Texas TEKS 3.13

3.13 is a TEKS knowledge and skills statement. These are the student expectations under it.

• 3.13.A

  explore and explain how external structures and functions of animals such as the neck of a giraffe or webbed feet on a duck enable them to survive in their envi...

• 3.13.B

  explore, illustrate, and compare life cycles in organisms such as beetles, crickets, radishes, or lima beans.

01

What Students Need to Do

Students identify an animal’s external structures and explain how each structure helps it survive in its habitat. They also sequence, illustrate, and compare plant and animal life cycles.

02

What Mastery Looks Like

Given an animal image, students connect a visible body part to a specific survival function. They correctly sequence beetle and lima bean life cycles, then name one similarity and one difference.

03

Common Misconceptions

Students may name a body part without explaining how it helps the animal survive. They may mix up life cycle stages, show cycles as straight lines, or assume plants and insects have identical stages.

04

How to Assess It

Give students a duck image and shuffled beetle and lima bean life cycle pictures. Ask them to explain one duck structure, sequence both cycles, and write one comparison.

1. 01

   Test spoon, fork, and clothespin beaks with different foods, then match each tool to the food it collects best.

2. 02

   Show a giraffe photo and ask, “How does its neck help it get food and notice danger?”

3. 03

   Play a card relay where teams sequence beetle, cricket, radish, and lima bean life cycle pictures.

4. 04

   Take a schoolyard walk and sketch one organism, labeling a visible structure and how it helps the organism survive.

• 1.13

  Organisms and environments. The student knows that organisms resemble their parents and have structures and undergo processes that help them interact and surviv...

• 2.13

  Organisms and environments. The student knows that organisms have structures and undergo processes that help them interact and survive within their environments...

• 5.13

  Organisms and environments. The student knows that organisms undergo similar life processes and have structures and behaviors that help them survive within thei...

• 4.13

  The 4th Grade version of this standard.