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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Opposites attract! Polar opposites! Magnet puns are all over the place. And magnets are all over the place. Chances are, our students have seen magnets on their home refrigerators, in the classroom, holding signs up at some groceries stores…you name it. This is really attractive (see what I did there) for teaching about magnets because many students will have some previous knowledge to help them connect with the topic. There are so many fun and engaging activities that we can use to teach our students about magnets.

How do magnets work?

A magnet is a material that has a magnetic field. A magnetic field is an invisible force that draws objects to a magnet. Magnets pull things made of steel or iron toward them. A magnet has two ends. One end is called the north pole and the other end is called the south pole. There is a magnetic field around each pole. 

Use paired passages about magnets

Informational text articles about Magnets - written at a 3rd grade level. See them here.

Paired passages are a great way to integrate literacy skills and science. I have my students read about magnetism (in general) and then I have them read about junkyard magnets. I find that this helps them get a more well-rounded understanding of magnets. They might not be able to go to the junkyard to see how electromagnets are used, but students can read about it (and then watch a youtube clip about it!) Integrating informational texts into science is a great way to help students develop their vocabulary and comprehension. It’s also good to have students read about a topic alongside doing hands-on activities.

Make a magnet maze

Speaking of, check out this fabulous hands-one magnet maze activity. In this open-ended STEM challenge, students used their creativity and their problem-solving skills to create a maze with a variety of materials. They test out ideas and theories about what will make an amazing maze. And be sure to give students time to test out each other’s mazes. You can grab the activity and lesson plan for this maze challenge here.

make some magnetic slime

How many of your students love slime? Did you know that you can make magnetic slime! It’s as fun as it is educational. You can peek the whole magnetic slime recipe here - it’s a great one for grabbing students’ interest!

magnetic scavenger hunt

Give out a magnet to each of your students and have them wander around the school (both inside and outside) to see how many magnetic objects they can locate. You’ll be surprised about how many things are magnetic: doors, door frames, metal poles, door knobs, fences…. 

While exploring, make sure that students are recording all the magnetic objects they find. When you return to the classroom, have a discussion about why the magnet stuck to some things and not to other things.

Magnet Videos

After doing some hands-on activities, your visual learners might want to sit and watch some clips about magnetism. Here are a few that I found useful. The first two clips are less than five minutes each and give a short introduction to magnets. The last video is a Bill Nye episode all about magnetism. While this show might be from my childhood, our students can still learn tons from Bill Nye!

You can also check out this clip from Dr. Bino’s Show all about magnets and this SciShow for kids episode!

• Dr. Binos Show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXCeuSiTOug

• SciShow Kids https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s236Q1nuWXg
  

Build a magnet car maze!

I love STEM challenges, especially when they’re open ended. In this magnet car challenge, students have to sketch and build a maze using the materials provided. Then, using only a magnet, they have to navigate a magnetic car through the maze. They cannot use their hands to touch the car! Before students start, have them record the materials they plan to use and the procedure they will use to construct their mazes. Afterwards, have students reflect on what went well and what could have gone better.

If you’re looking for lessons that are completely prepared for you, check out my Reading into Science: Magnets unit. This unit is designed to teach third grade students all about magnets and magnetism. What is a magnetic force? How are magnets used in everyday life? How can we use them to solve problems and have FUN?

Complete lessons plans mean you don’t have to worry about a thing.

Plan Your Magnets Lessons with One Click!

Looking for a FAST way to learn about magnets 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 the hands-on magnet maze. 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.

“It’s raining cats and dogs,” “Mr. Sun, Mr. Sun”, “Down came the rain and washed the spider out…”, “Cloudy with a chance of meatballs.” The phrases about weather are endless. Kids know songs about the weather. There are stories about the weather. There are popular phrases about the weather. Weather is all around us. And it’s part of the curriculum! Take a look at some of the MOST fun (and educational!) third grade weather and climate activities. 

What is the difference between weather and climate?

Weather vs. Climate anchor chart.

