California science vocabulary card(1 6) (3)

mimicry
(mimºi krē)

Grade 3

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill
Photograph by © Michael And Patricia Fogden/Minden Pictures

Photograph by © C Squared Studios/Getty Images, Inc.

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

Grade 3
(miksºchәr)

Vocabulary Routine

mixture

Define: When one thing imitates the traits of

another.

mimicry

Example: Some insects use mimicry to look like other

(mimºi krē)

insects and fool predators.

Ask: Why do some insects use mimicry to look

like a stick? (It can hide from predators or
attack its own prey.)

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

Photograph by © Michael And Patricia Fogden/Minden Pictures

Photograph by © C Squared Studios/Getty Images, Inc.

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

Published by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill, of McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.,
Two Penn Plaza, New York, New York 10121.

Ask: If you have a mixture of sand and gravel,
how can you separate the sand?

Copyright © by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in
any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of The McGraw-Hill
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ingredients.

(miksºchәr)

Example: Soda is a mixture of sugar, water, and other

Printed in Mexico

mixture

Define: Different kinds of matter blended together.

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Vocabulary Routine

ISBN 13: 978-0-02-286133-9
ISBN 10: 0-02-286133-5
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Vocabulary Routine
Define: When one thing imitates the traits of

another.
Example: Some insects use mimicry to look like other

insects and fool predators.
Ask: Why do some insects use mimicry to look

like a stick? (It can hide from predators or
attack its own prey.)

Ask: If you have a mixture of sand and gravel,
how can you separate the sand?

Vocabulary Cards

Example: Soda is a mixture of sugar, water, and other
ingredients.
Vocabulary Cards help build word knowledge and
understanding of Science Glossary terms by:

• providing an opportunity for vocabulary preview,

Define: Different kinds of matter blended together.
review, and reinforcement

• fostering language development skills
• supporting the acquisition of academic language for

Vocabulary Routine

English learners
Vocabulary Cards can be placed in your classroom
Science Center.

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absorb
(әb sôrbº)

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill
Photograph by (Green leaf): © David Fischer/Photodisc Red/Getty Images, Inc.
(Red flower): © Lisa Barber/Photonica/Getty Images, Inc.

Grade 3

Photograph by © Qt Luong/Terragalleria.Com

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

(aªdapªtāºshәn)

adaptation


Vocabulary Routine
Define: A special trait that helps a living thing survive in its environment.
Example: A fish’s gills are an example of adaptation.
Ask: How are a bear’s claws an adaptation that
helps it feed?

absorb?
Ask: Which colors of light does a green leaf

others.
Example: Some materials absorb more light than
Define: To take in.

Vocabulary Routine


air bladder
(âr

blaºdәr)

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

Photograph by © Marty Snyderman/Stephen Frink Collection/Alamy

Photograph by © Ralph A. Clevenger/CORBIS

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

(alºjē)

algae


Vocabulary Routine
Define: Tiny one-celled organisms that use
water, air, and sunlight to make food.
Example: Algae are plantlike living things often
found in shallow water.
Ask: How do you know that the green algae
growing on the surface of a pond is a
living thing?

it swim?
Ask: How does an air bladder inside a fish help
Example: Kelp has air bladders that help it float.

for holding gases.
Define: A balloonlike structure in plants and animals

Vocabulary Routine


arctic tundra
(ärkºtik

tәnºdrә)

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

Photograph by © B & C Alexander/NHPA

Photograph by © Blickwinkel/Alamy

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

(am fibºē әn)

amphibian


Vocabulary Routine
Define: An animal that spends part of its life in

water and part on land.
Example: Frogs and salamanders are amphibians.
Ask: What type of amphibian lives on the banks

of small streams?

Ask: How does the ground in the artic tundra
keep trees from growing there?
Example: Winters on the arctic tundra are long
and dark.
Define: A cold biome above the Arctic Circle.

Vocabulary Routine

asteroid
(asºtә roidª)

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill
Photograph by © Kauko Helavuo/The Image Bank/Getty Images, Inc.

Grade 3

Photograph by © NASA/Science Photo Library

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

(asºtrә not)

astronaut


Vocabulary Routine
Define: A large piece of rock or metal in space.
Example: Many asteroids orbit the Sun.
Ask: What materials might be part of an asteroid

traveling through space?

Ask: Why do astronauts travel to the Moon?
Example: Astronauts traveled to the Moon to study

it up close.
Define: A person who travels into space.

Vocabulary Routine


astrophysicist
(asªtrō fiºzi sist)
© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

Photograph by © Denis Finnin/American Museum Of Natural History

Photograph by © Colin Cuthbert/Photo Researchers, Inc.

