Change is Part of Our World
A Transdisciplinary Adaptations Unit
for 3rd Grade
Unit Designers: Stacy Mozer, Jennifer Mullane, Karen
Jacobson, Kristine McHarg, and Diane Rasweiler
3rd Grade Transdisciplinary Unit: Change is Part of Our World
Theme: Change is Part of Our World
Topic: Adaptations
Unit Designers: Stacy Mozer, Jennifer Mullane, Karen Jacobson, Kristine McHarg, and Diane
Rasweiler
Transdisciplinary: Transdisciplinary learning is the exploration of a relevant issue or problem
that integrates the perspectives of multiple disciplines in order to connect new knowledge and
deeper understanding to real life experiences. Transdisciplinary units culminate in authentic
assessments with a genuine audience. Transdisciplinary units weave throughout the school day
and are taught though multiple disciplines. Although content may be grounded in a discipline,
the unit is not considered a science unit or social studies unit.
Inquiry: A student-centered, active learning approach focusing on questioning, critical thinking,
and problem solving. It's associated with the idea "involve me and I understand."
Unit Summary: This unit covers topics in the areas of science, social studies, language arts,
media, and art. The unit exposes the students to the idea that while everything changes, not all
changes are advantageous for survival. These concepts will be further explored as the students
study the American Indians and the change to Colonial Times.
Enduring Understanding:
Change has positive and negative effects.
Everything changes.
Overarching Essential Questions:
How do we determine the impact of change?
How do we evaluate the impact of change?
Is all change good?
Essential Question:
Why adapt?
Unit Questions:
Science
 What enables organisms to survive?
 What behaviors are advantageous to survival?
 How does where organisms live affect how they live?
 What adaptations will organisms need to survive in the future?
Social Studies
 How do people affect the environment?
 How do geographical features and natural resources shape people’s lives?
3rd Grade Transdisciplinary Unit: Change is Part of Our World
Reading
 See Greenwich Literacy Team Unit Plan for Content Area Literacy
Writing
 See Greenwich Literacy Team Unit Plan for Content Area Literacy
Media
 How can I use technology to be productive and solve problems?
Art
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How do the arts express ideas, feelings, and experiences?
What makes artistic expression meaningful?
How does working in a group influence expression?
Why is it important to express myself through the arts?
What inspires or moves me to be creative?
How do my creative choices best express my idea and intent?
How do you know when the creative process is complete?
How do we perceive, interpret, and engage with art?
How does knowledge and experience influence interpretation?
How do style/genre/subject matter/media influence how you feel about the work?
How do artists determine the value of their own work?
How does responding to works of art enrich my life and influence my work?
How can we “read” and interpret a work of art?
Why do I need to be literate in my chosen art form?
What does having a common system of symbols and terms for the arts allow us to do, and
why is this important?
How does my artistic work connect to other subjects I study?
How is my artistic work influenced by personal experience and the world around me and
vice versa?
3rd Grade Transdisciplinary Unit: Change is Part of Our World
Curriculum Standards
SCIENCE:
Connecticut Content Standard
3.2 Organisms can survive and reproduce only in environments that meet their basic needs.
GLE Descriptor
Lesson in which addressed
1
Compare and contrast the external features and
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, V, VI, VII,
behaviors that enable different animals and plants
VIII
(including those that are extinct) to get food, water, and
sunlight; find mates; and be protected in specific land
and water habitats.
2
Explain how behaviors such as hibernation, dormancy,
5,
and migration give species advantages for surviving
unfavorable environmental conditions.
3
Give examples of ways animals benefit from
4,
camouflage.
4
Evaluate whether an adaptation gives a plant and animal 7, 8, VIII
a survival advantage in a given environment.
5
Design a model of an organism whose adaptations give 7, VII, VIII
it an advantage in a specific environment.
Connecticut Inquiry Standards
B
Descriptor
INQ
1
Make observations and ask questions about objects,
organisms, and the environment.
2
Seek relevant information in books, magazines, and
electronic media.
3
Design and conduct simple investigations.
4
Employ simple equipment and measuring tools to gather
data and extend the senses.
5
Use data to construct reasonable explanations.
6
Analyze, critique, and communicate investigations using
words, graphs, and drawings.
7
Read and write a variety of science-related fiction and
nonfiction texts.
8
Search the Web and locate relevant science information.
9
Use measurement tools and standard tools and standard
units to describe objects and materials.
10 Use mathematics to analyze, interpret, and present data.
Lesson in which addressed
6, 7, 8, V, VI
V, VI
7, 8
7, 8
7, 8
7, 8
V, VI
VI
7, 8
3rd Grade Transdisciplinary Unit: Change is Part of Our World
Grade Level Concepts
GLC Descriptor
1
Plants and animals have physical and behavioral adaptations that
allow them to survive in certain environments. Adaptations are
passed from parents to offspring. Individuals that happen to be
bigger, stronger, or faster can have an advantage over others of
the same kind for finding food and mates.
