Topic 20 — Solids, liquids and gases — blueprint (28 September 2026)
What I need from you: 5 decisions
Do we split this eight-lesson topic into two topics after "Air takes up space"?
your size rule is three to six lessons, nine too many. The register gained three atoms before MAT3-022 on 28 Sep (MAT3-063 air is something, 064 air is tiny pieces, 065 everything is tiny pieces), so the states topic is now eight lessons in one prerequisite chain. The natural cut is after L04: "Air is something" (L01–L04: air is real, made of tiny pieces, so is everything, and it takes up space) and "Solids, liquids and gases" (L05–L08: gas, liquid, solid, the sort). Each half has its own headache and its own capstone; the second half's PP100 can still draw on the first's atoms in pairs. Nothing after Topic 19 is authored, so the renumbering costs nothing now: Matter becomes 16–22 (Heating and cooling → 22), Earth & Space 23–32, Life 33–43.
My recommendation: split, two topics of four; keep the eight lessons exactly as authored (the content does not change, only the intro, the summary and the PP100 sheet are cut in two). The reviewer agrees, with a cost: the first topic's PP100 sits on four one-step Fact atoms, so its fifty items will lean on the drawn cup types and the pair type and must be held hard to the fresh-instance rule. The alternative that avoids renumbering Earth & Space and Life: one topic of eight with two PP100 clusters (L01–L04, L05–L08), which your MS Life Science ruling allows.
Does fog stay in the awkward-case lesson as tiny drops of a liquid, with toothpaste cut?
Olivia's list for MAT3-024 was sand, a sponge, toothpaste, fog. The reviewer's accuracy pass confirmed an error in the toothpaste verdict: a paste holds its blob and never levels to a flat top, so the lesson's own second sorting question says it is not a liquid. Toothpaste is out (applied). Fog stays: countless tiny drops of water floating in the air, so "tiny drops of a liquid, not a gas" — the case the grade-5 tests reach for (clouds, the cloud over a kettle). In its place L08 gains the closed box you cannot see into: you cannot tell which kind it is yet — the case the sort's fourth option ("You cannot tell from this.") rests on.
My recommendation: yes — fog stays, toothpaste is gone, the shut box is in.
Does "particles" stay, coined once in L02 after the plain words, with "tiny pieces" in every stem?
the register's cross note on MAT3-064 is your own ruling from Olivia: "plain words first ('tiny pieces'), then the label 'particles'". The coordinator's brief for this topic said no "particles" at grade 3, and the first draft followed the brief. The reviewer and the coordinator ruled for the register: explain-then-label is your principle, every grade-5 state item says "particles", and Olivia wants "gases are made of particles" retrieved every year. Applied: L02 gains one idea line after the dots drawing ("Scientists call these tiny pieces particles"), the glossary entry, one typed term item at the end of its quiz, and one summary line; every stem in the topic still says "tiny pieces".
My recommendation: yes, as applied.
Is the hard typed sort item allowed to list the three words in its stem?
type 8 asks the student to type the kind of matter for a drawn awkward case ("Lentils were poured from a bag into this jar. Type the kind of matter the lentils are: solid, liquid or gas"). The three words must be in the stem or a grade 3 child types "lentils" or "food". The reviewer's condition is applied: the stem no longer states the deciding feature ("each bean keeps its own shape"); the drawing — a heap with a pointed top, the lentils separate — is what the student must read.
My recommendation: keep the list in the stem; the difficulty is in the case, not the word.
Do the eight question types stand?
the first sheet had ten types, at your ceiling. The reviewer merged the two breeze types (one type, two option sets) and folded the water-in-a-jar type into the sort's liquid form; eight remain, every exemplar re-instanced on a fresh scene kind with a design-move inventory beneath. If the topic splits: five and three.
My recommendation: approve the eight.
