Topic 35 — The five vertebrate groups — blueprint (29 September 2026)
What I need from you: 4 decisions
Are the five sorting sentences the ones you want the course to hold to?
each uses ONLY the register's features — mammal: hair or fur, milk for its babies; bird: feathers, a beak, lays eggs; reptile: dry, scaly skin, eggs on land; amphibian: smooth, moist skin, water first then land; fish: gills, fins. Nothing about flying, legs, scales on fish, where it lives, or being warm. (The reviewer struck "lives in water" from the fish's sentence — L06's rule says where an animal lives never sorts it — and the coordinator ruled it.) Every member shown passes its sentence; every near-miss fails it.
My recommendation: yes — they are the register's words, and they kill the common beliefs (a whale is a fish; a penguin is not a bird; a turtle is an amphibian; snakes are slimy; all fish have scales) without adding features.
"Lays its eggs on land" for every reptile, and "smooth, moist skin" for every amphibian — keep at grade 3?
a few snakes and lizards give birth to live young, and a toad's skin is bumpy and dry-ish. The lessons and the bank name only egg-laying reptiles (the list is on the type sheet and in the register note) and no toad appears anywhere. The reviewer's fact for you: the egg clause sorts nothing that "dry, scaly skin" does not already sort — birds lay eggs on land too, and fish and amphibians are out by their skin — so it costs the live-bearers and buys only the register's wording.
My recommendation: keep both whole — clarity beats accuracy at this age, and no named member breaks either sentence. If one goes, drop the egg clause, not "moist".
Six atoms in one topic — keep, or split the sort into its own short topic?
six lessons is your size ceiling. The five definition lessons are short (about 30 idea lines, ≤ 150 spoken words each) and the sort (L06) leans on all five, so the topic is one PP100 cluster.
My recommendation: keep as six — the sort belongs with the definitions it uses.
The type sheet: eight types, one alone-type per definition atom and three for the sort.
six atoms at two alone-types each would be twelve; ten is the ceiling. Types 1–4 test the definition atoms alone (type 2 on two atoms); types 5, 7 and 8 test the sort (7 and 8 typed, hard, 8 against a sea setting); type 6 is the tell-apart pair (a gannet and a fur seal). Two slots are free — the reviewer would give one to the reptile atom.
My recommendation: approve the eight; the bank varies the animal, never the move; fill a free slot only if you want a second reptile type.
Topic 35 at a glance — 6 lessons
| Lesson | Opens on | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|
| L01 | What makes an animal a mammal | Fabiola is on a boat. A whale comes up beside it, huge and gray. | video + article |
| L02 | What makes an animal a bird | Bertram watches the penguins at the zoo. They dive and swim under the water. | video + article |
| L03 | What makes an animal a reptile | A keeper holds out a snake to Ophelia's class. | video + article |
| L04 | What makes an animal an amphibian | In spring, Evander scoops a jar of pond water. Tiny tadpoles swim in it, with tails and no legs. | video + article |
| L05 | What makes an animal a fish | Gwendolen presses her nose to the tank. A yellow seahorse hangs on a plant, curling its tail. | video + article |
| L06 | Place a backboned animal in its group | Jonquil's class plays Mystery Animal. | video + article |
What this topic is, in five lines
Six short lessons, one per atom. Five definition lessons, one per class, each an example sequence in ONE frame with the surprising members first and the non-example at minimal difference: the whale (then the shark in the same sea), the bat (then the owl flying at night), the dog; the penguin (then the seal on the same shore), the ostrich (then the bat again), the robin; the snake (then the eel, long and legless too), the sea turtle (then the salmon in the same sea), the lizard; the frog's two lives (then the minnow in the same pond), the salamander (then the lizard again, four legs and a tail), the newt; the seahorse (then the dolphin in the same sea), the shark, the penguin again as a non-example, the goldfish. The rule comes last in each. Then the capstone: the sort. Jonquil's mystery card (fur, milk, swims all day) is placed by its features, not its river; the group key puts the five rules in one table; five fresh animals are sorted; the rule is Topic 16's criterion in this topic's words — look at the features, not where it lives or how it moves; its features fit one group.
