To learn well in Environmental Activities in Grade 3 you will need:

• A safe place to work, with basic tools: notebook or drawing paper, pencil or pen, crayons or coloured pencils, and simple objects you can explore (leaves, stones, water containers, pictures of animals, etc.).

• Willingness to go out and observe: sometimes you will move around the classroom, school compound or nearby area to look at plants, animals, weather, water, soil and human activities.

• Use your senses and ask questions: look, listen, touch (where safe), compare, ask “What is this?”, “Why is it like this?”, “What will happen if…?” rather than just copying.

• Work individually and in small groups: share what you find, talk with classmates, draw or write what you observe, help each other and learn from each other.

• Drawing, writing or acting what you observe: for example draw a plant and label its parts, show how soil looks after rain, describe how animals find water, or role-play how waste is sorted.

• Linking what you learn to your life: at home help keep water safe, at school help sort waste, in your community notice how weather changes affect you, how people use plants or animals, how you can care for your surroundings.

• A curious and positive attitude: even if something seems new or tricky, try it, ask for help when you need it, check if your answer makes sense, and try again.
  When you use real things, explore, talk and connect to your own life, your lessons will be interesting, active and meaningful.

The Environmental Activities learning area for Grade 3 is designed to help learners build on what they already know from earlier years and explore more deeply the social, natural and resource environments around them. According to the KICD design, this integrated subject covers environment, hygiene and nutrition. The learner’s skills of observation, classification, manipulation, recording, interpretation, prediction and conservation are developed through hands-on, real-life activities. kicd.ac.ke+1 Learners will look at their living environment, community and natural settings (weather, soil, plants, water, animals, waste), how people use resources, how we care for our environment, and how hygiene, health and nutrition link to all of this. The focus is on competencies — being able to explore, communicate, conserve and act — rather than only memorizing facts. The aim is to nurture a learner who is aware, responsible and connected to their environment, culture and community. 

By the end of Grade 3 Environmental Activities, learners should be able to:

1. Observe, identify and describe features of their social and natural environments (for example home, school, community places, plants, animals, water bodies, soil, weather) and explain how these features affect people and living things.

2. Explain how people in their home, school or community use natural resources (water, soil, plants, animals) and how they can care for or conserve these resources; show caring attitudes and responsible behaviours.

3. Use simple investigative skills: ask questions (What? Where? How?), make observations (look, listen, touch), record what they find (by drawing, writing, tables or charts), interpret or explain their observations, and share their findings with teacher or classmates.

4. Demonstrate good hygiene, health and nutrition practices (such as washing hands, using clean water, eating healthy food, keeping the compound clean, sorting waste) and explain why these practices are important for their health, their environment and their community.

5. Participate in simple environmental conservation activities (for example planting seedlings or trees, cleaning school/compound, saving water, caring for animals or plants) and talk about what they did, why they did it and what difference it makes.

6. Communicate ideas about their environment: talk, draw or write about what they plan to do to help keep their environment clean, safe and healthy; suggest simple ways they and others can make a difference; show respect for cultural heritage, living things and their surroundings.

7. Appreciate that the environment includes not only natural resources and living things but also human communities, cultural events and heritage, and that they have a role in sustaining these for now and for the future.