Topic 20 at a glance — 8 lessons
| Lesson | Opens on | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|
| L01 | Air is something | Here is Astrid on a hot day. | video + article |
| L02 | Air is made of tiny pieces too small to see | Astrid felt a breeze on her cheeks. | video + article |
| L03 | Everything is made of tiny pieces too small to see | Air is made of tiny pieces you can't see. | video + article |
| L04 | Air takes up space | Here is Pim with a clear cup and a dry paper towel. | video + article |
| L05 | Gases spread out to fill their container | Here is Huw with a long thin balloon. | video + article |
| L06 | Liquids take the shape of their container | Here is Winnie with a pitcher of orange juice. | video + article |
| L07 | Solids keep their shape | Here's a metal spoon in a tall glass. | video + article |
| L08 | Solid, liquid or gas? Sort the sample | Here is Tamsin with a bowl of sand. | video + article |
What this topic is, in five lines
Eight short lessons, one per atom, in the Matter strand after Topic 19. The first four build what air is: you can feel it (L01), it is made of tiny pieces far too small to see (L02), so is every kind of matter (L03), and it takes up space (L04, the upside-down cup with the dry paper towel, then the balloon). The last four sort matter by what it does: a gas spreads out to fill all the space it is given (L05, air is a gas), a liquid pours and takes the shape of whatever holds it (L06), a solid keeps its own shape (L07), then the sort with the awkward cases (L08: sand is many tiny solids, a sponge is a solid, toothpaste a thick liquid, fog tiny drops of a liquid).
The order is Olivia's (air first, solids last: the everyday case joins the category last, so it cannot be taken for the whole category). Each classification lesson has one frame sentence, a minimal-difference non-example in the same container (water in the same long balloon; a spoon in the same tall glass; milk in the same square box), and a sorting sentence against its sibling class (a gas fills all the space; a liquid fills from the bottom up with a flat top; a heap of sand keeps its heap shape).
"Tiny pieces far too small to see" is the register's own wording and the only one used; the pieces are drawn as dots under a chip "IF YOU COULD SEE THEM"; the book's pieces are drawn packed and touching, the air's far apart; no liquid's pieces are drawn (grade 5 owns that drawing).
Applied without asking (rulings you have already given, and the reviewer's fixes): eight lessons in the register's prerequisite order (063 → 064 → 065 → 022 → 023 → 021 → 020 → 024); the surprising members first (a gas you cannot see is still stuff; honey pours slowly and is a liquid; a teddy bear squashes and is a solid; sand pours and is many tiny solids); "stuff" beside "matter" when matter is coined (L03); Topic 18's MAT3-062 leaned on by name in L04 (an object takes up a space nothing else can be in) with one recall item first; Olivia's one line that air is a gas and other gases exist before any sort (L05); no mechanism for the breeze; hard PP100 items typed; every attached question stands alone with its own drawing; no option bundles a verdict with a reason; every stem a positive question; colour in figures, photos for the classic demonstrations, cartoons for hands, dots (never faces) for the tiny pieces; scene changes spoken with "let's" in the intro and never as an imperative; the intro ends on a ready line and a poll and names no lesson; three questions on the summary; contractions in scripts; scripts under 150 words.
Air is something L01
Here is Astrid on a hot day.
She fans her face with her hands.
She feels a breeze on her cheeks.
But she looks, and there is nothing there to see.
So what did she feel?
What Astrid felt was the air.
Her hands moved the air, and the moving air reached her cheeks.
You cannot see air, but you can feel it.
Air is something real.
Video: the soft lines from her hands to her cheeks; the flag and hair blowing; the chest getting bigger — video and article.
Part 1 — MAT3-063 — State that air is something real that you can feel (a fan, a breeze, breathing in)
Part 1q — quiz, 8 items (a one-line fact atom)
Air is made of tiny pieces too small to see L02
Astrid felt a breeze on her cheeks.
The breeze was the air.
But she looked and saw nothing at all.
How can something touch your face when you can't see it?
