After reviewing natural (physical) and human characteristics from Lesson 1, students use maps to identify and describe significant natural (physical) characteristics of Michigan including mountain ranges, sand dune areas, the Great Lakes, inland lakes and important rivers. In a connection to science students briefly explore how glaciers helped to create some of these natural (physical) characteristics. The lesson uses multiple resources including informational text, legends and photographs.

The Roadmap is a remix of Michigan Open Book, MC3 and GIANTS all in one place. This foundational lesson introduces students to historical reasoning through the analysis of primary sources, such as historical maps and photographs. They examine how historians are detectives of the past and use evidence from primary and secondary sources. Students then explore the chronology of the settlement of a village in Michigan and identify the causes and effects of the founding of the community.

The Roadmap is a remix of the Michigan Open Book, MC3, and GIANTS all in one place. In this lesson, students explore the movement of the French into Michigan and the influence of these newcomers on native cultures. Students analyze illustrations, maps, narrative text, timelines, and other sources as they gather historical evidence about this time period in Michigan history.

The Roadmap is a remix of the Michigan Open Book, MC3 and GIANTS all in one place. In this lesson, students explore how conflicts between the French and British led to the British taking control of Michigan. Students then examine the impact of the British on native cultures. Using illustrations, maps, timelines, and other sources, students gather historical evidence about this time period in Michigan history. Throughout the lesson a focus is placed on the identification of causes and effects.

The Roadmap is a remix of Michigan Open Book, MC3 and Giants all in one place. In this lesson students learn about early pioneer life in Michigan, including why settlement in Michigan was slow at first. Through primary sources and literature, students explore the challenges pioneers faced. They also analyze artifacts of an early settler cabin from an archaeological dig. Finally, students use what they have learned to construct a historical narrative about daily life in the early settlements of Michigan.

This is a Roadmap that is a remix of Michigan Open Book, MC3, and GIANTS all in one place. In this lesson, students first explore factors that led to increased population growth in Michigan. Students create a timeline and use maps and other resources as they learn how Michigan attained statehood. A focus is placed on the causal relationships between various events. In addition, the influence of individuals in creating history is addressed through examples such as Lewis Cass, Stevens T. Mason, and the many early settlers who came to Michigan.

HyperSlides are digital lessons/units that help students learn the material in a way that is engaging and inquiry-based. Students will work together to complete a HyperSlides unit centering around animal adaptations for standards in grades 3-5. Students will work creatively and collaboratively with a variety of Course of Study standards that engage students through using Google Slides and a Hyperlinks to assist in the understanding of animal adaptations. This project will take several class periods to complete. After an introduction to the Hyperslides, students are encouraged to work at their own pace, but Hyperslides can be assigned on a daily basis. This Lesson Plan was created in partnership with the Birmingham Zoo.

In this lesson plan, students will learn about the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac. In the introductory first lesson, they will see how animals are often used as symbols. In the second lesson, they will hear one of several versions of how the 12 animals were chosen. They will then focus upon a few of the animals in the story and see how they can be used as symbols of certain human characteristics. In the third lesson, they will be introduced to the other animals of the zodiac, and they will be given a chart on which they will assign traits to each animal. Then they will consult a number of websites to find the traits traditionally associated with the animals, which they will add to their list. Then, they will come up with a number of ways to compare and contrast the animals in the list. In the third lesson, they will focus upon the animal associated with the year of their birth, learning about its traits and discussing whether or not these apply to themselves and their peers. Finally, each student will make an acrostic, combining the letters of his or her first name with adjectives that relate to his or her zodiac sign.

In Work Time A, students participate in a Language Dive that guides them through the meaning of a sentence from One Well. The focus of this Language Dive is on the function of nouns (L.3.1a). Students then apply their understanding of the meaning and structure of this sentence when determining the main idea of the text and when determining the function of nouns in One Well and during the Mid-Unit 1 Assessment. Refer to the Tools page for additional information regarding a consistent Language Dive routine.
In Work Time B, students reread One Well to answer text-dependent questions, including questions about vocabulary (RI.3.1, RI.3.4, L.3.4).This is meant to help students gain a deeper understanding of the first two pages of the text and to use information gained from the illustrations to demonstrate understanding of the words (RI.3.7). Pay careful attention to this routine in order to apply it in subsequent lessons.
To increase student independence with reading and analyzing texts in Module 4, students dig in deeper to determine the main ideas and supporting details of pages of One Well in triads and pairs throughout the remainder of the unit, rather than through teacher-led close reads.
In the Closing, students contribute to the class KWEL chart--repeating the routine from Lesson 1. Refer to this lesson for more detail as necessary.
In this lesson, students focus on working to become effective learners with a characteristic of their choice.
Students practice their fluency by following along and reading silently as the teacher reads One Well aloud in Opening A.
The research reading that students complete for homework will help build both their vocabulary and knowledge pertaining to water. By participating in this volume of reading over a span of time, students will develop a wide base of knowledge about the world and the words that help describe and make sense of it

This Roadmap looks at the physical trait of a Hermit Crab that help it survive. The reading is leveled and guides the students to compare and recognize cause and effect within the reading. Students will then create a virtual aquarium and hermit crab of their own. Students will then learn how to use the animation feature of the Flipbook by making their hermit crab walk across the aquarium. Next they are open to make a book of their favorite animals in different environment. They will use a label to name the physical traits and tell how they help them survive.

