants that fascinates children (and adults). We love watching how things grow and change throughout their lives. So I’ve always enjoyed teaching about animal adaptations. Teaching children about how animals can survive because of their adaptations is engaging and fun for students. There are some great activities to help students learn about animal adaptations.

What are examples of animal adaptations?

An adaptation is a characteristic that helps animals survive in their environment. Some examples of adaptations would be camouflage to help animals high from predators. A specific diet and the amount of water the animal needs are also adaptations. For example, a camel has a hump to store water, but an amphibian would not survive without water. 

Animal Adaptation Videos

Having YouTube clips on hand during science is a must-have for me. So here are some good go-to clips about animal adaptations:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2MibjJgyjs - This video explains what the term “adaptation” means in terms of a child’s life, such as adapting to a new time zone or adapting to a new house. Then the video goes on to explain the three types of animal adaptations: behavioral, physical and lifecycle.

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a85lHqFhyw4 - This is a short virtual field trip all about animal adaptations. Your students will get to see mammals, birds, reptiles and invertebrates. Each of the animals in the video has adaptations that help them survive. 

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOIRci0CKzg - Here’s a video all about camouflage!

There are a ton of great videos on animal adaptations. The ones listed above are just scratching the surface! 

adaptations science project

This adaptations science project is a part of these ‘Animal Adaptations’ lessons.

I love giving my students opportunities to use their creativity and critical thinking skills. Have students research an animal of their choice. Then they have to create a diorama to show how their animal adapts to its environment.

After creating their diorama, have them use critical thinking skills to examine if their animal would survive somewhere else. Have the student place their animal in another student’s diorama to think about how their animal would survive in a different environment. 

For example, if a student created a diorama for a clownfish, would that clownfish be able to survive in the ocean trench diorama? Would the amphibian be able to survive in the desert diorama?

Teach Animal Adaptations Today!

Looking for an easy way to plan out some animal adaptations lessons that already includes paired nonfiction passages and the science project seen above?

In just a few clicks you can grab all of the pieces you need: lesson plans, paired passages, reading comprehension, key reading skills, and a hands-on science project.

Click and print. Planning is really that easy.

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explore local animals

Take a look at some local animals to explore how they are adapted to survive. There is also an amazing Magic School Bus episode all about how animals survive in the city. It’s called “In the City”. Here’s a link to it on YouTube! (please let me know if it stops working or the video gets pulled down).

Try taking a walk around your school ground to notice plants that are adapted to where you are right now!

Reading about Animal Adaptations

Informational text passages that focus on animal and plant adaptations in two distinct habitats.

There is a hilarious series by Sandra Markle and Howard McWilliam called “What if You had?” Each book deals with a different animal adaptation. For example, “What if you had an Animal Tongue?” or “What if you had Animal Hair?” The books delve into information about how these features help different animals around the world. Click here to see the books on amazon (it’s not an affiliate link, I’m not that cool!)

These passages about animal and plant adaptations are great if you’re looking for student-level informational text that you can print and use today. Each passage explores how plants and animals are uniquely adapted to their own environments.

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Looking for more blogs about 3rd Grade Science? I have a post for every single 3rd Grade Next Generation Science Standard. See the whole 3rd grade science series here!

There are so many fun things to do while teaching our students about animal adaptations. Many children love learning about animals, so lessons about animal adaptations naturally lend themselves to wonder and curiosity.

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It seems like everywhere you look, there is trash on the ground. Have you ever seen someone throw trash and it misses the garbage can, but they just walk away?! Litter is everywhere. It’s even in the oceans, and this causes changes in the environment. These science activities for kids specifically look at how changes in the environment can affect plants and animals.

How do you explain “environment” to a child?

One way to explain “environment” to a child is to go for a walk. Have them look around and notice the things they see like trees, grass, the sky, animals, etc. Essentially, the environment is everything around us, so letting the child make observations about what is around them will help them understand better. 

What are some examples of changes in the environment? 

The environment is constantly changing and people are causing many of these changes. Deforestation is a huge change. There is also pollution causing environmental changes. And as mentioned previously, litter on the ground and trash in the ocean is another big change to the environment.

Since there are several types of environmental change, you can either try to tackle them all at once, or you can break them down into smaller units. I like to break things down into smaller units so students get a more in depth look at a topic, but that’s just a personal preference.

