Third Grade Earth Changes Unit

3^rd Grade Earth Changes Unit Blueprint

Lesson 2: Sandblasters

Pacing Suggestions:
Day 1 -Introduce students to goggles and Directions 2 & 3 on page 31 in Student Guide
Day 2 -Directions 4-6 on pages 33-34 in Student Guide
Day 3 - Ideas to Think About & extra activities on page 64 in Teacher's Guide
Day 4 - Nature's Sand Blaster reading & Checking Understanding

Teacher Resources:
Tips	Student Lab Directions (Microsoft^® PowerPoint^®)	Pictures of Sand Blasters Cards (Adobe ^® Acrobat^® PDF)

Essential & Unit Questions ¹

Benchmarks ²

Formative and Summative Assessments ³

Using Assessments to Monitor Student Learning

12D(3-5)#2: Make sketches to aid in [describing observations and] explaining procedures or ideas. 12C(3-5)#3: Keep a notebook that describes observations made, carefully distinguishes actual observations from ideas and speculations about what was observed, and is understandable weeks or months later.

Student drawings of the effect of wind on sand (See the sixth bullet on page 32 in the Student Guide.)
Student drawings of the three index cards (See Step 6 on page 34 in Student Guide.) Click to view a sample of student work.

Just as in Lesson 1, the initial drawings of the piles of sand provide rich data about how students organize their drawings, to what extent the drawings are understandable, and how students approach the drawing task. Following the first set of drawings, the teacher will most likely need to share strategies for making clear sketches and organizing drawings. (See Helpful Tips under Teacher Resources for additional support.)
The teacher should observe the second set of drawings (the three index cards) for improvement.

How does the model show how the real thing works?

11B(3-5)#1: Seeing how a model works after changes are made to it may suggest how the real thing would work if the same were done to it.

Ideas to Think About (specifically bullets 3 & 4) on page 34 in Student Guide (See bullets 2-4 on page 64 in Teacher's Edition.)

Do students understand that the sand blaster is a model of what occurs in nature? Do they make this connection and understand why the experiment was conducted?
Do students understand that by modeling different wind strengths, they can see how this might work in nature?

How does nature cause the surface of the earth to change?

4C(3-5)#1: Waves, wind, water and ice shape and reshape the earth's land surface by eroding rock and soil in some areas and depositing them in other areas, sometimes in seasonal layers.

Class discussion of the following question:
How could sand and wind together make rocks change? (See last bullet on page 64 in Teacher's Guide.)
Checking Understanding questions 1 & 3

Class Discussion of Question Do students know that (1) wind moves the sand, (2) the sand hits rocks, and (3) the sand rubbing the rocks causes the rocks to wear away or weather? Checking Understanding

See pages 66 & 67 in Teacher's Guide
In general, are the students starting to understand how wind and water can shape and reshape the earth by wearing down rock?

1. For conceptual benchmarks.
2. Bolded sections indicate portion of benchmark addressed
3. Unless noted as a Summative Assessment, the assessments are formative and should be used to guide teaching and learning.

3rd Grade Earth Changes Unit Blueprint

3^rd Grade Earth Changes Unit Blueprint