Decision One: Concept Map and Learning Unit
Unit Essential Question
What do all living things have in
common?
Unit Topic/Concept
Life Processes
Major Concept/Skills
Distinguish between
learned and inherited
behaviors. 3.14
Recognize similarities of
parent/offspring traits,
e.g. hair/eye color, height,
skin color. 3.14
Know that the cell is the
building block of all living
things and that a microscope
helps us to see cells. 3.13
Identify simple cells and
groups of cells. Know that
cells also reproduce, adapt,
use energy, &remove waste.
3.13
Identify major parts and
functions of digestive and
respiratory systems. 3.12
Construct/Compare human,
mammal, egg-laying nonmammal, and plant life
cycles. 3.15
Vocabulary
plant
seed
mammal
amphibian
life cycle
offspring
behavior
life process
excrete
respiration
cell
cell membrane
mammal
organism
energy
characteristic
organism
food chain
fruit
animal
fish
reptile
parent
trait
inherit
digest
reproduce
environment
nucleus
cytoplasm
plant
waste
species
microscope
human
food web
Recall that all living things
need food, water, air, and a
suitable living environment.
3.12
Recall that organisms
have specific traits that
help them survive. 3.14
Draw cells and label the
nucleus, cell membrane,
and cytoplasm. 3.13
Unit Planning Guide
Teacher/Team: DePietro/
School/Grade/Subjects: Jefferson Parkway Elem. School/Grade 3/Science
Unit Topic: Life Processes
Decision 2: What are the Essential Questions of the Unit?
Make sure most important/critical questions also have
extending/refining questions.
1. What do all living things have in common? (Compare and contrast the
six basic life processes for plants and animals.)
2. Label and describe a plant cell and an animal cell. Compare and
contrast animal cells and plant cells.
3. Describe the traits that living things pass on to their offspring.
4. What are the developmental stages in an organism’s life cycle?
(Describe the life cycle of a chicken, butterfly, frog, turtle,
grasshopper, dog, and fish.)
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Decision 3:
What is the performance or product project that is
the culminating activity of the unit?
Students’ Assignment Page for the Culminating Activity
Essential Question of the Culminating Activity:
Choose one of the following animals and explain its life processes: chicken,
butterfly, frog, turtle, grasshopper, dog, or fish. (Be sure to illustrate the
life cycle and its cells, and list the traits that it inherits from its parents.)
Paragraph Description of Culminating Activity:
Students will choose one of the following animals: chicken, butterfly, frog,
turtle, grasshopper, dog, or fish. Then the students will describe the
animal’s life processes, illustrate its cells and life cycle. Next, the students
will list the traits the animal inherited from its parents.
Steps or Task Analysis of Culminating Activity:
1. Working in small groups, students will choose one of the following
animals: chicken, butterfly, frog, turtle, grasshopper, dog, or fish.
2. Students will create a posterboard presentation describing the
animal’s life processes, illustrating its cells and life cycle, and listing
the traits that it inherits from its parents.
3. Each small group will present its life cycle presentation to the rest of
the class.
See alternative culminating activity below.
Essential Question of the Culminating Activity:
What is the life cycle of a plant? (Be sure to illustrate the life cycle and its
cells, and list the traits that it inherits from its parents.)
Paragraph Description of Culminating Activity:
The students will describe the plant’s life processes, illustrate its cells and
life cycle. Next, the students will list the traits the plant inherited from its
parents.
Steps or Task Analysis of Culminating Activity:
(Reference: Hands-on Science binder provided by Cathy Wright, GYSTC)
1. Working in pairs, students will use the attached sheet to create a
plant life cycle.
2. Students will number and label each stage.
3. Students will also draw an illustration of a plant cell, and list the
traits that the plant inherited from the parent plant.