For today, I’m to focus on environmental changes caused by trash and plastic waste. Let’s look at some learning activities to help our students engage in the learning.

YouTube Videos about environment changes

Here are some helpful YouTube clips that you might want to show your students as they learn about how trash changes the environment.

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKFV9IquMXA - This is a clip from National Geographic where kids explain how plastic pollution is affecting the ocean around Hawaii. 

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFPoIU5iiYQ - This video is a cartoon, so it might be more palatable for students to watch, instead of watching real life footage of animals struggling in the ocean because of plastic. While it is a cartoon with no words, it still gives good insight into the problems of trash in the ocean. Students can also use their inference-making skills while watching this video clip.

3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrPBYS5zzF8 - This video also explains how plastic is causing environmental changes and focuses on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Make an Ocean- Cleaner Tool

Teaching materials for the ‘Design an Ocean-Cleaning Tool STEM Challenge

If your students love hands-on learning, they will be engaged during this activity. First, you’ll have to fill a kiddie pool or a water table with water. This will become your pretend ocean. Next, you need to add some garbage and plastic to the ocean. Now it’s time to introduce your students to the activity. 

Challenge the students to create a tool that they can use to clean the litter out of the ocean. Brainstorm together and then have students use their imaginations to create. They can use various materials like popsicle sticks, pipe cleaners, tape, string, etc.

This STEM Challenge is part of the ‘changes in the environment’ reading unit for grade 3 science.

Read about the Problem

In order to get a better understanding of the plastic problem, students need to be exposed to it. This means it’s a good idea to read passages about the problem of pollution. We can’t address a problem we don’t know about! So find some good reading passages that your students can read to expose them to the problem of plastic. 

the ‘less plastic challenge’

Once students have some information about the problem of pollution, give them a challenge to use less plastic. Especially single-use plastics.

• Switch to a reusable straw

• Use reusable lunch containers

• Reuse plastic bags (even the single-use ones!)

• Use a refillable water bottle

• Swap plastic wrap for a reusable alternative or container

Are there any changes you can make in your classroom to create less waste?

We set up a chart to track the different ways we were trying to eliminate single-use plastics in our classroom.

Do a Plastic Pick Up

After exploring the harm of plastic, go on a field trip to pick up trash and plastic. If you live close to the ocean, go to the beach. If you live close to a forest, go collect garbage from the forest floor. This will help our students feel a sense of ownership in their environment and it will give them real life experience seeing the trash all around.

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Teach about these environment changes TODAY!

Helping students understand the impact of garbage is easy with these lessons that combine SCIENCE and READING. You get two paired passages, reading comprehension activities, and a STEM challenge all about changes in the environment.

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It’s hard to teach about how trash is changing the environment because it really pulls at the heartstrings. It’s heartbreaking to see animals struggling to survive because of the pollution that humans are creating. BUT it’s so important for us to teach our students. Like I said earlier, we can’t address a problem we don’t know about! So we need to teach about environmental changes so we can address the problem…both now and in generations to come.

Did you ever play those games growing up where you had to look at a group of pictures and identify what’s different? I think the phrase “One of these is not like the others” was commonly used in these games. I can’t help but think about this phrase when it comes to learning about inherited traits in plants and animals. I think this is such a fun topic to teach students because it really gets them to use their observation skills. So let’s take a look at some engaging activities for teaching third graders about inherited traits in plants and animals.

What Is An Inherited Trait?

An inherited trait is a trait that is passed down to the offspring from its parents. These are traits that the animal has from birth. Some examples are eye color, patterns on the fur, fur color and length of legs. In plants, there are still two parent plants, even though plants don’t mate. Pollen from one plant travels to another plant, by wind or by animals carrying the pollen. That plant then grows seeds, which become the offspring of the plant. Some inherited traits in plants are seed color, seed shape, leaf shape, height and root shape. Now that we have a better understanding of what inherited traits are in plants and animals, let’s look at some activities to teach third graders about them.

A note to teachers: I try to be mindful when teaching about inherited traits, as the concept of human inherited traits can be a trauma trigger for many students. There are many family situations where inherited traits and genetics simply cannot be known by the student. The question “What traits did you inherit from your parents?” may seem innocuous, but could be hurtful for many different family situations. The NGSS standard about inherited traits is also “limited to non-human examples” - so we don’t have to worry about addressing that piece at all!