Air is made of tiny pieces.
Each piece is far too small to see.
Scientists call these tiny pieces particles.
When Astrid fans her face, countless tiny pieces reach her skin.
That is the breeze she feels.
Video: a magnifier over empty air showing nothing, then the dots box fading in; the dots moving to the cheek band — video and article.
Part 1 — MAT3-064 — State that air is made of tiny pieces far too small to see (the breeze is countless pieces reaching your skin; no mechanism); coin particles once, after the plain words
Part 1q — quiz, 9 items
Everything is made of tiny pieces too small to see L03
Air is made of tiny pieces you can't see.
Now here is a book.
You can see the book easily.
Is the book made of tiny pieces too?
The book is made of tiny pieces too.
Stuff of every kind is called matter.
Every kind of matter is made of tiny pieces far too small to see.
The book's pieces are packed very close together, so you can see the book.
Video: the montage (book, wall, water, balloon) under the chip MATTER; the book's box against the air's box; the one ant and the four hundred — video and article.
Part 1 — MAT3-065 — State that every kind of matter is made of pieces far too small to see; coin matter ("stuff" beside it)
Part 1q — quiz, 8 items
Air takes up space L04
Here is Pim with a clear cup and a dry paper towel.
She pushes the paper towel into the bottom of the cup.
She turns the cup upside down.
Then she pushes it straight down into a bowl of water.
Will the paper get wet?
The paper stays dry.
The cup was full of air.
The air takes up the space inside the cup.
Nothing else can be in that space at the same time.
So the water cannot go in where the air is.
Air takes up space.
Video: the cup going right under and the paper still dry; the cup tipped right over, the bubbles leaving its rim and the water going in; the balloon growing, tied, then going small — video and article.
Part 1 — MAT3-022 — State that air takes up space (the upside-down cup stays dry inside; tipped right over, all its air comes out and the water goes in; the balloon grows, stays big when tied, goes small only when the air comes out)
Part 1q — quiz, 10 items
Gases spread out to fill their container L05
Here is Huw with a long thin balloon.
He blows air into it.
The air goes to the very tip, and to every part in between.
Then he blows air into a round balloon.
The air fills every part of that one too.
Does air have a shape of its own?
Air is a kind of matter called a gas.
There are other gases too.
The air spreads out to fill the whole balloon.
A gas spreads out to fill all the space it is given.
Water sits in the bottom part with a flat top, so water is not a gas.
Video: dots filling the long balloon to the tip, then the round one; the water sitting in the bottom of the same long balloon — video and article. (The boy is Huw: "Teddy" clashed with L07's teddy bear.)
Part 1 — MAT3-023 — Identify a gas by checking that it spreads to fill all the space it is given; coin gas; state that air is a gas and other gases exist
Part 1q — quiz, 10 items
Liquids take the shape of their container L06
Here is Winnie with a pitcher of orange juice.
She pours some into a tall glass.
Then she pours some into a wide bowl.
Then she pours some into a square box.
What shape is the juice?
In the tall glass, the juice is tall and thin.
In the wide bowl, the juice is wide and flat.
The juice pours and takes the shape of whatever holds it.
Juice is a kind of matter called a liquid.
A liquid fills its container from the bottom up, with a flat top.
Video: the juice filling the three containers in turn; honey pouring slowly; the spoon in the same glass; the air glass beside the juice glass — video and article.
Part 1 — MAT3-021 — Identify a liquid by checking that it pours and takes the shape of whatever holds it; coin liquid; the sorting sentence against a gas (fills from the bottom up, flat top)
Part 1q — quiz, 10 items
Solids keep their shape L07
Here's a metal spoon in a tall glass.
Cormac moves the spoon to a wide bowl.
Then he lays it in a square box.
What shape is the spoon in the box?
In the tall glass, the spoon is spoon-shaped.
In the wide bowl, the spoon is still spoon-shaped.
The spoon keeps its own shape wherever you put it.
