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Trait Forecasts on the Backyard Screened Porch

Use snapdragon and pet mouse family records to predict traits, compare offspring, and explain family resemblance and variation.

Grade 3ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned to3-LS3-1

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What’s included

Single worksheet
Auto-graded online
1 NGSS standard
Printable answer key
14 questions
Classroom-ready

Details

Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 3
Subject: Science
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students use parent and offspring data to support that plants and animals inherit traits.
Students identify trait variation within families and across groups.
Students use family evidence to make predictions without claiming exact future results.

How to use

Read the records together and check the graph labels. Have students explain which evidence supports each prediction and why predictions are not promises.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

3-LS3-1

Use data to show that plants and animals get traits from their parents and that traits vary in a group.

Preview

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Name Date

Trait Forecasts on the Backyard Screened Porch

Use family evidence to make and check predictions.

Forecast the Flowers

Read the records. Use the parent information and flower graph to answer the questions.

The Porch Prediction Club

On a backyard screened porch, Imani starts a prediction club. Her aunt brings records from snapdragon plants and pet mice she has raised. The club studies traits: features such as flower color and fur color. Offspring are the young of parents. Members use the records to predict what later offspring might look like.

First, members check the family labels. Snapdragon Family J has one red-flowered parent and one pink-flowered parent. Family K has one pink-flowered parent and one white-flowered parent. Members compare flowers after they open fully. They record one flower color for each offspring plant. The graph shows nine offspring plants from each family.

Next, members examine mouse family records and photographs. Family M has one black parent with white patches and one solid-brown parent. Its graph shows eight young. Family N has two solid-brown parents. Its six recorded young also have solid-brown coats. A solid coat has no white patches.

These are family observations, not a test of different care. Within each kind of living thing, care was kept the same. Members did not change food, water, or growing conditions. They counted traits and kept the parent labels beside their results. They will check their predictions when more offspring records arrive.