Read Informational Text

Two paired informational text passages about inherited traits. Grab them here!

If you’ve been around here for any length of time, you know that I’m a huge fan of paired information passages. This really gives students the knowledge and vocabulary for further exploration of a topic. 

In this set of inherited traits paired passages, students will read about why animals look like their parents and they’ll read about whether or not plants have parents. Through these texts, students will learn about the inherited traits in plants and animals. Then, we move on to some reading comprehension that helps to let me know how much students have understood.

zoo field trip

This is the perfect topic to head out for a field trip to the zoo, especially if you end up teaching this unit around the time when the animals are giving birth to their babies. How amazing would it be to visit real animals and observe their inherited traits?

Can’t head out on a field trip? No Problem! There are so many options for virtual zoo field trips. In Canada, the Toronto Zoo offers a virtual field trip. For our friends in the states, this is a great round up of some of the virtual ways your students can see live animals from your own classroom!

sculpt or draw inherited traits

Inherited Traits sculpting activity.

If you have students who love art, then this activity is the perfect way to combine art with science. First, have students read about some characteristics of two parent animals. This might be in some information passages or it could be on cards of paper, like the ones pictured!

Then have students use playdough to sculpt what they think the offspring would look like. If you don’t want to use playdough, students can also use paper to draw what they think the offspring would look like.

inherited traits videos

YouTube is also a great resource, but keep in mind that a lot of videos about inherited traits do talk about inherited traits in humans. While doing a deep diving into the world of YouTube to find videos free from this, I found this cute video that has students looking at parent animals and baby animals. However, the last slide of the video does ask “How are you similar to your parents?”

Plan Your Inherited Traits Lesson with One Click

Looking for a FAST way to plan out your fossils unit that already includes paired nonfiction passages? In just a few clicks you can grab all of the pieces you need: lesson plans, paired passages, reading comprehension, key reading skills, and a fun STEM challenge! Click and print. Planning is really that easy.

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I’ve been planning to write this post for a while, but I never thought it would be THIS relevant! Where I live on the West Coast, we have had a ton of rain this season and it’s caused floods in several local areas. So writing about the topic of weather-related hazards is quite relevant for students in my area. How do we teach about weather-related hazards to our students? There are several engaging ways for students to learn about weather-related hazards in third grade.

What are weather-related hazards?

Extreme weather is anything like extreme precipitation, high winds, hurricanes, extreme heat or cold, thunderstorms and lightning. These weather events can cause hazards like flooding, injury, damage to buildings and crops, and even death. There are ways to help prevent these hazards in the community, such as building seawalls, living in wind resistant shelters and having hurricane shelters. There are several ways to engage students in activities to help them learn about extreme weather and weather-related hazards.

Reading about types of extreme weather and natural disasters

Reading passages about weather related hazards.

At the beginning of an extreme weather unit, I like to have my students read about different types of extreme weather. They also read about the weather-related hazards associated with each form of weather. For example, when reading about hurricanes, students will also read about the importance of staying indoors and staying away from doors and windows. 

Before students can begin designing and researching, they first need to understand the different forms of extreme weather. Reading informational text is my favorite way to help build this background knowledge.

Design a weather resistant shelter

Have students build a Wind Resistant Shelter! Grab the plans here.

After students have had a chance to read about extreme weather and weather-related hazards, it’s time to get hands-on! Challenge your students to make a wind resistant shelter. Prepare materials, like tape, glue, popsicle sticks, paper, cardboard, etc, for each student or small group of students. Take time to talk about what you know about stable shelters. Then make a T-chart of characteristics of stable and unstable shelters. 

After students have brainstorms the characteristics of stable and unstable shelters, they get to design their own wind resistant shelter. I like to use a hair dryer as my source of wind! Students really get a kick out of seeing their shelter “attacked” by the hair dryer.

Extreme Weather Research Project

Research solutions to local weather related hazards. Have students identify the answer to questions like:

• What weather do you see?

• What ways do people locally reduce impacts? 

• How do people prepare?

• How are houses built?

• How are people warned about extreme weather?