Weather is a specific event, like a thunderstorm, rain or snow. Weather might last a short time, like a short rainfall, or it might last longer like a snowstorm that lasts for six days. Climate is the average of all the weather that happens in a place over the past 30 or more years. Climate describes what the weather is normally like in a region. So now that we know the difference between climate and weather, let’s look at some fun 3rd grade weather and climate activities.

We use an anchor chart like the one pictured to help kids really visualize the differences between weather and climate.

track the weather near and far

Tracking daily weather is a great (and quick!) activity to draw attention to daily weather patterns. This activity doesn’t need to take more than 5-10 minutes, and can be used for math tie-ins later down the road. Once you’ve gathered data on weather and temperature patterns for a number of weeks it’s a great chance to tie in some graphing and data outcomes!

Tracking the weather in two distinct locations is a fun and simple way to gather data and make great scientific observations about weather patterns!

We use a simple notebook journal to record the weather, temperature, and precipitation of our city.

To take this activity to the next level, use the same notebook to compare weather with a far away location. Weather apps are great for this! Have students make notes on the differences that they are seeing. We live in the west coast of Canada, and chose to follow a the weather in a city in Australia. It was so interesting to watch students research the warm daily weather in Australia during our rainy and cold season.

What is the average temperature in our location compared to the far away destination? Do we think their climate is similar to ours or different? , students can even compare and contrast the weather from a far away location to the weather at their school.

Shaving Cream Rain Clouds

Did you know that you can make it rain in a jar and you only need a few materials? Get a glass jar, shaving cream and food coloring. Fill the glass jar with water and put shaving cream on the top. The shaving cream represents the cloud. Then start dripping food coloring on top of the shaving cream. Explain to your students that when the cloud is heavy enough, it will start to rain. Sure enough, when you have put enough food coloring drops on the cloud, it will start to rain.

Pro Tip: Dilute the food coloring with water, otherwise you’ll go through a lot of food coloring drops.

Combine close reading and a travel brochure project

One of my favorite ways to teach about weather and climate is to combine the weather and climate with paired 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 looked at informational texts about Weather and Climate and then dug into a set of paired passages about the weather and climate in two very different locations in the world: Rio de Janeiro and Moscow!

Then, students were asked to imagine that they have been hired by “Terrific Travels”, a fictitious travel agency. In a project-based learning activity, they were tasked with designing a travel brochure for a terrific destination, and needed to include information about the climate and weather! It was a great way to have students show their understanding of climate and weather in a way that wasn’t just worksheets. (Plus, it was so easy to prepare!)

Plan Your Weather and Climate Lessons With One Click

Looking for a FAST way to plan out your weather and climate unit that already includes paired nonfiction passages and this project based learning travel brochure? 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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Zip Bag Water Cycle

We learn all about the water cycle in 2nd grade up here in BC, but it fits in so nicely when teaching about weather and climate as well! With just a few household ingredients you can help to quickly explain the water cycle to your students.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• A plastic zippered bag

• Food coloring

• Tape

First, pour some water into the bag. It should be enough to cover the bottom of the bag by ½ inch to an inch. Add a few drops of food coloring so students can see the water better. Blue is preferable to best represent water, but any color works! Close the bag and tape it to a window or a wall facing a window.

As the water warms, it will start to evaporate. But the water vapor won’t be able to escape the bag because the bag is sealed. The water vapor gets trapped at the top of the back and eventually starts to cool. As it cools, it condenses like a cloud. When it condenses enough, it falls down like rain. While this isn’t a perfect illustration, it gives the students a great sense of the water cycle and how clouds and rain form. 

Bill Nye Explains Climates

Were you a huge fan of Bill Nye the Science Guy when you were a kid? I sure was! I loved watching Bill Nye do experiments and explain science in fun ways. Well, I stumbled across this episode of Bill Nye all about Climates! Check it out:

Climate and weather are literally all around us. Let’s commit to teaching them with excellence so our students have a solid understanding of climate and weather.

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Want to try an integrated reading and science lesson for free? ‘Building 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 STEM extension. Sign up and try it out for free today.

Are you trying to integrate more STEM challenges into your classroom? Are you struggling to find ideas that are quick to set up and don’t necessarily require you to spend a ton out of pocket? Hands-on science is the backbone of my third grade classroom - we absolutely LOVE any activity or lesson that lets us build with our hands and think outside of the box. I have four easy STEM challenges for third grade. These ones are quick, easy, and won’t cost an arm and a leg! 

