Dive into a 3rd grade math Project Based Learning adventure. Imagine planning a thrilling field trip to the aquarium with your third grade students where they will apply their math skills to a realistic scenerio. This print-and-go PBL is designed to not only help students develop a deeper understanding of essential math skills such as addition, multiplication, division, and interpreting data but also have fun applying math skills.

This year, your class voted to take a field trip to the Aqua-Land Sea Life Aquarium. All successful school field trips begin with excellent planning. You, several of your classmates, and your teachers have volunteered to work on the planning committee. You will help determine how much the field trip will cost. You will also help make decisions about renting buses, creating a schedule for the day, and choosing classes. So, let’s get busy planning the very best field trip of the year!

As students plan a trip to the aquarium they will use third grade math skills to:

• Determine ticket prices
• Use multiplication and division to plan buses and costs
• Use time to schedule the trip and ensure that they have enough time to explore the aquarium
• Use multiplication to determine student groups
• Interpret data about aquarium animals
• Students will be challenged to calculate feedings for different animals

This resource provides a fun and engaging way for students to apply math skills to real-world situations they can relate to. By working collaboratively and solving real-world problems, students will develop critical thinking skills and build confidence in their math abilities.

⭐Students evaluate their work with a self-evaluation rubric and response.

⭐ Additional “challenge activities” engage students and develop further understanding of the concepts and skills.

⭐ This 3rd grade PBL incorporates the following math standards:

• 3.OA.C.7 Fluently multiply and divide within 100 using strategies such as the relationship between mult/div, or properties of operation.
• 3.OA.D.8 Solve 2-step word problems using the four operations.
• 3.OA.D.9 Identify arithmetic patterns and explain them using properties of operations.
• 3.NBT.A.1 Use place value understanding to round whole numbers to the nearest 10 or 100.
• 3.NBT.A.2 Fluently add and subtract within 1000 using strategies and algorithms based on place value, properties of operations, and/or the relationship between addition and subtraction.
• 3NBT.A.3 Multiply one-digit whole numbers by multiples of 10.
• 3.MD.A.1 Tell and write time to the nearest minute and measure time intervals in minutes. Solve word problems involving addition and subtraction of time intervals in minutes.
• 3.MD.B.3 Draw a scaled bar graph to represent a data set.
• 3MD.B.4 Generate measurement data. Show the data by making a line plot.

Key Features:

✏️ Low-Prep & No-Prep Design – This PBL activity contains everything you need to make this a fun and meaningful project. The print-and-go format makes it easy to execute with a few simple materials and very little prep work required. The digital Google Slides format requires no-prep at all – just assign and go!

✏️ Printable & Digital Format – Printable PDF & Google Slides formats make this resource perfect for classroom instruction, distance learning, and everywhere in between. Digital and printable versions are consistent, so they can be used for combination classroom and virtual instruction situations.

✏️ Educational & Engaging – This resource will capture the imagination of your students while they practice key math skills.

✏️ Differentiation – Three challenge activities mean that you can challenge your high-performing students while making the resource accessible to your on-level and below-level students.

✏️ Homeschool or Classroom Friendly – Students can work collaborativly or independetly on this project at their pace.

What’s Included?

1. For the Teacher (Directions and standards)
2. A Trip to the Aquarium (Student tasks)
3. Planning a Field Trip to the Aquarium (Information card)
4. Ticket Prices (Calculating total ticket prices for students and adults, Using a running total)
5. Transportation (Comparing cost, speed, and travel time between school bus and coach bus)
6. Busing Word Problems (Start time, End time, Elapsed time)
7. Chaperones (Dividing students into supervised groups, Word problems)
8. Schedule for the Day (Create a schedule for the field trip, Analog clocks, Timeline, Word problems)
9. Dolphin Discovery (In/Out machine with word problems)
10. Penguin Palooza (Using data to make a bar graph and line plot, Writing questions that compare numbers word problems)
11. Life in the Rainforest (Converting measurement data, Inches, Feet, Length, Weight, Word problems)
12. Challenge 1-Seal Feedings (Word problems, Measurement, Weight)
13. Challenge 2-Gift Shop (Rounding, Operations)

Take a closer look at what this resource looks like in this video preview.

Looking for more differentiation? Check out the 4th and 5th grade version!

Copyright & Terms of Use

For copyright information and a summary of how this resource can and cannot be used, please review the Terms of Use Page.