Grade 3: Amazing Adaptations
- Understand animal and plant adaptations to unique California environments (coast, desert, valley, etc…)
- Hands-on Exploration of plant, insect, flower, and seed adaptations
- Pre & Post-Visit classroom activities available!!
Tour Theme and Teaching Points
Plants and animals have adaptations that help them to survive in different California environments.
Cognitive Teaching Points. Students will understand that:
- In California , we have a Mediterranean climate with hot, dry summers and cool, wet winters.
- Plants and wildlife are adapted to grow, survive, and reproduce in a Mediterranean climate.
- In California , we have a variety of environments such as the valley, coast, desert, and foothills.
- The Arboretum is an outdoor museum that grows plants from different California environments and is home to wildlife
California Department of Education Curriculum Standards
The School Program tours at the UC Davis Arboretum are designed to be relevant to particular California State Standards for 3 rd Grade Life Sciences:
Adaptations in physical structure or behavior may improve an organism's chance for survival. As a basis for understanding this concept:
Students know plants and animals have structures that serve different functions in growth, survival, and reproduction.
Students know examples of diverse life forms in different environments, such as oceans, deserts, tundra, forests, grasslands, and wetlands.
Students know living things cause changes in the environment in which they live: some of these changes are detrimental to the organism or other organisms, and some are beneficial.
Students know when the environment changes, some plants and animals survive and reproduce; others die or move to new locations.
Connecting to the Classroom
To help you and your students make the most of your UC Davis Arboretum visit, the UC Davis Arboretum, the UC Davis School of Education, and the UC Davis Public Service Research Program have created pre- and post-visit activities to compliment our theme based tour.
These activities have been designed to correlate not only with the grade-specific tours of the UC Davis Arboretum, but also with the California Department of Education Curriculum Standards.
The Pre-Visit activities will help prepare your students for the material covered by the naturalists on the tour, and the Post-Visit activities will help the students deepen their understanding of concepts as well as let you assess their learning. You may download the specific activities that interest you, or download the entire Third Grade Teacher’s Packet
Pre-Visit Activities, Third Grade
To prepare for your visit, choose one of the following activities:
Butterfly Camouflage This activity simulates a butterfly’s adaptation to its habitat through means of camouflage and the role adaptations play in predation. The goal of this activity is to introduce or re-emphasize the idea of adaptation by looking at an example of camouflage. (Estimated activity time: 15-30 minutes.)
Bird BeaksThis activity introduces the concept of adaptation to students. They will use different kinds of everyday household tools to develop an understanding about how different shapes of bird beaks help birds eats specific kinds of diets. (Estimated activity time: 30-45 minutes.)
In addition to the Pre-visit activity, discuss with the students what they know about adaptations—how different plants and animals have special features to help them survive in their unique environments.
Post-Visit Activity, Third Grade
To reflect and review after your visit, choose the following activity:
Odes to Plants In this activity, students will communicate information about plants through creative poetry, which can incorporate personal values as well as facts. (Estimated activity time: 30 minutes.)