Text: 4 Easy STEM Challenges for Third Grade
Image: Text is displayed over colorful beakers.

What Makes a Good Stem Challenge?

Before we dive into the challenges, let’s talk about what makes a good STEM challenge! For me it comes down to a few core things. It has to be engaging. Hands-on challenges are a great way to increase engagement. Another key area is doing a STEM challenge that is student-centered. Students want to be doing the challenge, not watching their teacher do it. And a good STEM challenge should be open-ended so students have freedom to explore and discover while creating.

paper chain challenge

One of the EASIEST stem challenges for third grade is one that uses almost NO supplies at all… the paper chain challenge! For this challenge, all you need to give your students is tape and a single piece of paper. It’s that easy (and that cheap!) Then, challenge them to see how long of a paper chain they can make using only one piece of paper and tape. (Want to extend the challenge: limit your student to 12 inches of tape!) My students have loved this challenge and I’m confident your students will too!

Build a Bridge

Let’s look at some examples. In this free Reading into Science unit, students read about famous bridges and then they get to build bridges in an engaging STEM challenge. Using materials like large popsicle sticks, clothespins, classroom books and tape, students will design and create a bridge. You can even challenge students to design a bridge that will hold up something heavy, like textbooks. This engaging resource for third grade combines paired informational text, reading skills and a STEM challenge in a way that is sure to leave your students ready for the next one! You can grab it for FREE below.

create the tallest tower

This tower has been created with toothpicks and gummy candy!

If your students love building the bridges, they will inevitably love trying to build the tallest tower in the class. In this integrated science and reading unit, students will read about real-world skyscrapers. Then they will engage in a STEM activity to build the tallest tower using whatever materials you have in class. This STEM activity is left purposely open-ended so that you and students can choose materials that you already have on hand. Students could build towers using things like index cards and tape, toothpicks and gummy candy, spaghetti and mini marshmallows, playdough and bamboo skewers. The list could go on and on. Students will love creating and competing with each other to build the tallest tower.

droplets on a penny

This STEM challenge requires a penny (or a nickel… any coin with a defined lip around the edge), water, and an eyedropper/pipette. Begin this challenge by asking students to make a hypothesis: “How many drops of water do you think will fit on top of the penny?” Record their answers. Then, begin the challenge. I can almost guarantee that they will be very surprised by the answer. “The Sci Guys” on YouTube break down this experiment in greater detail. The scientific explanation starts at the 2:20 mark.

Well, there you have it, four engaging and easy STEM challenges for third grade. And they’ll hardly cost you a thing! w Do you have any favorite STEM Challenges? If so, I’d love to hear about them! 

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What are paired passages? I’m so glad you asked! Paired passages are two texts about the same topic. First, students read the passages independently. Then, students use their reading skills to analyze the passages together. Using paired passages is an important skill in third grade. They often show up in tests, and being able to compare two informational texts is a really important skill when conducting scientific research.

Text: How to Use Paired Passages During 3rd Grade Science

Image: Text is displayed over an image of four children reading a book while laying on the grass.

Paired passages are often used in a literacy lesson, which is a great place to start! But I’m a big believer in integrated learning. Students shouldn’t only be using paired passages in literacy lessons. They need to know how to read two texts and use their key reading skills in scientific settings as well. So let’s dive into how to use paired passages in third grade.

Pick the Passages

These paired passages all about Fossils come from the integrated reading and science unit “Fossils”.

The first step is choosing paired passages that go with your current science standards. If you’re learning about fossils, pick two passages that look at fossils! Maybe you want students to learn about dinosaur bones and dinosaur fossils, so you find passages about how paleontologists find bones and fossils. If you’re studying life cycles of ocean fish you may find a passage about fish that live in coral reefs and another passage about fish that live in the trenches. Or maybe you want to teach students about cause and effect, so you pick a passage about garbage in coral reefs and a passage about how straws affect turtles.

