3rd Grade

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Camp RIO 3rd Grade Curriculum Description General activity descriptions Marksmanship (Tomahawks & Slingshots): The diversified marksmanship program will challenge student in dexterity and aim using specialized and low-tech throwing techniques. The curriculum will focus on safety, technique and the required attitude traits of excellent marksmen. Lessons will also include elements of physics and history. Nature Photography: Students will capture moments of their adventurous experience through our trail systems. The curriculum will highlight the use of technology in nature, the importance of images for science and conservation, as well as the science of photography. Lessons will send students on scavenger hunts for various morphological traits and students will investigate the value in their captured images. Natural History: Students will have up-close encounters with live taxa. From reptiles to trees, the curriculum will give the students the opportunity to understand various lifeforms and their widespread complexities. Lessons will immerse students in discovery by sensory experiences of other organisms. Other topic to be covered include, geography, geology and ecology. Nature ELA (Nature Yoga Theatre): This activity area allows for students to apply and further develop their English Language Arts skills through various forms of drama, writing and storytelling. Curriculum is centered around making informational connections, attention to literary details, poetry and drama. Lessons will entertain students and encourage them to find connections between the language arts and nature. 3rd-grade-specific activity descriptions ➢ Instruction for Marksmanship will include discussions of force, motion & energy following these key concepts and guiding questions: • Key Concept 1: Pushing and pulling can cause an object to change position and to move. • Key Concept 2: Work happens when a force is used to move an object over a distance. • Guiding Questions: ▪ How can we cause an object to change position and to move? ▪ What is work? ➢ While photographing on the Camp RIO property, students will take a closer look at the various native taxa and natural features in their immediate surroundings. The activity period will revolve around the following objectives: • An overview of the ecological landscape will guide students to point their cameras at certain subjects • Students will be tasked to search for a particular natural pattern or assemblage of related organisms/natural features • Students will also discover how light affects their shots. They’ll be guided to prepare their stance and camera settings for appropriate exposures

Camp RIO 3rd Grade Curriculum Description •

The value of photography in stewardship of earth’s resources and the conservation of biodiversity in natural landscapes

➢ The natural history activity will be comprised of first-hand encounters with living reptile specimens. Skeletons and other preserved organismal body parts will supplement the animal encounters. The following questions and concepts will guide the discussion: • How do taxonomy and zoology help us understand human life and the natural world? • What are vertebrates and what taxa are classified as such? • What is a reptile? • How does the reptilian life cycle differ from that of humans? ➢ Nature ELA activities can include short dramas, poetry, puppetry or storytelling. Topics will be nature-centric and expand the lens through which young students perceive natural landscapes. The activities will also challenge students to create, write or tell their own stories. The following topics will guide the implementation of these lessons: o Poetry o Drama o Literary Non-Fiction o Informational Connections o Personal Narrative – Collecting Ideas, Finding all the Details o Persuasion Through Word Choice