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Habitat Checks at the Classroom Magnifier Cart

Use a classroom habitat investigation to explain why crickets, springtails, and brine shrimp would survive differently.

Grade 3ScienceInteractive · Printable

Aligned to3-LS4-3

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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 habitat evidence to argue why living things could survive well, less well, or not at all.
Students compare animal needs with investigation results to predict survival in different habitats.
Students distinguish evidence about habitat conditions from evidence about animal survival.

How to use

Read the investigation and animal needs together. Have students connect each survival claim to a measured condition or missing resource before writing their arguments.

Curriculum

NGSS standard covered

3-LS4-3

Argue that in a habitat some living things survive well, some less well and some cannot survive.

Preview

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Name Date

Habitat Checks at the Classroom Magnifier Cart

Use investigation results to argue which living things could survive.

1. Investigate the Model Habitats

Read the class investigation and graph. Use the evidence and animal needs to answer.

Two Trays Beside the Magnifier Cart

A third-grade class built two model habitats beside its classroom magnifier cart. The students wanted to learn how a roof affected damp soil. They tested the conditions without putting animals into the trays. First, they put equal amounts of soil and water in two matching trays. Next, they placed a loose plastic roof over the central soil patch in one tray. They left the other tray's central patch uncovered.

Both trays stood side by side, away from direct sunlight. Each had the same dry shelter, grain, dead leaf bits, and carrot pieces. Students replaced the carrot pieces each morning. They added no more water to the soil. Neither tray had pools of water. For five school days, students checked each central soil patch once in the morning and once in the afternoon. They used the same method at each check: gently pressing a clean wooden craft stick against the soil to see whether it picked up damp soil. Each tray had ten checks. The graph shows how many checks found damp soil.

The class also read animal-care notes. House crickets are land animals that need air, dry hiding places, food such as grain, and moisture. Fresh carrot pieces can supply moisture. Springtails are tiny land animals that eat fungi and dead plant material. They need damp spaces to avoid drying out, but they do not live underwater. Brine shrimp are small animals that live underwater in salty water and eat tiny food such as algae. Use these needs with the tray evidence. Having food in a place does not tell you whether its other conditions meet an animal's needs.