Give it a try for free! The ‘engineering design process’ is a scientific standard for second, third and fourth grades and this set of paired passages addresses two famous bridges: The Golden Gate Bridge and the Sidney Harbour Bridge.

Annotate the Passages

After picking the texts, it’s time to read them with students and teach them how to interact with the text. Have students annotate the passages. I like to teach students how to locate important information and then use a highlighter. Teach them how to pick out key words and phrases, instead of highlighting huge chunks of text. Teach students how to find similar information in the paired passages.

For example, if they are trying to identify features of fish, they shouldn’t be underlining information about coral reefs. They should only be highlighting the information about features of fish.

Focus on a Key Reading Skill

It can be overwhelming when you first start teaching students about paired passages, so focus on one key reading skill at a time. Reading skills aren’t just for literacy lessons… they can be integrated into other subjects as well, including science! It’s important that students learn to compare/contrast, understand cause and effect, and know the difference between fact and opinion. But don’t feel any pressure to teach ALL these skills with the same paired passages.

Focus on one reading skill at a time so students can practice effectively.

If you’re looking for some third grade pair science texts to get you started, I have several available in my shop (links to resources). These are a great place to start as you continue on your journey of teaching reading skills while using paired texts. 

Once you start using paired passages in science, you’ll never want to go back to only using them in literacy lessons.

Integrate Your Reading and Science!

Looking for a FAST way to plan out an integrated reading and science unit that already includes paired 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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I don’t know about you, but my classroom always seems to be short on time. Traditional classroom schedules have always taught each subject separately: math, reading, writing, science… all done in their own blocks. But we know that integrated learning is such an effective way to teach learning targets at once. Integrated learning blends subjects together, teaching more than one at the same time… and I am a HUGE fan of integrating science and reading, especially in 3rd grade.

Why is reading important in science?

So much of science involves carefully examining informational text. Scientists do extensive research on a topic in order to determine if the topic is worth further investigation. They pour through books to glean information and make predictions, to further their understanding of a topic, to form hypotheses and research proposals. They read other scientists’ research to learn more.

Reading truly is an essential part of science. It’s an important skill for research. And it’s our job to help students learn how to do this accurately. We can teach them how to gather information. What kinds of information to look for. How to understand the information.

Teach Students to Examine Informational Text

First, we need to teach students how to look at informational texts. There are so many genres out there. We need to teach students how to navigate these. Students need to read informational texts differently than fantasy texts. They need to read fiction texts differently than nonfiction texts.

So, first and foremost, we should tell our students how to identify these texts.

From there, give students some informational text and help your students to take a closer look at it. What do they notice about the pictures? What do they notice about the vocabulary?  Read the text through together and have students make connections to things they might have experienced in their lives. For example, if you are reading about fossils, have students discuss what they know about fossils before reading. Then afterwards, have them reflect on if the information they shared is accurate or not.

Reading informational text often includes looking at the text features: headings, subheadings, bolded words, pictures, diagrams and more. The text features in a piece of informational text can give us important information as well! When we are looking at informational text I try to stop and point out what I’m seeing in each text feature.

“The title of this page is ‘Digging Up Dinosaurs’ I wonder what that tells us about what we are going to read.” “What can we see in this picture? What new information can it tell us?”

Modelling our thinking, out loud, is an important part of teaching students to read informational text.

Apply Reading Skills to Science

While reading informational science texts, make sure to apply reading skills. There are several things you could do. Throw in some comprehension questions. Have students underline new vocabulary words and find the definitions. Have students sequence events from the informational text. Distinguish facts from opinions in a text. Compare and contrast similar information.

I can’t wait to share more about how I integrate reading and science in third grade. It’s saved me so much time, and I know it can make an impact in your classroom.

If you’re ready to give it a try now, take a peek at Reading into Science, my brand new resource line that integrates close reading with engaging STEM extensions! You can check out the first lesson for FREE.

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Text: How to teach Reading and Science together!

Image: Text is displayed over images of stacked books and science materials.

I love teaching third grade writing lessons. There is something so special about watching the light turn on for young writers. To be sure, kids can be good writers before third grade, but grade 3 is such a great time to hone in on specific writing skills. Take a look at some of my favorite lessons and activities that help to build foundational writing skills in third grade.