A spoon is a kind of matter called a solid.
If it is not a gas, and not a liquid, it is a solid.
Video: the spoon moving through the three containers; the teddy bear squashed and let go; milk into the same box; the three-kinds panel — video and article.
Part 1 — MAT3-020 — Identify a solid by checking that it keeps its own shape wherever you put it; coin solid; Olivia's line (not a gas, not a liquid, so a solid)
Part 1q — quiz, 10 items
Solid, liquid or gas? Sort the sample L08
Here is Tamsin with a bowl of sand.
She pours the sand into a jar.
It pours, just like juice.
So is sand a liquid?
Each grain of sand keeps its own shape.
Sand is many tiny solids.
Sand in a jar makes a heap, not a flat top.
A sponge keeps its own shape, so it is a solid.
Fog is countless tiny drops of water in the air, so it is drops of a liquid.
If the stuff is shut in a box and you cannot see what it does, you cannot tell yet.
Video: the magnifier on one grain; the heap against the flat top; the sponge squashed and let go; the sort table filling row by row — video and article.
Part 1 — MAT3-024 — Classify a sample as solid, liquid or gas, including the awkward cases (sand, rice, a sponge, fog, and the shut box you cannot tell from); the three sorting questions in order
Part 1q — quiz, 13 items
Language decisions
- The register's words: "tiny pieces far too small to see" (MAT3-064, 065) — never "particles", "molecules", "atoms" (decision 3); "takes up space" (MAT3-022, Topic 18's phrase); "spreads out to fill all the space it is given" (MAT3-023); "pours and takes the shape of whatever holds it" (MAT3-021); "keeps its own shape wherever you put it" (MAT3-020); "many tiny solids" (MAT3-024).
- Coined here: particles (L02, once, after the plain words; every stem keeps "tiny pieces"), matter (L03, with "stuff" beside it, James 25 Sep), gas (L05), liquid (L06), solid (L07). Nothing is called a liquid or a solid before its lesson: L05's non-example is "water", not "a liquid".
- US words in student text: soda (not fizzy drink), pitcher (not jug), "the air is let out of" (not "let down").
- Names (review F2, F3): the headache characters (Astrid, Cormac, Tamsin, Pim, Ike, Huw, Winnie) appear in no item; every named child in an item is used once; most scene items name nobody.
- Air "comes out" of a balloon or a cup; nothing "escapes", "leaks" or "rushes". The balloon "goes small". "Density" is not said. No mechanism for the breeze: the pieces "reach" the skin; nothing "hits" it more when you fan.
- Openers vary: L01 "Here's Astrid…", L03 "Now here's a book.", L05 "Here's Teddy…", L07 "Here's a metal spoon…"; scripts open on the scene, no title slide; contractions in scripts and headaches.
PP100 type sheet (TYPE_SHEET_ONLY; James's 28 Sep night ruling: hard items are typed)
Eight types (the reviewer's merge and fold applied), ten exemplars (type 6, the sort by what the sample does, in three forms: one per kind); at most two alone-types per atom; the easy and medium types are four-option MCQs, the hard type is text entry on a drawn heap with the deciding words withheld. Every exemplar is a fresh scene kind; the design-move inventory of every item in the topic is on the sheet. Coverage table in records/TYPES_G3T20.md. If decision 1 splits the topic, the sheet splits with it (types 1–5 to "Air is something", 6–8 to "Solids, liquids and gases").
Figures
55 figures; 19 SVG (the tiny-pieces drawings, the cup cross-sections — the cup wholly under the water, no AIR chip on any item figure — the gas / liquid comparison, the three kinds, sand against water, the shut box, the bottle in a bucket, the lentils, the sort table), 27 photos (real materials and the classic demonstrations: the balloon, the dry paper in the cup, honey, sand, fog), 9 cartoons (hands and children). Every figure has an IMAGE_BRIEFS entry and an IMAGE_KINDS entry; people and hands are never drawn as glyphs; the pieces are dots, never circles with faces. Item figures carry the objects' names and no verdict chip; the blind comment gives the scene, never the verdict.