2
Animals have behavioral and structural adaptations for getting
food. Structural adaptations include things such as specialized
teeth for tearing meat or grinding grasses; specialized beaks for
cracking seeds, snatching insects, tearing meat of spearing fish;
sharp claws for grasping,; keen sense of smell, or long, sticky
tongues for reaching food. Behavioral adaptations include actions
such as following herds of prey animals, spinning webs, or
stalking.
Animals have behavioral and structural adaptations for protection
from predators. Some animals have camouflage that that allows
them to stay concealed by blending in with their surroundings;
some animals look like other animals to avoid being eaten.
Structural adaptations include things such as sharp quills, hard
shells, or antlers. Behavioral adaptations include actions such as
staying absolutely still, producing a bad odor, appearing or
sounding scary, or fleeing.
Animals have behavioral and structural adaptations for surviving
harsh environmental conditions. Animals that live in cold
climates have insulating body coverings such as blubber, down,
or thick undercoats that keep them warm. Animals that live in hot
climates keep cool by releasing heat from big ears or by panting,
or by living underground.
Plants have adaptations for getting the sunlight they need to
survive. Examples include growing or facing towards sunlight
and sending out chutes or tendrils to get taller than neighboring
plants.
Plants have adaptations for protection from predators. Examples
include spines, thorns, and toxins.
Plants have adaptations for surviving in different environmental
conditions. Examples include dropping leaves, having needleshaped leaves, or storing water in thick stems.
3
4
5
6
7
Lesson and Text in
which it is found
2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, V,
VI, VII,
Animals: Traits amd
Habitats by Kate B.
Jermone (L-M)
Chapter 1/Chapter 3
4, 5, 7, V, VI, VIII
Animals:
Adaptations by Kate
B. Jermone (R-S)
Chapter 2-3
4, 5, 8, V, VI, VIII
Animals:
Adaptations by Kate
B. Jermone (R-S)
Chapter 2-3
4, 5, V, VI, VIII
Animals: Surviving
Change by Kate B.
Jerome (T-U)
6, VI, VII, VIII
Roots, Stems, Leaves
6, VI, VII, VIII
Roots, Stems, Leaves
6, VI, VII, VIII
Roots, Stems, Leaves
3rd Grade Transdisciplinary Unit: Change is Part of Our World
Connecticut Social Studies Curriculum Framework Objectives
1.5 Describe the interaction of humans and environment.
8. Evaluate the ways in which people affect the environment (eg. Dams, mining, global
warming, preservation).
9. Discuss how geographical features and natural resources shape people’s lives.
2.1 Access and gather information from a variety of primary and secondary sources including
electronic media.
1. Gather information in content areas through independent use of reference material and
electronic media.
2. Answer questions about content gathered from print and nonprint sources.
2.4 Demonstrate an ability to participate in social studies discourse through informed discussion,
debate, and effective oral presentation.
8. Present information gathered on a social studies topic with clarity, voice, and fluency.
9. Respond to questions related to information presented.
Greenwich Literacy Team Student Learning Goals
Reading
 Monitor for meaning as they access grade level social studies and science text.
 Synthesize information from multiple sources.
 Infer how past events have impact on the present.
Writing
 Write to demonstrate understanding and synthesis of taught content.
GPS UbD Arts Curriculum:
Expressing Personal Ideas/Creating
- Creating in the arts uses imagination, self-discipline, problem solving, and
experience.
- Process impacts product.
Responding to the Arts
- Artistic expression can be analyze, described, and evaluated, both intellectually and
emotionally in a variety of ways.
- Responding to the arts enhances ones life and influences ones personal expression.
Interpreting Symbolic Expression/Literacy
- Each arts discipline is a language onto itself communicated through a unique system
of symbols and terms.
- Literacy in the arts is valuable in facilitating the transfer of artistic expression.
Making Connections to and Through the Arts
- The arts connect to other disciplines, personal experiences, and daily life.
GPS Media GLEs:
3rd Grade Transdisciplinary Unit: Change is Part of Our World
1.2.3 – Research and Information Fluency
 Use browser navigational tools to visit websites, online periodicals and pre-selected
curriculum units.
1.4.2 – Research and Information Fluency
 Select and evaluate resources based on set criteria such as relevance, validity and
authority.
3.1.6.1 Internet literacy
 Demonstrate an understanding of the Internet.
o Use menus and icons to visit pre-selected websites.
o Explore Internet resources and information using an online database or provided
curriculum websites.
o Understand that the Internet links computers and allows people to access
information and communicate.
3rd Grade Transdisciplinary Unit: Change is Part of Our World
Unit Lesson Overview
I. Introduction
1. KWL
2. What do organisms need to survive?
3. Adaptation
II. Structural and Behavioral Adaptations
4. Structural Adaptations of Animals
5. Behavioral Adaptations of Animals
- Optional Compare and Contrast
6. Plant Adaptations
III. Beak Investigation
7. *Performance Task: Bird Beaks
IV. Optional Egg Investigation
8. Second Investigation: Survival of Eggs
V. LANGUAGE ARTS: Greenwich Literacy Team Units - Content Area Literacy
VI. MEDIA: A World of Adaptations Webquest
VII. ART: Biome Zoo Exhibit
VIII. Summative Performance Task – Biome Zoo
IX. Extension Activities