For the featured breakout Blast Off! A Trip Through Space and the Grade 3 concept set — aligned to the 2021 Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills for Science (§112.5). Pitched to upper-elementary: model, sequence, gather evidence, and name.
Recurring themes: patterns, systems & models, scale & proportion, cause & effect.
| Lock | Skill / thinking move | TEKS (aligned to) | Teacher move |
|---|---|---|---|
| L1 · Sequence Planet order | Order the planets by distance from the Sun. | 3.9(B) order of the planets from the Sun; 3.5(A) patterns. | Walk a planet order line outside |
| L2 · Multiple choice Moon's orbit | Model what orbits what in the Sun–Earth–Moon system. | 3.9(A) model the orbits of the Sun, Earth & Moon. | Model with three balls |
| L3 · Evidence sort True about space | Keep only the true space facts; leave out a true-but-off-topic one. | 3.9(A/B) solar system; 3.1(B) use evidence. | Sort fact cards together |
| L4 · Word Name it | Name the path a planet takes around the Sun. | 3.9(A) / 3.3(A) observe & describe. | Say it, then type it |
Pair the breakout with the hands-on Sun–Earth–Moon Model — build a moving model that shows the Moon orbiting the Earth while the Earth orbits the Sun. Anchored in 3.9(A) (model the orbits) plus engineering practices 3.1(B), 3.1(G), 3.2(D).
The More Grade 3 breakouts add one short activity per key concept: solids, liquids & gases (3.6B), changes of state (3.6C), measuring matter (3.6A), forces at a distance (3.7A), forms of energy (3.8A), how soil forms (3.10B), rapid Earth changes (3.10C), energy in a food chain (3.12B), fossils (3.12D), and structures for survival (3.13A).
Design every lesson for all learners: UDL supports (CAST v3.0), ELPS supports for emergent bilingual students, and a lesson-plan guide — each in all seven languages. See also the full standards correlation.
Standards are aligned to, not reproduced from, the official TEKS.