Deliberately not taught
Why more pieces reach your skin when you fan (the 6-8 kinetic story); why air is invisible (the page says only why the book is visible — review S10); the arrangement of a liquid's pieces (MAT5-082); melting, freezing, evaporating (Topic 21); toothpaste (a paste; cut); mass of a gas (Grade 5); density; the smell of a gas spreading through a room (a mechanism story; the room case is taught as "you can breathe in every corner").
This grade’s course architecture — open only if you want the whole map
Skill: course-build → atomise (architecture, step 6b gate) → write-like-james @ acc4fb6
Grade 3 Science — course architecture v3 (James's rulings of 25 September, plus Olivia Mullins's sequencing)
Read this in five minutes. Grade 3 Science is ONE course with a fixed order; nobody picks strands. It arranges the 183 Grade 3 atoms into four strands and forty-two small topics, each with its own mixed practice, summary video and PP100. Nothing below writes a lesson sentence. The atoms stay where they are: the Science Knowledge Graph's 3-5 registers.
Rulings recorded (James, 25 September 2026)
- Strand order: Physics, Matter, Earth & Space, Life. James: "I don't think it matters hugely … Happy to go with 1 Physics 2 Matter 3 Earth and space 4 Life. That works well." Strands may be intermingled later if a reason appears; none does yet.
- Grade 3 is one course. "We're not going to allow students to pick any strand … we need to structure Grade 3 as we think Grade 3 should be structured best." v1's line about students choosing strands was wrong and is gone.
- Topic 1 is the pilot. "That topic 1, I think, works as a good pilot."
- Small topics. "3 atoms is fine for testing. PP100s on quite granular stuff is absolutely fine … A 4-atom topic and a 5-atom topic is great. 9 is too many, really … if something's got 9 atoms, we should be considering splitting it." So sound, soil, fossils and natural resources each stand alone, and every v1 topic of nine or more was split (Card 2). Topics 1 and 2 keep 8 and 7 lessons because James approved Topic 1 as it stands and Topic 2 is one chain about speed; both are flagged as split candidates once their PP100 data arrives.
- Forces opens with Earth's pull and magnets, before the word "force" (Olivia Mullins call, 25 September; James: "I think I'll follow that"). Topics 3 and 4 teach the two non-touching pulls with no talk of forces; Topic 5 coins "force" on both of them and on the hand push together, so the hand push never becomes the whole category. Her two classroom misconceptions (Earth pulls only on your feet; "balanced" is a kind of force) are in the register and the lessons.
- States of matter start with air (Olivia): air takes up space → gases spread → liquids → solids → the sort.
Applied from the earlier rulings: four strands; Motion before Forces before Energy; Scientific Reasoning atoms taught inside the topics that use them; one intro video per strand and per topic, each teaching nothing; one atom, one lesson, both video and article; a summary video before every PP100; PP100 banks of at least fifty items tagged by depth of reasoning; the Forces topics reuse the golden pack; the language rules (Earth's pull, carriers not forms, no "leak" or "lift").
Card 1 — The strands and their order
The call: Physics → Matter → Earth & Space → Life, each with its own intro video and its own end-of-strand test.
| Strand | Topics | Atoms | Why it sits here |
|---|---|---|---|
| Physics | 1-15 | 64 | Motion first: what you can see, before the invisible cause. Energy last: "faster means more energy" needs speed. |
| Matter | 16-21 | 22 (+7 Scientific Reasoning) | Uses the measuring tools and feeds Earth's water cycle in Grade 4. |
| Earth & Space | 22-31 | 41 (+4 Scientific Reasoning) | Weather uses tables and graphs; "the Sun powers Earth" must precede food chains. |
| Life | 32-42 | 43 | Ends the year; leans on Space (the Sun), Forces (Earth's pull) and Matter (properties). |
Scientific Reasoning's 13 atoms are spread through Topics 1, 16, 17, 22, 23 and 25 (Card 4). Total 183 lessons.