Students love learning about their own neighborhoods, but also let them research other areas of the world as well. For example, do communities in Kansas prepare for high winds differently than communities in Asia? These are interesting research questions for students to look into.

build a bridge

In many areas of the world, heavy rains can affect rivers, which in turn can affect bridges. Similar to the weather resistant shelter, challenge your students to build weather resistant bridges. Have students experiment with materials like sugar cubes, lego pieces, paper, popsicle sticks, etc. Students should build their bridge in a tupperware container. Then pour water into the container to see how the bridge reacts to water. You could even move the tupperware container from side to side to simulate waves.

Different materials will react differently in water. This challenge is open-ended and allows students to use their critical thinking skills.

Extreme Weather Safety Kit

Another great way to learn about weather-related hazards is to learn about how to prepare for them. Each region is prone to different types of extreme weather, but it seems like safety kits are pretty standard no matter which extreme weather we face. Talk to students about items that should be in a safety kit and have students put together a sample.

I’m not talking about a physical sample (unless you have the resources and budget to do this). I’m meaning a paper collage. Have students cut out pictures of things like canned food, water bottles, flashlights, bandaids, etc. Then have students glue these onto their “safety kit”. They can take this home to show their parents. 

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If you’re looking for lessons that are completely prepared for you, check out my Reading into Science: Weather Related Hazards unit. This unit is designed to teach third grade students all about 7 different kinds of extreme weather and weather related hazards. What is extreme weather? How can we protect ourselves and our homes from extreme weather? What hazards should we be aware of?

The lesson plans are completed for you so you don’t have to worry about anything.

Plan Your Extreme Weather Lessons with a Click!

Looking for a FAST way to plan out your hazardous weather unit that already includes paired nonfiction passages? In just a few clicks you can grab all of the pieces you need: lesson plans, paired passages, reading comprehension, key reading skills, and a hands-on STEM challenge. Click and print. Planning is really that easy.

buy the lessons for $4

Extreme weather, weather-related hazards and weather safety as such important topics to explore with our students. If you have any favorite activities that you use to teach about weather-related hazards in third grade, feel free to let me know!

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Do you have your students write in a personal journal? It’s one of those simple writing exercises that can have such a huge payoff. In 3rd grade we start journal writing in the first weeks of school… but it’s never too late to start. You can grab journals and start them today! It’s such a great way to reflect on your week and have a week-to-week record of your year.

We pull out our journals each and every Friday and use them to reflect on our week. I’ve always just called them ‘Friday Journals’ (it’s not creative… I know). 

Why use journals in 3rd grade?

There are a few reasons I LOVE having a weekly reflective journal in third grade…

1. Over the course of a year, it’s a GREAT record of how much growth students have shown in their writing. You won’t believe the difference between the first and last entries. 

2. It’s an awesome way to reflect on the things you do in class each week. I send the journals home every 6-8 weeks so parents and caregivers can read about what we’re doing in class. They’ll have a bunch of entries, written by their own kids, that tell them what’s going on in class. 

3. They’re amazing relationship builders. I make a point to read each journal before the end of the day on Friday and write a single sentence back. Usually it’s just a follow up question or a statement. I’ve gotten to the point where I can read and write back to 25-30 journals in less than 30 minutes. And students LOVE getting a note back. 

4. They’re GREAT for formative assessment. It’s a good way to assess what you need to cover. While personal journals don’t get a ‘mark’ from me, I quickly read them each week

Do you assess these journals?

As I said briefly above… no, I don’t. There isn’t a ‘score’ or a ‘grade’ for these weekly entries. We have a goal to reflect on our week and build writing stamina. However I do use them as formative assessments as I craft the rest of our writing lessons. 

I find that when I take the pressure off (by not assigning a formal grade) these journals become a GREAT place to build stamina and create genuine weekly reflection. Students get less bogged-down on trying to create perfect pieces of writing.

Which journals do you use?

Almost any notebook will work. However, I LOVE these Hilroy notebooks. I’ve flip-flopped between these three. At times, I’ve even differentiated my choice for the different kiddos in my class. (Some like to add a picture, so they get the notebook that’s half lined and also has space for a picture. Other’s don’t love drawing, so they get the one that’s all lines. Some need help with their printing so they get interlined, etc.)

If I need a ‘one size fits all’ journal, I’ll choose the interlined journal that doesn’t have space for a picture. Even in third grade we continue to work on our penmanship, and this journal is great for that.

the journal writing process in 3rd grade

Before sitting down to begin journal writing time, we gather on the carpet to debrief our week. If we skip this step, I can almost guarantee that half of the class will tell me that we “did nothing” all week so they have nothing to write about. 

