Content Area:
Unit Plan Title:
Life Science
Structures of Life
Grade(s)
3
Overview of Unit
Students explore the characteristics of plants and animals to determine how their structures are special adaptations
that help them succeed in their habitats by fitting them to their ecological roles. Students study how organisms
interact with and depend upon their environments and on other organisms in ways that help them survive and
reproduce.
Essential Question(s) and Enduring Understandings
1. How do plants and animals grow and change?
 Successful organisms reproduce their kind to populate their habitats through time.
 Organisms can only survive in an environment where their adaptations ensure that their needs are met -- and
they must adapt, change location, or die if the environment changes.
 There are many different plant and animal life cycles, but most fall into a few distinct patterns, and all
patterns relate to adaptations to the enviroment.
2. How and why do organisms interact with each other and their habitats?
 Orgaisms must take in energy and matter in order to grow and reproduce.
 The diversity of habitats offers multiple ways in which organisms can obtain their requirements from the
environment and from other organisms.
 As a result, life on earth is complex, diverse, and interconnected.
3. Why do living organisms look and act the way they do?
 Organisms have structures and behaviors that are adaptations to their environment.
 Individuals of the same species may differ in their characteristics, and some of these differences are helpful
in survival and some are not.
 Organisms can only survive in an environment where their adaptations ensure their needs are met.
4. How are all organisms similar?
 Plants and animals are comprised of common building blocks called cells.
 All cells contain a blueprint in DNA.
 All cells respire using gases in the atmosphere or dissolved in water.
 All organisms respond to stimuli, but some respond more slowly or invisibly than others.
 All organisms require water.
 All organisms grow and reproduce.
 All organisms require energy and matter in order to grow and reproduce.
 All organisms have a lifespan that can be represented as a life cycle.
Revised 1/04/11
Content Statements and CPIs
Content: Living organisms-• Interact with and cause changes in their environment.
• Exchange materials (such as gases, nutrients, water, and waste) with the environment.
• Reproduce.
• Grow and develop in a predictable manner.
5.3.4.A.1 Develop and use evidence-based criteria to determine if an unfamiliar object is living or nonliving.
Content: Essential functions required for the well-being of an organism are carried out by specialized structures in
plants and animals.
5.3.4.A.2 Compare and contrast structures that have similar functions in various organisms, and explain how those
functions may be carried out by structures that have different physical appearances.
Content: Organisms can only survive in environments in which their needs are met. Within ecosystems, organisms
interact with and are dependent on their physical and living environment.
5.3.4.C.1 Predict the biotic and abiotic characteristics of an unfamiliar organism’s habitat.
Content: Plants and animals have life cycles (they begin life, develop into adults, reproduce, and eventually die). The
characteristics of each stage of life vary by species.
5.3.4.D.1 Compare the physical characteristics of the different stages of the life cycle of an individual organism, and
compare the characteristics of life stages among species.
Revised 1/04/11
Student Learning Targets/Objectives
Students will be able to:
1. Explain that all living organisms have a life cycle during which they begin life, develop into adults, reproduce,
and die.
2. Demonstrate that many individuals of a species do not thrive or survive.
3. Describe how species adapt and change in accordance with environmental changes.
4. Explain how organisms interact with their environments and with each other.
5. Gather evidence that organisms can only survive in an environment where their needs are met.
6. Use life cycle patterns to predict how an unfamiliar species grows and reproduces.
7. Explain how organisms’ structures are related to the their survival and success.
8. Compare and contrast structures that have similar functions in various organisms.
9. Identify the essential functions required for the well-being of an organism.
10. Sort an unfamiliar item into a category of living, non-living, or once-living, and justify the conclusion.
Strategies/Justifications
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Probes will assist teachers in assessing student schema and identifying misconceptions.
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KWDLAQ will enable students to access their background knowledge, provide an anchor for their
learning, and help identify student misconceptions.
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Note-booking will help students clarify their own thinking, identify strengths and weaknesses, and
keep track of progress.
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Gathering evidence will help students organize their thoughts for persuasive and analytical writing.
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Explaining and justifying will help students develop metacognitive awareness.
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Preparing a culminating project with a team will enable students to become experts in an area, and to
teach other students, thus promoting long-term retention, and increasing experience in articulating
ideas clearly to an audience.
Revised 1/04/11
Teaching Points, Activities, and Assessments
Teaching Point #1
Scientists start a study by reviewing what they already know about the topic.
Time Frame
40 minutes
Access background knowledge of seeds, their growth, and life cycles by completing the
“KWD” of a KWDLAQ chart and responses in notebooks. Students should continue with
the LAQ portion of the chart throughout the next few lessons.
