Worksheet Grade 3 Science

Pikestaff Ridge Snow and Ravensgate Creek: A Grade 3 Worksheet

A grade 3 worksheet using six months of invented snow-depth readings from a mountain ridge, with a scaled bar graph and questions about spring melt.

Grade: Grade 3
Subject: Science
Material: Worksheet
Time: 35 min
Prep: No prep
Materials: Grid paper for the bar graph, one sheet per student

Standards

3-ESS2-1 NGSS

Represent data in tables and graphical displays to describe typical weather conditions expected during a particular season.

How this material aligns: Students represent six months of snow-depth readings in a scaled bar graph and use it to name the season when deep snow is expected on the ridge.

All materials for 3-ESS2-1 →

3.MD.B.3 Common Core Math

Draw a scaled picture graph and a scaled bar graph to represent a data set with several categories. Solve one- and two-step 'how many more' and 'how many less' problems using information presented in scaled bar graphs.

How this material aligns: Items 1 and 2 apply the five-centimeter scale to bar heights, and items 3, 4, 6, and 7 are how-many-more and total questions drawn from the same readings students graph.

All materials for 3.MD.B.3 →

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This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-07-23.

Objectives

Students will draw a scaled bar graph of monthly snow depth using a five-centimeter scale.
Students will find differences and totals from the snow-depth table.
Students will explain why a creek rises in spring while snow on a ridge disappears.

Vocabulary

Snowpack: The snow that piles up in the mountains over the winter. As it melts in spring and summer, it acts like a giant water tank feeding rivers and reservoirs.

Also: depth, melt, creek, season, scale

Teacher overview

Snow that piles up on a ridge all winter is water in storage, and it feeds the creeks below when it melts in spring. This worksheet uses an invented set of snow-depth readings taken on the first of each month at a station on Pikestaff Ridge, together with two creek-depth readings from Ravensgate Creek. A misconception worth watching for is the idea that snow simply disappears, since students often say the snow "went away" without connecting it to the water rising in the creek below, so items 8 through 10 ask students to link the two sets of readings.

Pikestaff Ridge Snow and Ravensgate Creek: A Grade 3 Worksheet — Grade 3 Science

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

A snow station sits high on Pikestaff Ridge. This ridge is a fictional place. A worker measures the snow on the first of each month. Ravensgate Creek runs down the slope below.

Month	Snow depth on the ridge
December	20 cm
January	45 cm
February	60 cm
March	35 cm
April	10 cm
May	0 cm

Draw a bar graph of the six months. Let each square stand for 5 cm. Then answer the questions.

February had 60 cm of snow. Each square stands for 5 cm. How many squares tall is the February bar?
January had 45 cm of snow. How many squares tall is the January bar?
February had 60 cm. March had 35 cm. How much more snow was on the ridge in February?
December had 20 cm. April had 10 cm. How much more snow was on the ridge in December?
Which month had the most snow on the ridge?
Add the snow depths for December, January, and February. They were 20 cm, 45 cm, and 60 cm.
March had 35 cm. April had 10 cm. How many centimeters of snow went away between those two readings?
On May 1 the depth was 0 cm. Where did the snow go?
Ravensgate Creek was 30 cm deep in February. It was 62 cm deep in April. How much deeper was the creek in April?
The creek got deeper in April. The snow got thinner in April. Explain how those two things are linked.
Look at the table. Does deep snow come to Pikestaff Ridge in winter or in summer?

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Answer Key

Answer: 12 squares. 60 divided by 5 is 12.
Answer: 9 squares. 45 divided by 5 is 9.
Answer: 25 cm. 60 minus 35 is 25.
Answer: 10 cm. 20 minus 10 is 10.
Answer: February. Its bar is the tallest at 60 cm, above January at 45 cm.
Answer: 125 cm. 20 plus 45 is 65, and 65 plus 60 is 125.
Answer: 25 cm. 35 minus 10 is 25.
Answer: It melted and ran downhill. Accept any answer stating that the snow turned to liquid water and flowed down the slope into the creek or into the ground. Answers saying only that the snow "went away" should be pushed one step further with a follow-up question.
Answer: 32 cm. 62 minus 30 is 32.
Answer: Melting snow feeds the creek. Accept any answer explaining that water from the melting snowpack runs downhill and joins the creek, so the creek carries more water in April while the ridge holds less snow.
Answer: Winter. The deepest readings are February at 60 cm and January at 45 cm, in the middle of winter, while April and May are near zero.

Differentiation

Support

Give these students graph paper with the six month labels and the 5 cm scale already printed, and let them shade the bars rather than draw them. Assign items 1, 2, 3, 5, and 8. Provide a two-picture card showing a snowy ridge and a full creek so item 8 can be answered by pointing.

Extension

Have students predict the June and July depths for this fictional ridge and explain the prediction using the pattern in the table. Then ask them to sketch a second bar graph showing what the six months might look like on a ridge that gets half as much snow, keeping the same 5 cm scale.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "depth," "melt," and "ridge" using a ruler standing in a tray of crushed ice that melts during the lesson. Provide the frames "In ___ the snow was ___ cm deep" and "The snow melted, so the creek got ___." Allow items 8 and 10 to be answered with a labeled drawing.