3rd Grade Social Studies Curriculum – Physical Environment Unit – TEKS-Aligned

Are you an upper elementary teacher looking to find a quality TEKS-aligned resource that targets the characteristics of the physical environment? Looking for minimal-prep and engaging lessons and activities to teach social studies concepts to your 3rd grade students? Look no further!

Unit 2 of the Smart and Simple Social Studies Communities Guided Curriculum is about the Physical Environment – landforms, climate, natural resources, and natural hazards. The main topic of this unit is designed to help upper elementary students understand the characteristics of the physical environment in a variety of communities and ways people adapt to and modify the environment that they live in.

This 3-week unit includes lesson plans, guided notes, practice activities, exit tickets, a project, unit assessment, and more. Each lesson includes slideshows in both PowerPoint and Google Slides, as well as student digital activities of the notes, practice activities, exit tickets, project, and unit assessment.

This unit primarily correlates to the current TEKS 3rd grade Social Studies standards (adopted 2024). It includes EVERYTHING you need to teach about the physical environment – just print & go!

This unit covers the following topics:

• Lesson 1: Introduction to the Physical Environment
• Lesson 2: Landforms
• Lesson 3: Climate
• Lesson 4: Natural Resources
• Lesson 5: Natural Hazards
• Lesson 6: Adapting and Modifying the Physical Environment
• Lesson 7: Effects of Human Processes – Building New Homes
• Lesson 8: Effects of Human Processes – Conservation
• Lesson 9: Effects of Human Processes – Pollution
• Lesson 10: Physical Environment Review

What’s included in this resource?

• 3-week pacing guide and overview
• Scope and Sequence
• 10 teacher lesson plan guides
• 9 non-editable slideshows (Google Drive & PPT versions)
• 1 editable slideshow review game
• Guided notes for Lessons 1-9 (3 versions: blank, fill-in-the-blank, and highlighted words)
• 9 practice activities
• 1 recording sheet with QR code for review game
• 10 exit tickets
• Digital and full-color version of student activities
• Unit Project
• Unit Assessment
• Answer keys for all student activities

What makes this Guided Social Studies Curriculum Smart and Simple?

✅ The social studies daily lessons and activities are bite-sized and can easily be implemented in 30-45 minutes.

✅ The social studies curriculum is TEKS-aligned (for Texas) but are still flexible enough to use in any order and in conjunction with any state curriculum.

✅ Each social studies unit has everything you need to simply teach social studies – easy-to-follow lesson plans, guided notes, practice activities, exit tickets, and more!

It’s everything you need to implement engaging social studies lessons that students love and teachers enjoy (because it’s comprehensive and easy to prep)!