Day 2 · Tuesday

Objective: I can find the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains and explain how they are different.

Standards: D2.Geo.2.3-5, D2.Geo.5.3-5

Materials: Physical map of the United States, 2 sheets of scrap paper, Brown and green crayons, Notebook, Pencil

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 4. Ask: "What is a plain?" (Wide, flat land.) Then open the physical map. Say: "The West looks brown and bumpy. The East looks greener and smoother. Why might that be?" Take guesses.

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "A mountain range is a long line of mountains. Our country has two big ones." Trace the Rockies with a finger. Say: "The Rocky Mountains are in the West. They run from Canada down to New Mexico. They are tall and jagged. Many peaks rise above 14,000 feet." Trace the Appalachians. Say: "The Appalachian Mountains are in the East. In our country they run from Maine to Alabama. Their highest peak is under 7,000 feet." Say: "The Appalachians are far older. Wind, rain and ice have worn them lower and rounder over millions of years." In the notebook, draw a sharp zigzag line and a low wavy line. Ask: "Which line is the Rockies?" (The zigzag.) "Which range is older?" (The Appalachians.) "Why are older mountains lower?" (Wind, rain and ice wore them down.) If stuck, say: "Think of a sand castle in the rain. Does it grow taller or wear down?"

3. Activity / Source Work · 15–20 min

   Trace and model. 1) Your child traces each range on the map with a finger and names two states it crosses. (Rockies: Montana, Wyoming, Colorado or New Mexico. Appalachians: Pennsylvania, West Virginia or North Carolina, among others.) 2) Crumple both sheets of paper into sharp peaks. Leave one alone. That is the Rockies. 3) Press the other sheet gently with a flat hand. Keep the paper the same; change only the pressing. That is the Appalachians after long weathering. 4) Your child compares the two models: taller or lower, sharp or rounded. 5) Ask: "Which range would be harder to cross in a wagon? Use your model as evidence." (The Rockies. The peaks are taller and steeper.) 6) Ask: "Why did early roads follow low gaps and valleys?" (Travel and building were easier there.)

4. Notebook Entry · 10 min

   Your child draws a chart with two columns: Rocky Mountains and Appalachian Mountains. Four rows: where, height, shape, age. Look for: West and East; taller and lower; jagged and rounded; younger and older. Add a brown sketch of the Rockies and a green sketch of the Appalachians. Then finish the frame: "The ___ are lower because ___." (The Appalachians are lower because wind, rain and ice wore them down.)

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Read each question aloud. Your child writes the answers, then points to each range on the map. Praise answers that give a reason.

Homework: Your child finds a picture of a mountain in a book or calendar. They tell a family member which range it looks more like. Look for a reason about shape.

Objective: I can make equal groups of a given size to solve a division problem.

Standards: 3.OA.A.2

Materials: 30 counters (dried beans, coins or buttons), 6 cups or small bags, Notebook, Pencil

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 2. Your child solves 348 + 276 in columns (624). Then practice ×3 and ×4 facts with no clock. Ask 3 × 6, 4 × 7 and 3 × 9 (18, 28, 27). Your child tells how one answer was found.

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Yesterday we knew how many groups. Today we know how many go in each group." Count out 12 beans. Say: "I have 12 cookies. I put 3 in each bag. How many bags can I fill?" Put 3 beans in a cup. Fill more cups with 3 beans until none are left. Ask: "How many are in each cup?" (3) "How many cups did I fill?" (4) Write 12 ÷ 3 = 4. Say: "12 is the total. 3 is how many in each group. 4 is the number of groups." Count the cups by 3s to check: 3, 6, 9, 12. Say: "This is grouping. So 12 ÷ 3 = 4. I can fill 4 bags." Now your child does more. Say: "You have 20 pencils. Put 5 in each cup. How many cups?" Your child fills cups and writes the division. (20 ÷ 5 = 4) Ask: "What does the 4 tell us?" (There are 4 cups.) Ask: "Yesterday you shared 20 beans into 5 groups. What did the 4 mean then?" (4 beans in each group.) Say: "Sharing finds how many in each group. Grouping finds how many groups."

3. Guided Practice · 10–15 min

   Your child fills cups, then draws the beans and rings each group. 1) 18 beans, 6 in each cup. How many cups? (18 ÷ 6 = 3) 2) 15 beans, 3 in each cup. (15 ÷ 3 = 5) Count the cups by 3s to check: 3, 6, 9, 12, 15. 3) 24 beans, 4 in each cup. (24 ÷ 4 = 6) 4) Say: "Deal 12 crackers to 4 children. Then put 12 crackers in bags of 4." Ask: "Which is sharing? Which is grouping?" (The first is sharing. The second is grouping.) If stuck, say: "How many go in one group? Make one group. Keep making groups until nothing is left."

4. Independent Practice · 15–20 min

   Your child reads each ÷ sign as "in groups of." Problem 1 is "10 in groups of 2." Your child draws dots for the total, rings equal groups and writes the division. 1) 10 ÷ 2 (5). 2) 20 ÷ 4 (5). 3) 21 ÷ 3 (7). 4) 30 ÷ 6 (5). 5) 18 ÷ 2 (9). 6) You draw 28 dots with rings around groups of 7. Ask: "What division does this show?" (28 ÷ 7 = 4) 7) Hamid has 24 stickers. He puts 3 on each page. How many pages does he fill? (24 ÷ 3 = 8) 8) A baker has 30 rolls. She puts 5 in each bag. How many bags does she fill? (30 ÷ 5 = 6) Your child skip-counts by the group size to check each one.

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Put the beans and cups away. Read each question aloud; your child answers on paper and may draw.