*Teacher Note: KWDLAQ - What We Think We Know, What We Want to Find Out, What
We Will Do, What We Learned, How We Can Apply, What Questions We Still Have
Teaching Point #2
Knowing a life cycle pattern can help us predict what will happen when a seed sprouts.
40 minutes
Review seed structures while looking at soaked seeds, and make predictions regarding how
they will sprout (germinate). Write and draw predictions in notebooks. Provide plants and
seeds so that students can compare and contrast monocots and dicots in their notebooks to
demonstrate understanding of differences, while also noting the commonalities of all plants.
Use Probe #14 “Does It Have a Life Cycle?” to promote thoughtful discussion.
*Teacher Note: Students may come to this grade knowing about bean and grass seed growth
patterns, but they are not likely to know the terms monocot and dicot.
Teaching Point #3
Monocots and dicots are two large groups of plants that flower and grow and develop in
somewhat different ways.
Put seeds into sprouters. Students set up notebooks for daily observations and recordings of
sprouting seeds and the seedlings. Students identify what will be needed for survival, and
write about them in notebooks.
*Teacher Note 1: Sprouting these seeds is for the purpose of reviewing seed structures and
does not require that they be grown into mature plants.
*Teacher Note 2: Observations of sprouting seeds will be ongoing for as long as it takes to
Revised 1/04/11
40 minutes, and ongoing
observe the first true leaves.
Teaching Point #4
Plants are made up of tiny building blocks called “cells.”
40-50 minutes
Examine plant matter with magnifiers and microscopes: cork, wood, onion, or other plant
matter in which cells can be seen easily under a microscope.
Introduce the term “cell.” Observe plant cells using internet sites, microscopes, etc. Students
draw into notebooks. Label parts. Emphasize the rigid cell wall made of cellulose (which
provides strength and support to a plant) and chloroplasts (which use light energy through
photosynthesis to make glucose and then starch to store that energy). Pay attention to the
nucleus, the control center of the cell, and location of DNA, a blueprint for all the structures
and functions in an organism.
Use Probe #15 “Cells and Size” to determine student knowledge and misconceptions.
*Teacher Note: Help students understand that cells are usually too small to see with the
naked eye. Although we cannot see them all the time, they are always there (similar to how
an ant is still on a sidewalk even though you cannot see it from an airplane flying over it).
Relate to scaling, for example: cell to plant size is similar to ant to elephant size.
Teaching Point #5
Plants and animals have big differences but are also similar in many ways.
40 minutes
Access background knowledge of how plants and animals compare by completing the
“KWD” of a KWDLAQ chart. Introduce terms “consumer” and “producer.” Students use
notebooks with a Venn Diagram to record thinking. Students should continue with the LAQ
portion of the chart over the next few lessons.
*Teacher Note: KWDLAQ - What We Think We Know, What We Want to Find Out, What
We Will Do, What We Learned, How We Can Apply, What Questions We Still Have
Teaching Point #6
Scientists learn about new organisms by carefully observing their structures and behaviors.
Revised 1/04/11
40 minutes
Introduce crayfish and newts into the classroom. Students take time to observe and record
observations.
*Teacher Note 1: If students are more familiar with lobsters than crayfish, have students
draw a lobster first, and then compare to a crayfish.
*Teacher Note 2: Maintain the organisms in the classroom for observation and recording of
behavioral data.
Teaching Point #7
Animals have special adaptations to help them suceed in their habitats.
3-4/40minute periods
Students observe the structures and special adaptations of one animal.
For newts, focus on the fact that it is a vertebrate, and is called an Amphibian because it
lives both on land and in water. Newts have feathery gills located in the neck area for part
of their life cycle and develop lungs as adults so they can breathe on land. They have
smooth skin that must remain moist because they can also take in oxygen through their skin
if they are wet—and they do not have scales. Newts are a type of salamander and their
relatives are frogs. Students record in notebooks and discuss.
Use Probe #17 “Respiration” to explore understanding of the requirement for respiration
and how oxygen in air is obtained by air-breathers and gill-breathers.
*Teacher Note: The supplier of the newts might send newts with either the gill stage or the
stage with lungs.
Repeat above for the other animal. For crayfish, focus on the exoskeleton (shell) and why it
is called a crustacean (the crunchy exoskeleton), and the various legs—some of which are
walking legs, pincers, or swimmerets. The tail is a strong fin used for fast escapes from
predators or rival crayfish. Crayfish have gills hidden under a flap of the exoskeleton. The
exoskeleton is made of chitin, the same material in the exoskeltons of insects. Crayfish
relatives include crabs, shrimp, and barnacles. Students record in notebooks and discuss.
Compare and contrast structures of both organisms. Students draw and label structures of
the classroom organisms, or label a provided diagram. Be sure to include some habitat
characteristics. Probe into how their structures are useful to each animal. How do they
assist survival in the organism’s habitat? Students record in notebooks.
