Since the beginning of the year, my 3rd grade students have been working through the “Life Structures” science kit. Within this kit, students have learned about plants and animals they see within our world. The big ideas that are covered are, where organisms come from, how they survive, and how they are able to continue to exist in our world. Students work through a variety of activities to understand these key ideas.
Our 3rd graders start the investigation working with plants. They study the make-up of a seed to understand how germination works. They also discuss what is needed within the environment for plants to survive and continue to produce. This leads into the human body investigation where students learn about how the human skeleton is constructed and its functions. Then students dissect owl pellets to locate bones from a variety of rodents or birds and then compare these bones to those found within their own bodies. The Benton County Naturalist also came to our room and the students did a bone investigation of animals found in Iowa.
We are currently observing and studying crayfish within our classroom. Students have been focusing on the parts of the crayfish and the function of each part that help the crayfish survive and adapt to their environment. Throughout these activities, the class has adopted the crayfish as their pets and students have enjoyed interacting with them. Third graders will continue to dig deeper into their learning of crayfish as they work to complete an informational report. We will continue this work until winter break. When students return, we will begin our social studies unit focused on immigration and migration.