Fact fluency: ×3, ×4 facts

Homework: Your child puts 18 small objects into piles of 3, draws the piles and writes the division. Answer: 18 ÷ 3 = 6, so 6 piles.

Objective: I can choose one small moment that makes a strong, focused story.

Standards: W.3.3.A, SL.3.1.C, SL.3.3

Materials: Writer's notebook with yesterday's list of five moments, Pencil, Three index cards

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Word study, about 3 minutes. Write drop + ed. Say: "One short vowel, one consonant, so double it." Write dropped. Your child builds grab + ed, clap + ed, get + ing and swim + ing, then underlines the doubled letters. (grabbed, clapped, getting, swimming) Ask: "Why does jump not double in jumped?" (It ends in two consonants.) Spaced review from Week 7. Ask: "Every paragraph has a main idea. What does that mean?" (It is what the paragraph is mostly about.)

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Today you pick one small moment. A small moment is one short happening." Read two pieces aloud. "My Trip to the Beach": We drove to the beach. We swam. We ate lunch. We built a castle. Then we went home. "The Wave That Stole My Shovel": I was digging a moat with my red shovel when a wave rushed up the sand. Cold water slapped my knees. When the wave slid back, my shovel was sailing away. I splashed after it and caught the handle just in time. Ask: "Which one could you picture?" (the shovel one) Say: "The first is a list of a whole day. The second stays inside one minute, so there is room for details." Write the three tests on index cards. Test 1: It happened, or it could have. Test 2: It has a clear start and end. Test 3: I remember details I can see, hear or feel. Think aloud: "I test the wave story. Could it happen? Yes. It starts when the wave comes. It ends when I catch the shovel. I remember the red shovel and the cold water. It passes all three."

3. Guided Practice · 10–15 min

   1) Your child holds the first idea from yesterday's list against the cards and says if it passes, and why. You add on: "I agree, and also..." or "My idea is different because..." 2) Take turns going first on the other ideas. Cross out any idea that fails a test. 3) Test the topic "Winter" together. (It fails. It has no clear start or end.) 4) Ask: "What one minute of winter do you remember best?" (Sample: the morning my sled hit the snowman.) If stuck, say: "Picture a one-minute movie. What are the first and last scenes?"

4. Independent Practice · 15–20 min

   1) Your child picks the strongest idea left. 2) Your child writes a title that names the moment. 3) Your child writes one summary sentence telling who, where and what happened. Model: The Day My Bike Chain Snapped: My chain broke halfway up Hill Street, and I walked my bike home in the rain. 4) Your child tells the moment aloud. You ask two detail questions, such as "What did the rain sound like?" Your child answers and writes each answer as a note. 5) Swap. You tell a one-minute moment, and your child asks you one question about a detail. Look for: a title naming one short event, a summary with who, where and what, and two detail notes.

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Ask the three questions. For question 3, check that the first and last things happen only minutes apart.

Homework: Read your own book for 15 minutes. Then find one small moment in it. Tell a family member where that moment starts and ends. Look for: a scene that lasts only a few minutes.

Objective: I can use a checklist to decide if something is living, was once living, or was never alive.

Standards: 3-LS1-1, 3-LS4-3

Materials: 10 things to sort: 1 dry bean, a houseplant, a rock, a cup of water, a metal spoon, a coin, a dry fallen leaf, a wooden spoon, a feather or seashell, and your child, 2 more dry beans, a damp paper towel and a zip-top bag (seed test), Three index cards labeled Living, Once Living, Never Alive, Sheet of paper for the checklist, Science notebook, Pencil

1. Day 47 — Living vs. Nonliving — Wonder Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 3. Ask: "What does friction do to a box sliding across the floor?" (It slows the box until it stops.) Then pose a puzzle: "A car moves and uses fuel. Is it alive?" Let your child argue for a minute. Say: "Scientists do not decide from one clue. They use a checklist. Let's build one."

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Write the Living Checklist on paper as you say it. Say: "Living things need food. They need water and air. They grow. They respond to what is around them. Their kind can reproduce, which means make more of itself." Test the car aloud. Say: "It moves and uses fuel. It does not grow, and cars cannot make baby cars. It was never alive." Hold up the wooden spoon. Say: "This wood was part of a tree. It is once living." Hold up the bean. Say: "A dry seed is resting. With water and warmth it can sprout, so it is living." Ask: "A river moves. Is it alive?" (No. It does not eat or reproduce.) Ask: "A houseplant stays still. Is it alive?" (Yes. It grows and needs water.) If stuck, say: "Ask two things. Does it grow? Can its kind make more of itself?"

3. Investigation / Hands-On · 15–20 min

   Sorting Investigation. Safety: do not eat the test beans. 1) Lay out the three cards and the things to sort. Your child counts as one item. 2) Your child predicts a group for each and places it. 3) For each, run the checklist aloud and move anything that fails. 4) Check the three groups. Living: bean, houseplant, your child. Once living: leaf, wooden spoon, feather or shell. Never alive: rock, water, metal spoon, coin. 5) Start a seed test. Fold 2 beans into the damp towel and seal it in the bag. Keep it warm and look each day. Many beans show a root in 3 to 5 days. Some never sprout, and those may no longer be alive. Real results vary. Look for the pattern.

4. Science Notebook Entry · 10 min

   Draw a three-column chart: Living, Once Living, Never Alive. Your child writes all 10 items in the right columns. Then give the frame: "A seed is living because ___." Look for: "it can sprout and grow when it gets water and warmth." Add a box labeled "Seed Test" with today's date and a drawing of the beans.

5. Wrap-Up & Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Ask the three questions aloud. Praise answers that give a reason from the checklist, not just yes or no.

Homework: Sort 5 things at home into living, once living or never alive. Look for one checklist reason for each. Check the bean bag and draw any change.