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  • 3rd Grade

    Earth's Systems

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

Performance Expectations

  1. Obtain and combine information to describe climates in different regions of the world. 3-ESS2-2

    Clarification Statement and Assessment Boundary

A Peformance Expectation (PE) is what a student should be able to do to show mastery of a concept. Some PEs include a Clarification Statement and/or an Assessment Boundary. These can be found by clicking the PE for "More Info." By hovering over a PE, its corresponding pieces from the Science and Engineering Practices, Disciplinary Core Ideas, and Crosscutting Concepts will be highlighted.

Science and Engineering Practices

Disciplinary Core Ideas

Crosscutting Concepts

By clicking on a specific Science and Engineering Practice, Disciplinary Core Idea, or Crosscutting Concept, you can find out more information on it. By hovering over one you can find its corresponding elements in the PEs.

Planning Curriculum

Common Core State Standards Connections

ELA/Literacy

  • RI.3.1 - Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers. (3-ESS2-2)
  • RI.3.9 - Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic. (3-ESS2-2)
  • W.3.8 - Recall information from experiences or gather information from print and digital sources; take brief notes on sources and sort evidence into provided categories. (3-ESS2-2)

Mathematics

  • MP.2 - Reason abstractly and quantitatively. (3-ESS2-2)
  • MP.4 - Model with mathematics. (3-ESS2-2)

Model Course Mapping

First Time Visitors

Resources & Lesson Plans

  • More resources added each week!
    A team of teacher curators is working to find, review, and vet online resources that support the standards. Check back often, as NSTA continues to add more targeted resources.
  • Using Climate Maps

      By reading this book, students will learn about the basics of climate: what it is, how we measure it, and how we represent it on maps. The book defines differences between climate and weather, and helps students discover patterns in the Ear ...

  • GLOBE Earth Systems Poster and My NASA Data

    Using My NASA Data to generate maps of precipitation and surface temperature, students can represent weather data in a way that shows global patterns during different times of the year.  Students can use the website to create their maps and use ...

  • Climate Postcards

    This lesson provides an engaging way for students to investigate different climates from around the world. The teacher prints postcards from "grandma" along with graphs of climates from five different regions. Students must interpret the gr ...

  • United States and European Climate Data

    This resource acts as a climate data warehouse in the form of graphs and tables for cities across the US, a linchpin for any three-dimensional climate unit. The resource is not written specifically for educators. Its sister websit ...

  • National Geographic Mapmaker Interactive

    This resource allows students to observe and manipulate a wide variety of data sets on a world map. The weather/climate tab provides visual representations of climate data, but students can make other curricular connections as well. Students or teach ...

  • Weather vs. Climate: Crash Course Kids

    This brief video from Crash Course Kids introduces students to the difference between weather and climate. The video focuses on the weather and climate of Yuma, Arizona. Students can analyze data averaged over years to determine if the weather shown ...

  • Differences Between Climate and Weather

    Students are expected to collect and graph weather data, then analyze historical averages to develop an understanding of the difference between weather and climate.

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Planning Curriculum gives connections to other areas of study for easier curriculum creation.