Card 2 — The topics
The call: forty-two topics, most of three to six lessons; a mixed mastery practice set, a summary video and a PP100 at the end of every one.
| # | Topic (student-facing title) | Atoms (in teaching order) | Lessons | The big idea it serves |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Physics | ||||
| 1 | Where is it? Did it move? | MOT3-001, 002, 003, 004, 005, 006, 007, 008 (+ SR3-020, 021 inside L07/L08) | 8 | You say where something is with a landmark; moving means its position changed; motions can repeat |
| 2 | Fast and slow | MOT3-020, 021, 022, 023, 024, 025, 026 | 7 | Faster means farther in the same time, or the same distance in less time |
| 3 | Earth pulls things down | FOR3-021, 029, 030, 028, 022 (+ a closing lesson naming gravity) | 6 | Earth pulls every object, all the time, straight down, on every part of it, without touching; a strong enough pull can beat it; the pull's name is gravity (JM 28 Sep 2026; no word "force" yet) |
| 4 | Magnets | FOR3-023, 024, 025 | 3 | A magnet pulls steel without touching; two magnets pull or push; use a magnet to solve a problem (no word "force" yet) |
| 5 | What a force is | FOR3-012, 001, 008, 006 | 4 | Earth's pull, a magnet's pull and your push are all forces; push or pull; on one object; in one direction |
| 6 | Forces that touch, and forces that don't | FOR3-020, 027, 026 | 3 | Some forces act without touching: Earth, magnets, a rubbed balloon; most pushes touch |
| 7 | Pushes and pulls change things | FOR3-002, 003, 004, 005, 007 | 5 | A push or pull starts, stops, turns or squashes; you can test it |
| 8 | Strong or weak: drawing a force | FOR3-009, 010, 011 | 3 | A stronger push makes a bigger change; an arrow shows a force's direction and strength |
| 9 | Balanced forces | FOR3-040, 041, 042, 043, 045 | 5 | Several forces act at once; balanced forces leave motion as it is, still or steady |
| 10 | Unbalanced forces | FOR3-044, 046, 047 | 3 | Unbalanced forces speed up, slow down or turn |
| 11 | Energy: what has it, how it travels | ENE3-001, 002, 003, 004, 005, 034 | 6 | Energy makes things happen; light, sound and electricity carry it; faster means more |
| 12 | Sound | ENE3-030, 031, 032 | 3 | Sound comes from vibration and travels to your ear |
| 13 | Light: sources, straight lines, shadows | ENE3-010, 011, 012, 017 | 4 | Light comes from a source, travels straight, makes shadows, must reach the eye |
| 14 | Light bounces, bends or soaks in | ENE3-013, 014, 015, 016 | 4 | Reflection, refraction, absorption, sorted |
| 15 | Light and heat | ENE3-020, 021, 033 | 3 | Light-givers give heat; rubbing makes heat; light carries energy |
| Matter | ||||
| 16 | Describe it, sort it | SR3-001, 002, MAT3-001, 002, 003 | 5 | Observe with more than your eyes; describe an object by its properties; sort and order |
| 17 | Measuring tools | SR3-003, 004, 005, 006, 007 | 5 | Thermometer, scale, measuring jug; pick the right one; two groups can disagree |
| 18 | Which has more? | MAT3-004, 062, 005, 006 | 4 | More mass, more space, warmer, decided by a measurement; MAT3-062 "everything takes up space" (JM ruling on Olivia's comment, 28 Sep 2026) sits before the space comparison |
| 19 | Sinks, floats, sticks to a magnet: choosing materials | MAT3-007, 008, 060, 061 | 4 | Test a property, then pick the material for the job |