Text: The Best Writing Lessons for Third Grade
Image: School supplies are displayed on a blank white surface.

Writing With Transition Words

Teaching students how to use transition words in their writing is a great way to preserve your sanity! An essay or paragraph that has transition words, makes it much more smooth to read. I like to teach transition words near the beginning of the year so students can use them in all their writing assignments. There are several different ways to teach transition words in an interactive way. Check out this blog post to find five ideas on how to teach transition words.

teaching students to write creative stories

Stories are such a fun thing for students to write and also a fun thing for teachers to read! During my story writing lessons, students learn about character, setting, problems and solutions. They plan and build their own stories with a beginning, middle, and an end.

Like almost every lesson in my classroom, I use mentor texts while teaching about stories. What better way to learn how to write a story? Read a story! In this narrative writing blog post you’ll read about how I teach story writing in third grade.

finding ideas for narrative writing

How often have we all heard the sentence, “I don’t know what to write about?” I’m not the biggest fan of prewritten writing prompts, but I also don’t love to leave my students completely without any ideas at all.

This is one of my favorite lessons to help students learn to find their own writing ideas. While teaching about narrative writing, I have students pick a favorite story and then write a creative story based on that book. Narrative writing can take many forms, but students love to put a fun twist on stories they already know.

informative writing with a twist

Informative writing is vastly different from story or narrative writing. In story and narrative writings, students can take creative license to make up information or details. In informative writing, students have to learn how to gather information and then write it in a way that makes sense.

When I teach informative writing, I like to have students interview their peers to gather information. This also gives them practice with asking questions. After gathering the information, they write it into a report or a news broadcast. Check out this post for more specifics on teaching informative writing.

purposeful persuasive writing

And last, but not least, I like to teach persuasive writing in third grade. Kids are already quite good at giving persuasive arguments to their parents or other authority figures. What kid hasn’t tried to negotiate extra dessert, a playdate with a friend or staying up late on a school night? What kids need to learn is how to turn those arguments into great pieces of writing.

In this lesson, students learn how to identify their audience, identify convincing arguments/non-convincing arguments, and write a persuasive essay. And, as you’ve probably guessed, I like to use mentor texts to help my students as they generate ideas for their writing.

The growth that students show during their time in 3rd grade is so immense, and these lessons are some of my tried-and-true favorites for this age.

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“Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” The ever-popular phrase that paperboys used to yell while selling newspapers on the street. Newspapers are such great examples of informative writing. Nowadays, I don’t really read the newspaper...ever...but I do like to watch interviews online. I love seeing who or what I can learn more about. And, like many teachers, this gave me some inspiration for a writing lesson. Interviews got my thinking about authentic ways for my students to do informative writing. So, without further adieu, here is what I came up with for teaching informative writing in third grade.

Text: Teaching Informative Writing: A creative lesson for third grade that makes students junior reporters!
Image: A camera is displayed on a filmmaking set.

Setting the Scene

This lesson is a fun twist of informative writing as the students are the ones gathering the information firsthand. 

First, we have to introduce our writing lesson in a creative way. Make it exciting! Set the stage, by having students imagine themselves as TV interview hosts. Show YouTube clips of reporters on the scene interviewing, or news anchors giving an interview. I like to find local human-interest pieces that the students can relate to. Or show them some celebrity interview for a movie they have all seen or heard of. It’s your job as the teacher to really “sell” this part.

During this step, it’s also important to define the term “informative writing”.

Informative writing teaches a reader new and true information. 

Then look for examples of that in the interviews you watch. Make an anchor chart to track how the reporter sounds, who they are interviewing, and what information the audience learned through the interview. Track any else you want your students to be focusing on as well.

Brainstorm Interview Candidates

After watching some sample interviews and discussing them, it’s time to brainstorm. Come up with a list of people that the students can interview. There really isn’t a wrong answer, but here are some ideas to get you started:

• A family member (mom, dad, sibling, grandparent, uncle, etc)

• Someone who works at the school (principal, librarian, custodian, teacher, etc)

• A friend 

• A community worker (librarian, coach, police officer, nurse, etc)

Make sure there’s an alternative for students who might not have someone. For instance, if students are interviewing grandparents...well...not all kids have grandparents who are alive. Or, here’s another thought. Instead of doing the interviews outside of class time, you could partner students with their classmates so everything gets completed during classroom time.

