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Grades 3–5 · Semester 3 · 54 readings

Explore everyday mechanisms

Begin with water stores and useful warmth. Follow the connected explanations through useful arrangements of light, air and metal, keeping each small group together and taking time to understand its illustrations.

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One possible pace is 3–4 explanations a week over 16 weeks. Keep each small unit together, revisit its pictures and allow more time whenever an idea needs it.

Unit 1Water stores and useful warmth2 readings ⌄

Connect underground replenishment with the deliberate collection and storage of solar heat.

  1. How does rain refill a groundwater supply?Earth & Space
  2. How can a roof collector warm water for a home?Systems
Unit 2Surfaces and processes3 readings ⌄

Fungal networks and rumen microbes help process materials. A bubble film shows a different role for a thin surface.

  1. How does a fungal mycelium take in nutrients?Organisms
  2. How do rumen microbes help an animal use plant fiber?Organisms
  3. What holds a soap bubble round?Materials & Matter
Unit 3Shape, sound and layers3 readings ⌄

Corrugations resist bending, aligned print layers form an image, and a guitar body helps vibrations reach air.

  1. How does cardboard's wavy core help support it?Materials & Matter
  2. Why do printed color layers need alignment?Arts & Music
  3. How does a guitar body help make sound?Arts & Music
Unit 4Patterns made in different ways4 readings ⌄

Wax, tied threads, joined strips and named symbols create distinct kinds of textile patterns.

  1. How does wax help a batik maker draw a pattern with dye?Arts & Music
  2. How can an ikat pattern be planned before its cloth is woven?Arts & Music
  3. How do narrow woven strips become a broad kente cloth?Arts & Music
  4. How can an adinkra pattern carry an idea as well as decorate cloth?Language
Unit 5Volume and time3 readings ⌄

Cubes measure occupied space; clock readings and a timer explain two ways to describe elapsed time.

  1. How do unit cubes measure a rectangular solid's volume?Mathematics
  2. How do we count elapsed time across an hour change?Mathematics
  3. How does a mechanical timer control stored spring energy?Everyday Life
Unit 6Services and coordination3 readings ⌄

Meters, membership and parcel labels connect records with the work of different services.

  1. How can a water meter reading become a usage bill?Societies
  2. How can members jointly own and use a cooperative?Societies
  3. How does a parcel sorter choose a conveyor route?Systems
Unit 7Messages and copies3 readings ⌄

A QR pattern, a network name and printed copies connect a representation with how information reaches people.

  1. How do a QR code's corner patterns help a reader orient it?Computing
  2. How does DNS connect a readable name with a network address?Computing
  3. How can a printing press make many copies of one text?History & Evidence
Unit 8Organizing knowledge3 readings ⌄

An ownership record, headings and a glossary preserve different kinds of context around information.

  1. How do provenance records trace an object's journey?History & Evidence
  2. How do headings organize information?Language
  3. How does a glossary explain a specialized word?Language
Unit 9Keeping public knowledge connected2 readings ⌄

See how records and visible corrections keep objects and claims connected to their evidence.

  1. How does a newsroom correct a mistake after a story spreads?History & Evidence
  2. How does a museum keep an object's information with it when it moves?History & Evidence
Unit 10Routes and messages3 readings ⌄

An echo carries information back to a bat, pressure moves a carrier, and a signed language expresses meaning through a visual language.

  1. How can a bat hear where an insect is?Organisms
  2. How can a carrier travel through a pneumatic tube?Systems
  3. How can a signed language say more than a picture?Language
Unit 11Shapes that surprise3 readings ⌄

Track geometry, a twisted surface and a mold account for three surprising effects of shape.

  1. How do escalator steps flatten at the landing?Machines
  2. How does a half-twist make a band with only one side?Mathematics
  3. How can a cast keep a carving’s shape?History & Evidence
Unit 12Changing color and images3 readings ⌄

An octopus changes pigment coverage, a compositor replaces a colored background, and a pen uses a reversible color system.

  1. How can an octopus change a patch of skin so quickly?Organisms
  2. How can a computer replace a green backdrop with another scene?Computing
  3. Why can erasable pen ink disappear and return?Everyday Life
Unit 13Matter in motion3 readings ⌄

A geyser’s hot water, a ferrofluid surface and a vibrating glass respond through different physical mechanisms.

  1. Why does a geyser erupt in bursts?Earth & Space
  2. Why can ferrofluid form spikes near a magnet?Materials & Matter
  3. Why can a glass sing?Arts & Music
Unit 14Patterns and records4 readings ⌄

Rolling circles, overlapping tones, light-sensitive pictures and cooling lava form patterns through different mechanisms.

  1. How does a rolling circle draw a looping pattern?Mathematics
  2. Why do two steady musical tones seem to swell and fade?Arts & Music
  3. Why does sunlight leave a blue cyanotype picture?History & Evidence
  4. Why can cooling volcanic rock crack into columns?Earth & Space
Unit 15What makes a response possible4 readings ⌄

Electrical cells, a fungus garden, warm air and a dense suspension produce remarkable results through distinct biological or physical processes.

  1. How can an electric eel combine tiny electrical changes?Organisms
  2. Why do leafcutter ants carry leaves into fungus gardens?Organisms
  3. How can warm air lift a hot-air balloon?Machines
  4. Why can a cornstarch suspension resist a quick change in motion?Materials & Matter
Unit 16Large machines, carefully arranged parts4 readings ⌄

A crane, a tunnel-boring machine, a rover and a lifting bridge use different arrangements to move loads, ground, wheels and decks.

  1. How can a tower crane lift a load far from its tower?Machines
  2. How does a huge machine leave a finished tunnel behind it?Machines
  3. How do a Mars rover’s linked legs cross uneven ground?Machines
  4. How does a bascule bridge lift its road?Machines
Unit 17Useful arrangements of light, air and metal4 readings ⌄

A lighthouse lens, a spacecraft sunshield, a vacuum cleaner and a can opener show how carefully placed parts produce useful results.

  1. How can a lighthouse lens send a sweeping beam?Machines
  2. How did Webb unfold a giant sunshield in space?Systems
  3. How does a vacuum cleaner carry dust away?Everyday Life
  4. How does a can opener travel around a lid?Machines