On a large piece of anchor chart paper I will write ‘Our Week’. Then I ask the class to brainstorm ideas of things that happened during the week. (Fire drills, new math concepts learned, the water leak in the classroom sink, school assemblies, etc.) After this, students head to their desks to write about ONE thing from the week. They can choose an item from our brainstorming session OR pick something else from the week that they want to write about. 

Finding journal writing ideas

But what do you do if students are still stuck and can’t find an idea?

Even after our group brainstorming session, there are always a handful of students who just can’t seem to find an idea for their journals. Although this usually passes as the year goes on, I always try to have some journal topic strips ready to go. These are great for getting students going who just can’t seem to find an idea. 

You can grab my favorite open-ended journal ideas for FREE right here.

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Do you remember when you were a kid and you would dig for buried treasure? Or did you search for dinosaur bones? And when you learned about fossils, did you search high and low for fossils in the forest, at the beach and in your backyard? Well, I think it’s safe to say that kids are obsessed with finding things like fossils. I’ve always tried to channel that energy and excitement into science lessons on fossils, because it’s such a great one to channel. Take a peek at some of my favorite lessons about fossils for 3rd grade.

How Do You Explain Fossils to Kids?

Fossils teach us a lot. They are the preserved remains of plants or animals that turn into stone over a long period of time. Our students need to understand that fossils are created through a process called fossilization. Then, we need to teach students about the different types of fossils. There are petrified fossils, preserved fossils, molds, casts, and trace fossils. There are even mummified fossils. Each fossil is created in a different way. Your students will be so excited to learn about fossils.

Make Your Own Fossils

A sure fire way to engage your students is making your own fossils. Make some air dry play dough or buy some clay, like Crayola Model Magic. Then have children press an object like a toy animal, a leaf, a pencil...really anything….into the clay. Remove the object and then let the clay dry. You’ve just made a trace or cast fossil. 

If you want to get extra creative, you can buy some plaster from Amazon or Michaels and pour the plaster into the clay mold. Let it dry and have students “excavate” the mold like a paleontologist.

Dry Noodle Dinosaurs

If you want another hands-on activity, you might love dry noodle dinosaurs. Print out pictures of common dinosaurs from Google Images. Then, using construction paper, white glue and dry pasta noodles, students can recreate what the dinosaur bones would have looked like. For example, they might use long spaghetti noodles for the neck bones of the brachiosaurus. Then they might use shorter spiral noodles for the legs and macaroni for the ribs. This is a chance for students to be creative as they create their own dinosaur fossils.

Fossils For Kids Video

This YouTube video is a great mini lesson about how fossils are formed, the types of fossils and more! 

Combine fossils with close reading!

Nonfiction reading passages all about fossils.

There is so much to learn about fossils, and one of my favorite ways to teach about fossils is to combine the science of fossils with close reading passages. When we dive into informational text it really gives students the background knowledge (and vocabulary!) to be able to interact with the hands-on materials in a new way.

In this unit, we started by looking at two paired passages: What is a Fossil and Digging Up Dinosaurs. We read both, answered comprehension questions, and focused in on ‘sequencing’ as our key reading skill.

Then, for the STEM extension, students made their own fossils using a simple air dry coffee/salt dough. They planned out items to ‘fossilize’ and sketched their completed fossils. It was a lot of fun.

If you’re looking for lessons that are completely prepared for you, check out my Reading into Science: Fossils unit. This unit is designed to teach third grade students all about fossils. What are fossils? What can they teach us? How are they extracted from the earth? 

The lesson plans are completed for you so you don’t have to worry about anything.

Fossils are fascinating for children! Let’s help our students get fully engaged as they learn from the fascinating world of fossils.

Plan Your Fossils Lessons With One Click

Looking for a FAST way to plan out your fossils unit that already includes paired nonfiction passages? In just a few clicks you can grab all of the pieces you need: lesson plans, paired passages, reading comprehension, key reading skills, and a hands-on science extension. Click and print. Planning is really that easy.

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Want to try an integrated reading and science lesson for free? ‘Bridges’ is an integrated reading and science lesson that covers NGSS standards all about the Engineering and Design process. It includes paired passages about famous bridges, reading comprehension, and a science extension. Sign up and try it out for free today.