In this BrainVenture student take a look at the manatee and its environment in the Everglades of Florida. Students read and watch videos about the manatee then do a comparison of the sea cow and the cow. Students are also prompted to help save the manatees by writing a letter.

This is a look at how coins and bills are produced along with some practice with identifying and calculating using money.

Take a virtual trip through the park for your personality after taking the personality quiz. Then read about the parks in a collection in Get Epic. Next we will all go to Yellowstone and visit the themes of the park. Make sure to take pictures of the park attractions you have visited and put them in the Photo Album.

This lesson serves as a bridge between Unit 1 and Unit 2. Students work with texts and images leading to the idea that we must act now to protect our water supply. In the Opening, students activate their background knowledge around issues related to water by discussing a quote using the Say Something protocol (SL.3.1). They then read a new page from One Well for the gist and think about why we need to conserve water (RI.3.4, L.3.4). Students build on this understanding through the Poster Walk protocol in Work Time B, discussing the challenges related to clean water represented in the images on the posters (RI.3.1, SL.3.1). Finally, they connect their thinking to the module guiding questions and are introduced to the writing prompt that they will work toward throughout the unit.
Students practice their fluency by following along and reading silently as the teacher reads One Well aloud during Work Time A.
In this lesson, students focus on working to become effective learners by collaborating as they work in groups to discuss the images on the Poster Walk posters.
The research reading that students complete for homework helps build both their vocabulary and knowledge pertaining to water. By participating in this volume of reading over time, students will develop a wide base of knowledge about the world and the words that help describe and make sense of it.

In Unit 2, students will build their ability to read and understand informational text and begin to build their knowledge of frogs through closely reading excerpts of the informational text Everything You Need to Know about Frogs and Other Slippery Creatures. Students will use the information gained in reading these excerpts to help them write answers to the questions generated in Unit 1 after reading poems and narratives about frogs. For a mid-unit assessment, students will demonstrate their reading skills through reading a new text about reptiles and amphibians, and they will gather information to answer a research question.
In the second half of the unit, students will continue with the same central text and build their knowledge by studying three "freaky frogs" that have specific adaptations according to where they live: the glass frog, the Amazon horned frog, and the water-holding frog. They will read about these frogs to answer this question in an informative paragraph: How does where a frog lives affect how it looks and/or acts? In the End of Unit 2 Assessment, students read another excerpt of text about the poison dart frog, gather information to answer a research question, and write an on-demand informative paragraph to answer the question.
RI.3.1, RI.3.3, RI.3.4, RI.3.5, RI.3.7, RI.3.8, W.3.2, W.3.7, W.3.8, L.3.1d,e, L.3.4

In Unit 1, students read carefully selected pages of the anchor text, One Well: The Story of Water on Earth to build background knowledge about where freshwater comes from and about the three issues that the book describes: access to water, demands on water, and water pollution. Students begin by hearing pages of the book read aloud to determine the main ideas and supporting details of a read-aloud. They also reread the pages to analyze the illustrations and answer vocabulary and text-dependent questions.
For the mid-unit assessment, students listen to new pages of One Well read aloud to determine the main idea and supporting details before rereading the text to answer text-dependent questions. In the second half of the unit, students read pages of One Well paired with additional complex informational texts to compare the main ideas and supporting details of both texts. For the end of unit assessment, students read a new informational text to determine the main ideas and supporting details before comparing it to pages of One Well.
RI.3.1, RI.3.2, RI.3.3, RI.3.4, RI.3.7, RI.3.9, SL.3.2, L.3.1a, and L.3.4.

Using third grade Michigan Science Standards students will learn about force and motion then design, describe, and create an arcade game for others to play.  Since this is a PBL, many ELA content standards are also included.

In Unit 3, students use the research they have gathered throughout Units 1-2 about three water issues--access to water, demands on water, and water pollution--to create a video public service announcement (PSA). In the first half of the unit, they analyze an authentic model PSA to generate criteria for an effective PSA before choosing one of the water issues as their PSA topic. In pairs, they then write a script and create a storyboard outlining their PSA.
Students launch their PSAs for a live audience for the performance task in Lesson 13, so they write an invitational letter to a potential guest for the mid-unit assessment. Students pay particular attention to using capital letters and commas appropriately in the letter's mailing address. In the second half of the unit, students plan and create their video PSAs using technology tools for the end of unit assessment. They then prepare presentations to precede their PSAs for the PSA live launch during Lesson 13.
RI.3.1, W.3.2, W.3.4, SL.3.4, SL.3.6, L.3.1c, and L.3.2b.

Using planetary maps, students will be able to read cartographic information and compare the environmental conditions of Mars to those Earth. They will understand the conditions needed for life to exist, and be able to explain why it cannot exist on Mars.