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

(atº әm)

atom


Vocabulary Routine
Define: Someone who studies how objects in the

universe interact.
Example: An astrophysicist can explain how the

planets move around the Sun.
Ask: What types of questions about outer space

might an astrophysicist try to answer?

Ask: How can you observe the properties of
an atom if you cannot see it?
Example: Atoms are too small to see on your own.
Define: The smallest unit of an element that has
the properties of that element.

Vocabulary Routine


binary stars
(bīºnә rē

stârz)

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

Photograph by © STSci/NASA/Science Source/Photo Researchers, Inc.

Photograph by © Karen Minot

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

(akº sis)

axis


Vocabulary Routine
Define: A real or imaginary line through the center

of a spinning object.
Example: The geographic north and south poles are

the ends of Earth’s axis.
Ask: How long does it take for Earth to turn all

the way around on its axis?

Ask: If you looked at binary stars through a
telescope, what would you see?
Example: If one of the binary stars weakens, the
other one might absorb it.
Define: Two stars that act as a pair.

Vocabulary Routine


biomass
(bīºō mas)

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

Photograph by © Warren Gretz/Nrel/Us Department Of Energy/Science Photo Library

Photograph by © Annie Griffiths Belt/National Geographic/Getty Images, Inc.

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

(bīºōm)

biome


Vocabulary Routine
Define: An area of land or water that has certain
kinds of living and nonliving things.
Example: A desert biome is very different from an
ocean biome.
Ask: How can you tell where a grasslands biome
ends and a forest biome begins?

steam, or electricity?
Ask: How does burning biomass produce heat,

energy.
Example: Biomass can be used as fuel to produce

Define: Plant materials and animal waste.

Vocabulary Routine


brackish
environment
(brakºish en vīºrәn mәnt)

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

Photograph by © Age Fotostock/Superstock

Photograph by © G. P. Bowater/Alamy

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

(bog)

bog


Vocabulary Routine
Define: The living and nonliving things that exist in a
place with a mixture of fresh and salt water.
Example: Many marine animals lay their eggs in a

brackish environment.
Ask: What types of water are found in a brackish
environment?

Ask: Why do turtles live in bogs?

spongelike.
Example: The ground in bogs is usually wet and

and rich soil.
Define: A freshwater wetland filled with moss

Vocabulary Routine


camouflage
(kamºә fläzhª)

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

Photograph by © Ralph A. Clevenger/Corbis

Photograph by © Blickwinkel/Alamy

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

(bәºtrәs)

buttress


Vocabulary Routine
Define: Something that supports or strengthens.
Example: Some trees have special root structures

called buttresses that spread out from the
trunk and support the tree.
Ask: How do the thick roots on a tall tree act like

a buttress?

Ask: How does the pattern on a moth’s wing act
as camouflage?
Example: Camouflage might help an insect look like
a leaf.
Define: An adaptation that allows an animal to
blend into its surroundings.

Vocabulary Routine


carbon
(kärºbәn)

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

Photograph by (Diamond): © Lawrence Lawry/Photo Researchers, Inc., (Pencil tip):
© C Squared Studios/Getty Images, Inc., (Sugar cube): © Macmillan McGraw-Hill

Photograph by © Sandra Williams

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

(kaºnә pēª)

canopy


Vocabulary Routine
Define: The part of a forest just below the upper-

most branches of the tallest trees.
Example: Most rain-forest animals live in the canopy

because of the sunlight and food found
there.
Ask: Why do some insects live in the forest

canopy and never travel to the forest floor?

Ask: What are some things made out of carbon?
Example: All living matter on Earth contains carbon.

Define: One of the basic elements.

Vocabulary Routine


chemical
change
(kemºi kәl

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill
Photograph by © TPH/allOver photography/Alamy

chānj)

Grade 3

Photograph by XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

(kemºi kәl

Grade 3

enºәr jē)

chemical
energy

Vocabulary Routine
Define: A change that causes matter with different

properties to form.
Example: When food burns, the chemical change

makes it taste different.
Ask: During a chemical change what kinds of

energy can be released?

Ask: How does the power of a battery come from
chemical energy?
Example: Your body uses chemical energy stored in
sugar and other foods.
Define: Energy that is stored in a substance.

Vocabulary Routine


comet
(komºit)

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

Photograph by © Astrofoto/Peter Arnold, Inc./Alamy

Photograph by © David L. Brown/Picturequest

© Macmillan/McGraw-Hill

Grade 3

(klīºmit)

climate