Teaching Point #8
The bodies of animals are composed of cells.
Revised 1/04/11
2/40 minute periods
Introduce animal cell by observing cells in various modalities: internet sites, microscopes,
drawings. Students draw in their notebooks and label a few key parts. Emphasize nucleus
and cell membrane.
Compare and contrast with plant cells. Students use notebooks to draw, write, and create a
Venn diagram to record thinking.
Use Probe #16 “Sam’s Puppy” to connect ideas of cells, cell division, and increase in size of
an organism. Discuss various ideas to explore misconceptions and urge students to return to
their notebooks to update their new ideas or correct mistakes.
Teaching Point #9
Organisms are made of cells, but non-living things have no cells.
40 minutes
Compare and contrast living things and non-living things with emphasis on the lack of cells
in the non-living. Compare pictures/slides of plant and animal cells with non-living things
under a microscope (such as a thin piece of mica or a scraping of sandstone) to determine
that non-living things do not contain cells. Students write conclusions in notebooks.
Teaching Point #10
Scientists share what they have learned.
2-3/40 minute periods
Culminating Project- Jigsaw: Four teams create posters for each of the four essential
questions, depicting an overview of their learning. Posters to be presented to class and
explained.
Benchmark Assessment
Revised 1/04/11
40 minutes
Unit Resources
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Science Notebooks containing both lined and unlined pages
Monocot and Dicot seeds
Crayfish
Food (crayfish eat dry cat food and frozen bloodworms, newts eat bloodworms)
Newts
Aquariums with lids
Chlorine remover drops or bottled water
Soil
Microscopes with prepared slides of plant and animal cells
Cork, onions
Probes in Uncovering Student Ideas In Science NSTA
Trade Books
o Eat Your Cells by Frances R Balkwill ISBN-13: 987-0879696122
o Itsy Bitsy Tiny Cells Put Together Very Well by Janine Wilson ISBN-13:978-1420859287
o Crayfish by Phyllis W. Grimm (Early Bird Nature) ISBN-13: 9780822530305
o Crayfish (Lifecycle of) By Bobbie Kalman ISBN-13:978077
o Crayfish (Musty-Crusty Animals) by Lola M. Schaefer ISBN-13:9781588107220
o Crayfish by Deborah Coldiron ISBN-13:9781604531312
o Newts by Meish Goldish ISBN13:9781936087389
o Newts: Their Care in Captivity by Jordan Patterson ISBN-13:9780791051313
o Newts and Other Amphibians by Mary Schulte ISBN-13:9780516249346
o Frogs, Toads and Newts by F.D. Ommanney ISBN-13:978007477056
o Newts by Lola M. Schaefer ISBN-13: ISBN-13:7981588107169
Revised 1/04/11
Technological Resources
Technology to be integrated (tools, equipment, software, and online learning)
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Websites
o http://library.thinkquest.org/3715/seeds.html
o http://www.plantbiology.com/
o http://www.petsintheclassroom.org/2011/06/newts-in-the-classroom
o http://www.d.umn.edu./educ/apt3/units/crayfish/CF_examples.htm
o http://www.nativefish.asn.au/spinackyardnature.net/monodico.htm
BrainPop and BrainPop Jr video
Vocabulary
Adaptations: structures of organisms that help them survive
Amphibian: vertebrate that lives in water and breathes through gills as larvae and through moist skin
and lungs as adults; Lives both in water and on land.
Antennae: used for sensing the environment (crayfish have 4)
Cell wall: outer structure of plant cells
Cell: the basic unit of all living things
Cellulose: material that makes up the cell wall in plant cells
Chloroplast: part of the plant cell that contains chlorophyll
Consumer: a living organism that uses other animals and/or plants for its food
Cotyledon: seed leaf from the endosperm which contains stored food to support growth of the seedling
Crustacean: aquatic animal with legs and hard shell that is its exoskeleton
Revised 1/04/11
Dicot: a type of flowering plant that has a seed that contains 1 embryo and sprouts with 2 cotyledons
Habitat: where an organism lives
Living things: organisms that are alive (animals, plants, wood, etc.)
Monocot: a type of flowering plant with a seed that contains 1 embryo, and sprouts with 1 cotyledon
(seed leaf of stored food, the endosperm)
Non-living things: things that never lived (rocks, water)
Nucleus: the center of the cell
Organism: a form of life
Photosynthesis: the process of converting sunlight into starch for food for a plant
Pincers: organs used for gasping food and defense
Producer: a green plant that makes (produces) its own food
Species: a group of organisms with similar characteristics that interbreed with each other
Structure(s): body part of the organism
Swimmerets: limbs adapted for swimming rather than walking
Revised 1/04/11