Study Buddy—Life Science-1st nine weeks
Dear Parents and Guardians,
I’m very excited to have your child in my science class! We
are beginning this first nine weeks with a wonderful study of life
science! Young children are fascinated by our natural world, and I
hope to nurture their enthusiasm for science and the world around us.
In third grade, we will be trying to help your children develop
some good study skills that will last throughout their lives. First, we
want them to learn how to avoid procrastination. In other words, don’t
wait until the last minute. Another one of those study skills is to take a
study guide and use it to focus learning and to practice what they
need to be able to do.
Attached is the “study buddy” on the information that we will be
studying as we investigate life science for the next three weeks during
our extended afternoon time. In the past, parents have enjoyed
having time to help their children learn and practice what they are
expected to know and do at the end of the unit. This is using the 3 rd
habit: begin with the end in mind. If you want to help your child study,
try spending just a few minutes a week discussing the information.
Also, see if they are able to do the expected performances as well. If
there is something that your child doesn’t understand or cannot do, it
will be a “heads up” on what needs to be practiced more. It will help
you know what they are learning, and it will give them a chance to
learn the information more completely. We will not be having a test
until the end of the unit. Please sign and return the study buddy on
the test day for +3 on the test. Thanks so much for your help at home!
Sincerely,
Jeana Kinsman
These are science concepts I will need to understand:
 Living things are found almost everywhere on our planet,
but organisms living in one place (like the Amazon
Rainforest) may be different from those found somewhere
else. Animals’ traits are suited for particular biomes.
 Most living things need water, food, and air, while
nonliving things can continue to exist without any
requirements.
 The place where particular animals live and grow is an
ecosystem.
 Animals have features that help them meet their needs
and live in different environments. These inherited traits
are called adaptations. (claws, horns, poison, wings to
migrate, hibernation, odor, etc.) They may also be called
physical characteristics for survival (physical appearance
and structure of body).
Adaptations help organisms get air, water, food, protect
themselves, find shelter, and reproduce.
 Animals may have inherited behaviors that help them
survive (migration, spinning webs). Behaviors may also
be learned, such as birds learning to fly or an animal using
a stick to get food.
 *Plants and animals have inherited traits which may vary
among similar organisms within a species. Traits may
also be influenced by the environment (example:
growth/height of plant affected by amount of water given;
animal’s growth affected by nutrition or food source
availability).
 *Variations in characteristics among individuals of the
same species may provide advantages in surviving,
finding mates, and reproducing (plants with larger thorns
may be less likely to be eaten by predators; animals with
superior camouflage are more likely to survive and
reproduce).
 Camouflage is coloration and/or pattern that enables an
animal to blend in with its surroundings increasing its
chance for survival and reproduction.
 There are certain requirements for an animal’s habitat:
food, water, space, shelter, air. Growth of an organism
may be affected by variations within the environment of
these basic needs. (Animals struggling to find prey due to
deforestation may not grow adequately or may die.)
Changes in an environment might affect an animals’ ability
to survive.
 Carnivorous organisms eat meat.
 Herbivorous organisms eat plants.
 Omnivorous organisms eat both plants and meat.
 A predator is an animal that preys on other animals for
food.
 Prey is an animal that is hunted or killed for food.
 There are different animal groups with different inherited
characteristics:
 Mammals—warm-blooded, vertebrates, have fur, feed
milk to their young, usually have live birth, have welldeveloped brains;
 Birds—warm-blooded, vertebrates, have feathers, have
wings, lay eggs;
 Reptiles—cold-blooded, vertebrates, have scales, have
lungs, lay eggs;
 Amphibians—cold-blooded, vertebrates, lay eggs, have
smooth and moist skin, most live part of the time in water
and part of the time on land;
 Fish—cold-blooded, vertebrates, have scales, have gills,
lay eggs, live in water;
 Insects—have an exoskeleton, lay eggs, have 6 legs,
have 3 body parts (head, thorax, abdomen);
 Spiders (arachnids)—have 8 legs, have 2 body parts
(head, cephalothorax), lay eggs, have spinnerets,
invertebrates—no backbone at all (exoskeleton).
 Warm-blooded animals have body temperatures that stay
the same. Cold-blooded animals have body temperatures
that change with the temperatures of their environments.
 *Organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all life
cycles include birth, growth, reproduction, and death.
 All animals have a life cycle, but all life cycles are not the
same. When the animal undergoes substantial change in
form from birth to adult, this is a metamorphosis.
Butterflies have 4 stages—egg, larvae, pupa, adult. Frogs
have 5 stages—egg, tadpole (breathes through gills),
growing tadpole (back legs appear), emergent tadpole
(front legs appear and begin breathing through lungs), and
adult. Humans have 4 stages—baby, child, adolescent,
adult. Jaguars have 2 stages—cub, adult.
*indicates a Next Generation Science Standard for grade
3
Performances I will need to be able to do:
Can I plan a habitat for an animal?
Can I classify different animals into their groups?
Can I develop a model for an organism’s life cycle and
describe the steps of all life cycles—birth, growth,
reproduction, and death?
Can I sketch a life cycle of a butterfly?
Can I sketch a life cycle of a frog?
Can I describe the adaptations of an animal (behavioral or
physical)?
Can I explain how an animal is better able to survive by
analyzing its inherited traits and comparing/contrasting those
traits with those of another animal?
Can I explain how adaptations help an animal to survive?
Can I explain which animal trait is inherited and which trait is
influenced by the animal’s environment?
Remember that your children have 3 weeks to study this
information. Don’t worry if they don’t know everything at the
beginning because that is what we are doing at school. This
study buddy is just to help you know what we are doing and
to help you share their experiences at school.
Thank you for your support. If your child has the study buddy
signed and at school on the day of the test (without having to
call you), then they will receive 3 Bonus Points. (Sign me for
+3) When you sign, you are a witness that your child has
studied at home. Good Luck!
_____________________ _________________________
(child’s name)
(parent signature)