| 20 | Solids, liquids and gases | MAT3-063, 064, 065, 022, 023, 021, 020, 024 | 8 | Air first (Olivia's order): air is something you can feel; it is made of tiny pieces too small to see; so is every kind of matter; air takes up space; gases spread out to fill their space; liquids take their container's shape; solids keep theirs; then the sort with the awkward cases. MAT3-063, 064, 065 were added on 28 Sep 2026 (JM's rulings on Olivia's comments) before MAT3-022 in the chain; eight lessons is over JM's 3–6 size, so the Topic 20 build record (decision 1) proposes a split after MAT3-022 into "Air is something" (4) and "Solids, liquids and gases" (4), renumbering Matter to 16–22, Earth & Space 23–32, Life 33–43 — nothing after Topic 19 is authored, so the renumbering costs nothing now |
| 21 | Heating and cooling | MAT3-040, 041, 042, 043, 044, 045, 046 | 7 | Heating and cooling change the state but it is the same water (split candidate: melting/freezing vs evaporating/condensing) |
| Earth & Space | ||||
| 22 | Measuring the weather | EAR3-017, 018, 019, SR3-010, EAR3-020, SR3-011 | 6 | Three instruments, a weather diary, reading it back |
| 23 | Weather over a season, and far away | SR3-012, EAR3-022, 023, 021, 024 | 5 | A season's records make a chart; the chart predicts; other places differ |
| 24 | Volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides | EAR3-007, 010, 008, 011, 009, 012 | 6 | What each one is, then how it changes the land fast |
| 25 | Dangerous weather | EAR3-013, 014, SR3-022 | 3 | Weather can do damage; a defence holds it back; pick the sensible cause |
| 26 | Soil | EAR3-001, 002, 003, 004 | 4 | Soil is broken rock plus dead things |
| 27 | Fossils | EAR3-029, 030, 031, 032, 033 | 5 | A few dead things last as fossils and tell of the past |
| 28 | Using and conserving natural resources | EAR3-040, 041, 042, 043 | 4 | Everything you own started as a natural resource; some run short |
| 29 | The Sun | SPA3-001, 007, 002 | 3 | A huge glowing ball of gas; a star; the source of Earth's energy |
| 30 | The stars | SPA3-003, 004, 005, 006 | 4 | Stars differ; they look like dots because they are far; telescopes show more |
| 31 | The solar system | SPA3-010, 011, 012, 013, 014 | 5 | Earth orbits the Sun with seven other planets; the Moon orbits Earth |
| Life | ||||
| 32 | Alive or not | LIF3-001, 007, 008, 009, 002 | 5 | Living things grow, feed, move and make more; sort living from non-living |
| 33 | What living things need | LIF3-003, 004, 005, 006 | 4 | Food, water, air and a place that suits them |
| 34 | Backbone or no backbone | LIF3-010, 011, 070 | 3 | Grouping by shared features; vertebrates, invertebrates, arthropods |
| 35 | The five vertebrate groups | LIF3-015, 016, 017, 018, 019, 012 | 6 | Mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian, fish, then the sort |
| 36 | Eggs, body parts and senses | LIF3-013, 020, 027 | 3 | Egg-layers or live birth; body parts do survival jobs; animals sense, then respond |
| 37 | How plants make new plants | LIF3-071, 072, 014, 024 | 4 | Seeds, spores, the sort, the flower's job |
| 38 | Plant parts and their jobs | LIF3-021, 022, 023 | 3 | Roots, stem, leaves |
| 39 | Plants respond | LIF3-025, 026, 028 | 3 | Stems grow to the light, roots grow down; plants respond by growing, animals by moving |
| 40 | Life cycles and family likeness | LIF3-030, 031, 040, 041, 042 | 5 | Every life runs in a cycle; offspring take after their parents but differ |
| 41 | Food chains | LIF3-050, 051, 052 | 3 | Every food chain starts with the Sun; remove a link and the rest changes |
| 42 | Living together and coping with change | LIF3-060, 061, 062, 063 | 4 | Groups, places and seasons decide who survives |
Totals: 183 lessons, 42 practice sets, 42 PP100s (banks of at least 50 items each), 4 strand tests (after Topics 15, 21, 31, 42), 1 end-of-grade test.