Applied without asking (rulings you have already given): hard PP100 items are typed (two of nine exemplars, both text entry: the group's name from described features); every attached question stands alone with its own drawing; no option bundles a verdict with a reason; every claim is bare yes / no; every stem a positive question; colour in figures and a photo for every real animal; the intro ends on a ready line and a poll and names no lesson; scene changes spoken with "let's", never an imperative at the viewer; three questions on the summary; the type sheet before the bank (≤ 10 types, coverage alone and in pairs, a design-move inventory, fresh exemplars); a headache character never in an item, a claim-maker once per topic; "vertebrate", "backbone" and "feature" taken from Topic 34 and recalled by a check, never re-coined; "a fish takes in air from the water" taken from Topic 33; surprising members first in every class; no figurative verbs; US spelling; scripts ≤ 150 words ending "Okay, now your turn".
What makes an animal a mammal L01
Fabiola is on a boat. A whale comes up beside it, huge and gray.
'What a big fish!' she says.
Her dad shakes his head.
The whale is not a fish, he says.
So what is it?
The whale has a little hair, around its mouth, and the whale mother feeds her baby milk.
An animal with hair or fur, whose mother feeds her babies milk, is called a mammal.
The shark has no hair and no milk for its babies, so the shark is not a mammal.
The bat has fur and feeds its babies milk, so the bat is a mammal; the owl has feathers, not fur, so the owl is not.
A mammal has hair or fur, and a mammal mother feeds her babies milk.
Video: the hairs on the whale's chin ringed; each feature card building its two marks under their questions, then its chip — video and article.
Part 1 — LIF3-015 — State what makes an animal a mammal: hair or fur, and milk for its babies
Part 1q — quiz, 12 items
What makes an animal a bird L02
Bertram watches the penguins at the zoo. They dive and swim under the water.
The sign says BIRDS.
'Birds fly,' says Bertram. 'Penguins can't fly.'
'So a penguin can't be a bird.'
Is Bertram right? What makes an animal a bird?
The penguin has feathers and a beak, and it lays eggs, so the penguin is a bird, even though it cannot fly.
The seal on the same shore has fur, not feathers, and no beak, so the seal is not a bird.
The ostrich cannot fly either, but it has feathers and a beak and lays eggs, so the ostrich is a bird.
The bat flies, but it has fur and no beak, so the bat is not a bird: it is a mammal.
A bird has feathers and a beak, and it lays eggs.
Video: the penguin's feathers and beak ringed, the egg on its feet; the chip FEATHERS MAKE A BIRD on the bat's card — video and article.
Part 1 — LIF3-016 — State what makes an animal a bird: feathers, a beak, lays eggs
Part 1q — quiz, 11 items
What makes an animal a reptile L03
A keeper holds out a snake to Ophelia's class.
Ophelia pulls her hand back. 'It's slimy!' she says.
The keeper laughs and lets her touch it. It is dry.
Dry, and covered in tiny hard scales.
What kind of animal is a snake?
The snake has dry, scaly skin, and it lays its eggs on land.
An animal with dry, scaly skin, which lays its eggs on land, is called a reptile.
The eel is long and has no legs too, but its skin is wet and slippery and its eggs are laid in water, so the eel is not a reptile.
The sea turtle swims in the sea, but it has dry, scaly skin and comes to the beach to lay its eggs on land, so the sea turtle is a reptile.
A reptile has dry, scaly skin, and it lays its eggs on land.
Video: the scales ringed; the sea turtle on the beach at night — video and article.
Part 1 — LIF3-017 — State what makes an animal a reptile: dry, scaly skin; eggs on land
Part 1q — quiz, 11 items
What makes an animal an amphibian L04
In spring, Evander scoops a jar of pond water. Tiny tadpoles swim in it, with tails and no legs.
They swim like little fish.
Weeks later, the tadpoles have legs. Their tails are gone.
They sit on a stone, out of the water. They are small frogs.
What kind of animal starts in the water and ends up on land?
The frog has smooth, moist skin: moist means a little wet.
The frog starts its life in the pond, as an egg and then a tadpole, and then it lives on land.
An animal with smooth, moist skin, which starts its life in water and then lives on land, is called an amphibian.
The minnow in the same pond has scales, and it stays in the water all its life, so the minnow is not an amphibian.
An amphibian has smooth, moist skin. It starts its life in water, then lives on land.
Video: the three-panel frog life building left to right with the chip WATER FIRST, THEN LAND — video and article.
