Daily Academy

Grade 3 · Discovery Space

Grade 3 science, one interesting thing a day

Grade 3 science asks for the cause, not only the name: why the seasons change, why a lever helps, how sound reaches an ear. Daily Academy closes each daily session with one short explanation of a real thing and questions that check whether the mechanism landed.

43 activities in this subject · free to use · no card to start

What is a grade 3 child expected to do in science?

Canadian provinces write their curricula separately and word them differently, but the grade 3 expectations below are common across all of them. Daily Academy is skills-based rather than built to any one province’s document — see how it maps to your province.

  • Explain a simple cause and effect in nature rather than only naming it
  • Describe forces, light, sound and simple machines in everyday terms
  • Place Earth in the solar system and explain day, night and the seasons
  • Read a short non-fiction explanation and pull the key fact out of it

Where grade 3 children usually get stuck

Naming the phenomenon instead of explaining it

'Gravity' is a label. Why a heavier ball does not fall faster is the science. Grade 3 is early enough that the habit of asking for the mechanism can still be set easily.

Non-fiction comprehension is the real bottleneck

Most grade 3 science difficulty is reading difficulty wearing a lab coat. Because the readings here carry comprehension questions, the parent dashboard can tell you which of the two is actually slipping.

What the questions actually look like

Straight from the library, at the difficulty they are served at. Every question carries an explanation that appears after answering, whether the answer was right or wrong.

  • Living Things

    How many things does every animal need?

    Why: 4 things: food, water, air and somewhere safe to live.

  • Earth & Space

    Does the sun really go away at night?

    Why: No. The Earth turns, and your part of it faces away from the sun.

  • How Things Work

    What does the stone do in the bath?

    Why: It sinks. The duck floats and the stone sinks.

  • Health & The Body

    What do you smell with?

    Why: Your nose. Each sense has its own part of the body.

Common questions

What science topics does grade 3 cover?

Wording varies by province, but grade 3 science across Canada generally covers plant and animal growth and habitats, forces and simple machines, structures and materials, light and sound, and Earth in space including day, night and the seasons.

Does Daily Academy teach science or just test it?

Each discovery activity is a short original explanation written for this age, followed by questions on it. The reading is the teaching; the questions check whether the mechanism was understood rather than whether the words were remembered.

Start grade 3 science tonight

Twenty minutes, five stops, and every question pitched at your child rather than at their year group. The daily mission is free and stays free.