Work on Interview Questions

Before students get to the interviews, it’s important to do a lesson about what makes a good question. A good question should require more than a one or two word answer. Thus, any question that can be answered with a “yes” or a “no” is NOT a good question. Make an anchor chart of good questions and bad questions. Some bad questions might include, “Do you like chocolate?” or “Do you have a brother?”. Some good questions might include “What are your plans for winter break?” or “What do you like to do when you go home from school?”

Have students write out their questions before conducting their interviews. Then teach students how to take note of their partner’s responses to the questions.

Write the Report

After conducting the interviews, it’s time for students to write their reports. Do a guided writing lesson to teach students how to turn their interview notes into a script. They will have to turn it into a third person script that could be read on the news. If you feel up to it, it’s also fun to teach them some of the news lingo like “In breaking news” or “Thank you for joining up this evening.”

Share Your Findings

There are fun ways for students to share their reports. They could write a newspaper article. They could write an informative essay. My favorite way for students to share their final essays is in an “Evening News Broadcast” style where they sit at a desk and share what they’ve learned about the subject. If you have access to a camera, it’s fun to film these so students can watch themselves later. You could even upload these onto your student’s online portfolios so parents can watch them as well. This helps to integrate media or technology into the project! 

Grab the whole Junior Reporters Unit!

This is such a fun project to do with students and if this sounds like something that’s up your alley, let me help you with some of the prep. I’ve created a Junior Reporters: Informative Writing in Third Grade” unit which contains lesson plans, planning pages for interview pages, final report templates (for either news anchor scripts and newspaper articles), and assessment checklists, interview script pages, good copy newspaper. Let me help you with the planning so you can spend more time with your students.

Spend Less Time Planning!

Looking for a FAST way to plan this informative writing lesson? In just a few clicks you can grab all of the pieces you need. Just print… that’s it.

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Informative writing lessons don’t have to be boring. They can come to life by adding some authentic flavor, such as news clips or interview clips. If you try this in your classroom, let me know how it goes! 

The art of persuasion. It seems that many kids do their very best to persuade their parents, friends and, yes, even teachers to see their point of view. Kids are excellent at trying to persuade others to do their bidding. Even my toddler seems to be honing her skills, always trying to find ways to convince me to leave Paw Patrol on for “just one more episode.” But learning the art of persuasive writing can be tricky. So here are some tips that I’ve learned for teaching persuasive writing in Third Grade. 

Text: Teaching persuasive writing in third grade.
Image: School supplies are displayed on a table.

How Do You Teach Persuasive Writing to Third Graders?

You might be asking yourself: How exactly should I be teaching persuasive writing to Third Graders? Well, over my years of teaching, I’ve found that keeping it as relevant as possible is key. Don’t force kids to create persuasive writing about things they aren’t actually passionate about. Very few kids want to do a persuasive writing piece on if dates or prunes are better for you…..OK, OK….. I hope that no teacher would ever make their students write about that topic, but the point still stands. Give them topics they can get passionate about.

There are so many topics that students could write persuasive arguments about. Here are some ideas:

• Which makes a better pet: 

  • Dogs vs. Cats

  • Snakes vs. Hamsters

  • Sharks vs. Alligators

• Should kids be allowed to: 

  • Be principal for the day

  • Own a cell phone, tablet, laptop...really, any type of technology

  • Bring a cell phone to school

  • Bring a pet to school

  • Drive at a younger age

  • Play video games all day

• Which is Better:

  • Soccer or Baseball

  • Bowling or Mini Golf

  • iPhones or Androids

  • Summer or Winter

  • Winter break or Summer break

  • Chapter Books or Picture books

• Reasons for:

  • Longer recess

  • No homework on the weekends

  • No homework ever

  • More snack options in the cafeteria

  • Getting a new pet

  • Going to Disneyland on a vacation

  • Going to Hawaii on a vacation

  • Going to Mexico on a vacation (can you tell that I really want to go on vacation?)

