This unit is basically chapter 5 in our Math Expressions curriculum.  If your district uses Math Expressions, then this unit will make a lot of sense to you.  If you don't have Math Expressions, this unit can still help guide you through teaching your kids meausurement using customary and metric systems.

CK-12's Elementary Math Grade 3 is a series of videos and interactive videos designed to teach basic math concepts to 3rd graders. Concepts covered include Addition and Subtraction, Multiplication, Division, Place Value, Decimals, Time, Factors and Multiples, Money, Measurement, and Geometry.

Engaging students in their education is not always easy. One way is to give them the opportunity to be involved in school event decision making processes. Providing them with a task, having them poll their peers, and then using the analyzed data to inform their decisions is sure to keep them engaged.

This is the story of how Les Paul created the world's first solid-body electric guitar, countless other inventions that changed modern music, and one truly epic career in rock and roll. How to make a microphone? A broomstick, a cinderblock, a telephone, a radio. How to make an electric guitar? A record player's arm, a speaker, some tape. How to make a legendary inventor? A few tools, a lot of curiosity, and an endless faith in what is possible, this unforgettable biography will resonate with inventive readers young and old.

Students will design a survey to explore their classmates' feelings and experiences with bullying. Once the class has participated in the survey, they will analyze the data, discussing implications and how they can improve/build classroom community.

This lesson will allow students to build their own balloon car racer as an introduction to engineering and coding.  Each pair or team of students will be able to engineer their balloon car, measure the performance of their cars using yard sticks, and set up a basic algorithm to construct and run their machine.PURPOSEThe goals for this lesson are to: (1) integrate engineering and coding to young students; (2) have students independenty identify the steps (an algorithm) to build and improve their racers; (4) be able to spot "bugs" in their algorithm; (3) integrate measurement and addition operations to determine which car went furthest overall; and (4) teach perserverance by showing students that it is normal to find bugs in algorithms/coding.   

Tells the story of how the Slinky, the most popular toy in American history, was invented. The resource includes a lesson plan/book card, a design challenge, and copy of a design thinking journal that provide guidance on using the book to inspire students' curiosity for design thinking. Maker Challenge: Develop a commercial about the Slinky.

A document is included in the resources folder that lists the complete standards-alignment for this book activity.

Using the topic of Mythology, students will work through various activities to learn the characteristics of a Narrative Essay. This particular unit will/should take place prior to writing the Narrative Essay. Many of the lessons address how to identify, create, apply and analyze point of view, theme, dialogue punctuation, argumenative qualities and citing direct and indirect evidence.

This short video and interactive assessment activity is designed to teach third graders about perimeter in grid.

Students learn various topics associated with the circle through studying a clock. Topics include reading analog time, understanding the concept of rotation (clockwise vs. counter-clockwise), and identifying right angles and straight angles within circles. Many young students have difficulty telling time in analog format, especially with fewer analog clocks in use (compared to digital clocks). This includes the ability to convert time written in words to a number format, for example, making the connection between "quarter of an hour" to 15 minutes. Students also find it difficult to convert "quarter of an hour" to the number of degrees in a circle. This activity incorporates a LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT robot to help students distinguish and visualize the differences in clockwise vs. counter-clockwise rotation and right vs. straight angles, while learning how to tell time on an analog clock. To promote team learning and increase engagement, students work in teams to program and control the robot.

Students learn and practice how to find the perimeter of a polygonal shape. Using a ruler, they measure model rooms made of construction paper walls. They learn about other tools, such as a robot, that can help them take measurements. Using a robot built from a LEGO® MINDSTORMS® NXT kit that has been programmed to move along a wall and output the length of that wall, students record measurements and compare the perimeter value found with the robot to the perimeter found using a ruler. In both cases, students sketch maps to the scale of the model room and label the measured lengths. A concluding discussion explores the ways in which using a robot may be advantageous or disadvantageous, and real-world applications.

Students learn about contact stress and its applications in engineering. They are introduced to the concept of heavy loads, such as buildings, elephants, people and traffic, and learn how those heavy loads apply contact stress. Through the analysis of their own footprints, students determine their contact stress.

Don’t be S-s-scared: The Truth About Snakes was a six-month long learning expedition, during which second grade students became scientists, musicians, authors, and artists. They experienced the joys of the natural world and the pride of creating high-quality work about a topic that mattered deeply to them. From the start of the expedition, students aspired to be young herpetologists, scientists who study snakes and other reptiles.The expedition was written by teacher Jenna Gampel and published by EL Education.