Instructor: Jamie Gunby
Students in third grade experience science through engaging activities, experiments, and investigations. Our 61 acre campus allows students to learn from the environment around them. Student "biologists" at Woodlawn develop a deeper understanding of the plant kingdoms by working weekly in their class garden plot during the fall and spring trimesters. Third graders test their skills as botanists as they plant, care for, and harvest flowers and vegetables. Students become botanists as they explore the different parts of plants and they use their senses to make observations about what each part does for the plant. "Botany on your plate" is a unit of study that encourages students to learn about different fruits and vegetables that can be grown and eaten in this area. Third graders taste test things they may not otherwise eat, therefore, expanding their knowledge of different plants...while at the same time, expanding their palate!
The examination of the Essential Question in third grade of, "How do communities change over time?" continues in the same way in science as it does in social studies and Language Arts. In Science, students explore the world’s major communities, biomes. Biomes have changed and moved many times during the history of life on Earth. Students in third grade spend the winter and spring trimester examining how human activities have drastically altered nature’s communities. Students learn about classification by categorizing animals in different ways. They study animal eating habits and categorize according to carnivores, herbivores, omnivores and detrivores(decomposers). Third graders also categorize vertebrates and invertebrates and learn the characteristics of some of the broad categories of animals. Inquiry and active learning is an important part of science at this level. Individuals come to enjoy science as a process of learning about the world.