Use a Mentor Text to Teach Persuasive Writing

So, now that you have some ideas, it’s time to teach your students what the word “persuade” means. I like to write this word on an anchor chart and then read a mentor text that is a piece of persuasive writing. I’m a big fan of using mentor texts during writing lessons.

When teaching persuasive writing, I love the story “I Wanna Iguana” by Karen Kaufman Orloff and David Catrow. This story is a series of letters between a mother and son. In his letters, the son is trying to convince his mom to let him get a pet iguana. In her letters, she is making counter arguments against his reasons for getting an iguana. Some arguments are good and some aren’t as good. In the end, Alex’s reasons prevail and he gets his iguana. While this is my favorite mentor text to use when teaching persuasive writing, there are plenty of other great mentor texts out there.

Here are a few great mentor texts for persuasive writing:

• Can I Be Your Dog? By Troy Cummings 

• Rufus Goes to School by Kim Griswell

• The Big Bed by Bunmi Laditan

• Escargot by Dashka Slater

• Purple, Green and Yellow by Robert Munsch 

Discuss Ways to Persuade an Audience

Persuasive Writing: A type of writing that tires to convince a reader to agree with you.
How can we persuade readers? What do we want?

After reading the story of your choice, talk about the techniques that the authors use to persuade an audience. Make sure to pull out specific examples of the language used in the story so students can replicate the language in their own writing. Then have students brainstorm other ways to persuade a person or audience. They might come up with ideas like offering a gift or incentive, using humor, appealing to a person’s emotions, scaring the audience into doing something, or using logic.

Show Examples and Non-Examples of Persuasive Writing

Next, we need to show examples and non-examples of persuasive writing. An argument isn’t always a good argument (as seen in the book I Wanna Iguana). Students need to see that some techniques to persuade aren’t effective.

We should also talk with students about when they might have seen examples of good persuasion and poor persuasion in their lives. Social media, magazine ads, billboards, radio ads, and commercials all use the art of persuasion. Drawing students’ attention to this will be helpful when they try to write their own persuasive essay.

Reread your mentor text and pause after each argument made in the story. Ask students if they think the argument was a convincing argument or not. Record the convincing and unconvincing arguments on an anchor chart so students can visually see all the arguments. This will help students more easily determine the difference between good and bad arguments.

Write our Own Persuasive Essays

As you can see, there are a lot of steps before students actually start writing. In order to set students up for success in creating their own persuasive essay, they need to understand what makes a good argument. Before they start writing, they need to do some planning. And before the students can do the planning, you need to model what this would look like. 

Students begin planning their persuasive essays. In this example a student is planning to persuade their guardian to buy them a cellphone.

Draw up a sample planning page on the whiteboard or on an anchor chart and walk students through the planning process. First, start with recognizing the audience. For instance, trying to convince parents to take you to Disneyland, or trying to convince your brother to start a paper route with you, or trying to convince your teacher to stop giving homework. Then have students plan their arguments.

After planning out the writing, students can write their rough copies. Give students time to edit their work. Finally, they can complete the good copies.

If you want to save yourself some time, I’ve created all these resources for you in my Persuasive Writing mini-unit package. There are detailed lesson plans broken down into five parts, differentiated planning pages, writing pages, a checklist to help with their editing, and evaluation pages for their writing. There is even a digital template included for distance learning or Google Classroom

Spend less time planning!

Looking for a FAST way to plan out a persuasive writing unit? In just a few clicks you can grab all of the pieces you need: a lesson plans, anchor chart samples, planning pages, rough and good copy student sheets, and assessment! Just print… that’s it.

grab the whole unit

Share the Persuasive Writing - Ideally, with a Real Audience

After the good copies are finished, I love giving my students a chance to share their writing with an audience. If they wrote letters, they could read the letters to the appropriate people. They could post their essays on a bulletin board for people to read. They could read their persuasive writing to their peers. I think sharing and celebrating the finished product is important!

The art of persuasion is important. Teaching persuasive writing can be time-consuming, but it’s so worth it in the end. 

Text: Authentic Ways to Teach Persuasive Writing in Third Grade
Image: Text is displayed over school supplies