Part 1 — LIF3-018 — State what makes an animal an amphibian: smooth, moist skin; water first, then land
Part 1q — quiz, 10 items
What makes an animal a fish L05
Gwendolen presses her nose to the tank. A yellow seahorse hangs on a plant, curling its tail.
'That's not a fish,' she says. 'It's a tiny horse!'
It has no legs. It does not look like a horse, or like a fish.
What is a seahorse?
A fish takes in air from the water with its gills, under the flaps on the sides of its head, and it swims with fins.
The seahorse takes in air with its gills and swims with the small fin on its back, so the seahorse is a fish.
The dolphin lives in the same sea but has no gills: it comes up to breathe air, so the dolphin is not a fish; it is a mammal.
The shark has gills and fins, so the shark is a fish; the penguin swims but has no gills and no fins, so the penguin is not.
A fish takes in air from the water with its gills, and it swims with fins.
Video: the gill flap and the red comb ringed, the chips GILLS and FINS landing on the picture — video and article.
Part 1 — LIF3-019 — State what makes an animal a fish: lives in water, gills, fins
Part 1q — quiz, 10 items
Place a backboned animal in its group L06
Jonquil's class plays Mystery Animal.
Her card has three clues: fur, milk from its mother, and all day swimming in the river.
'A fish!' says someone. 'It swims all day.'
Is it a fish? Which group does the mystery animal belong to?
To place a backboned animal in its group, look at its features, not where it lives or how it moves.
Fur, and milk for its babies: the mystery animal is a mammal, whatever it swims in.
The group key lists what to look for: hair or fur and milk; feathers and a beak; dry, scaly skin; smooth, moist skin and water first; gills and fins.
A kangaroo, a toucan, a chameleon, a poison dart frog and a swordfish each fit exactly one group.
An animal's features fit one group.
Video: the mystery card's mammal chip ringing green; the group key's five rows appearing one by one; each sort card ringing its group — video and article.
Part 1 — LIF3-012 — Classify a backboned animal as a mammal, bird, reptile, amphibian or fish from its features
Part 1q — quiz, 10 items
Language decisions
- "Mammal" (L01), "reptile" (L03), "amphibian" (L04), "gills" and "fins" (L05) are coined with "is called". "Bird" and "fish" are everyday words the student has; the lessons give them their sorting sentence.
- "Vertebrate", "backbone" and "feature" are Topic 34's words, recalled by L01's first item; "backboned animal" is the plain phrase in the sort's rule so the sentence stays short.
- "Takes in air from the water" is Topic 33's sentence; this topic adds "with its gills". No "oxygen", no "breathes through".
- "Moist" arrives beside "a little wet" and is then the one word. "Babies" is the one word for young inside a frame sentence.
- Where an animal lives and how it moves never sort it — Topic 16's criterion in this topic's words, stated in L01's why lines and made the rule in L06.
- No toad anywhere (its skin is bumpy); no platypus (it lays eggs); no live-bearing snake is named (the corn snake lays eggs).
PP100 type sheet (TYPE_SHEET_ONLY; James's 28 Sep night ruling: hard items are typed)
Eight types, nine exemplars (types 2 and 4 of the first draft merged after the review; two slots free under the ceiling); seven four-option MCQs (easy and medium) and two typed hard items (text entry: the group's name from described features, once plain and once against a misleading setting). Coverage table in records/TYPES_G3T35.md.
Figures
94 figures: 45 SVG (25 feature cards, five run cards, six rule cards, the group key, seven sort cards, the frog's two lives — every verdict mark under the question it answers), 43 photos (every real animal; the attached, summary and bank items' animals too), 6 cartoons (the six headache scenes). Every figure has an IMAGE_BRIEFS entry and an IMAGE_KINDS entry; people and hands are never drawn as glyphs; an item's placeholder alt text never names the answer.
Deliberately not taught
Warm-blooded and cold-blooded; lungs; scales on fish and reptiles as a shared word; live-bearing snakes and lizards; the toad; the platypus and the echidna; insects and other invertebrate groups (Topic 34 stops at arthropods); egg-layers or live-birth as a sort (Topic 36, LIF3-013); body parts and their survival jobs (Topic 36, LIF3-020); how gills work beyond "takes in air from the water".
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.