Why this grouping
- Every prerequisite edge points backwards in this order. Checked atom by atom in the assembled files; no forward reference.
- Animal topics (33-35) and plant topics (36-38) are separate, as James asked; the plant-versus-animal response contrast (LIF3-028) closes Topic 38 because it needs both sides taught.
- Topics 3 and 4 teach Earth's pull and magnets without the word force; Topic 5 coins it on all three kinds (Olivia's sequence). Topic 8 carries the two force-arrow atoms so Topics 9 and 10 can draw balanced and unbalanced forces.
- Topic 24 puts "what a volcano is" straight before "volcanoes change the land fast", and the same for earthquakes and landslides: what it is, then what it does.
What changes: the folder gets grade3/topicNN_build/ per topic; Topic 1's blueprint is approved; Topic 1 is built first.
Card 3 — Topic 1 is the pilot (approved)
The call: pilot "Where is it? Did it move?" end to end — 8 lessons, an attached question per video, a ten-item quiz after each, mixed practice, summary video, PP100 — before any other topic starts.
- It is the first thing a Grade 3 student meets, so the whole format ladder gets tried where the stakes are lowest.
- It holds a fact, four sorts, two routines and a prediction. Every check type the course needs appears once.
- Its quiz items are drawings of everyday scenes, so the figure pipeline for young grades gets tested too.
- Topics 3 to 10 follow, reusing the golden Forces pack where its lessons match (push or pull, force on one object, strength, direction, more than one force, the balanced and unbalanced lessons).
Card 4 — Scientific Reasoning is taught where it is used
The call: each of the 13 Scientific Reasoning atoms is a lesson inside the topic that first needs it, with its check there; no separate strand, no separate test.
| SR atom | Host topic | Why there |
|---|---|---|
| SR3-001 Observe with more than your eyes; SR3-002 Observation or idea about it? | 16 Describe it, sort it | describing an object's properties is observing |
| SR3-003 Read a thermometer; SR3-004 Measure mass with a scale; SR3-005 Measure the volume of a liquid; SR3-006 Pick the right measuring tool; SR3-007 Two groups, two different answers | 17 Measuring tools | the tools before "which has more?" uses them |
| SR3-010 Record results in a table; SR3-011 Find a value in a table | 22 Measuring the weather | the weather diary is the first table students fill and read back |
| SR3-012 Read a pictograph or bar graph | 23 Weather over a season | the graph before the graphing routine |
| SR3-020 Spot the pattern; SR3-021 Use the pattern to predict | 1 Where is it? Did it move? (inside L07 and L08) | the swing's repeat is the pattern |
| SR3-022 Choose the sensible cause | 25 Dangerous weather | first place students pick a cause for an event |
Card 5 — Tests and benchmarks
The call: a PP100 per topic; a static end-of-strand test per strand (some free response); one static end-of-grade test; all Grade 3 tests are our own banks, seeded from released grade-5 items filtered to Grade 3 atoms.
- No state tests science before grade 5 (D1 ruling). The released STAAR, Florida SSA and AZSCI grade-5 forms give the style and difficulty; items tagged to Grade 3 atoms seed the banks.
- The strand tests fall after Topics 15, 21, 31 and 42.
- The end-of-grade test samples all four strands with free-response items.
What happens next
Topic 1 is built as the first interactive version for James: the topic intro (video script and article), eight lessons each as a video script with animation guidance and an article with figures, one attached question per video, a ten-item quiz per lesson, mixed practice, the summary video script and the PP100 bank. Topic 3 follows, reusing the golden pack.