Science 3

Unit 1: Biodiversity in the Local Environment

Big Idea: Living things are diverse, can be grouped, and interact in their ecosystems. Noticing the many different kinds of living things nearby, and learning how local First Peoples understand and describe those ecosystems.

• The many living things nearby

• What local First Peoples know about ecosystems

Unit 2: Energy, Matter, and Atoms

Big Idea: All matter is made of particles. Discovering that living things need energy, that everything around us is made of matter, and that matter itself is built from tiny building blocks called atoms.

• Why living things need energy

• Matter has mass and takes up space

• Atoms are the building blocks of matter

Unit 3: Thermal Energy

Big Idea: Thermal energy can be produced and transferred. Finding where heat comes from, and noticing the three different ways it moves from warmer things to cooler things: conduction, convection, and radiation.

• Sources of heat

• Conduction: heat moves by touching
• Convection: heat moves in a current
• Radiation: heat moves through space

Unit 4: Local Landforms and How They Change

Big Idea: Wind, water, and ice change the shape of the land. Naming the landforms nearby, learning First Peoples knowledge of those landforms, and watching how wind, water, and ice slowly reshape the land over time.

• Naming major landforms nearby

• What local First Peoples know about the land

• Watching erosion and deposition happen