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Week 12 — full print packet

Quarter 2 · Weeks 10–18

Week 12 Lesson Packet

Building Meaning: Division, Narratives, Ecosystems & Regions

Day 1 · Monday

Social Studies

Objective: I can describe how Native nations of the Eastern Woodlands used the forest, and that they are living nations today.

Standards: D2.Geo.4.3-5, D2.His.2.3-5

Builds on: Needs Week 6 Day 2: each Native nation used the resources of its own region. One-minute check: ask "What are the Three Sisters?" (corn, beans and squash).

New words:

wigwam – a round home made of bent poles covered with bark or woven mats
confederacy – a group of nations that agree to work together

Warm-Up (5 min) — Spaced review from Week 7. Ask: "What was the Trail of Tears?" (In the 1830s the U.S. Army forced the Cherokee people from their homeland to land far west. Thousands died.) Then say: "Long ago there were no stores. In a forest, what could you build a home from?"
Mini-Lesson (10–15 min) — Sweep a hand over the forests of the East on the map. Say: "Native nations have lived here for thousands of years. They live here today." Say: "Nations of these Eastern Woodlands include the Haudenosaunee, the Wampanoag, the Lenape and the Cherokee." (Say hoh-dee-noh-SHOH-nee.) Say: "Long ago, Haudenosaunee families built longhouses. Wampanoag and Lenape families often built round wigwams." Say: "Many nations grew the Three Sisters together. Corn gives the beans a pole to climb. Beans help feed the soil. Wide squash leaves shade the ground and keep weeds down." Say: "Five Haudenosaunee nations joined in a confederacy, a group of nations working together for peace. A sixth nation joined later. Their council still meets today." Say: "Many Cherokee and Lenape people live in Oklahoma today, because the U.S. government forced their nations west." Ask: "How does corn help the beans?" (Beans climb it.) "Why did forest nations build with poles and bark?" (The forest gave them trees.) If stuck, say: "Look at what grows near the home. What could you cut, bend or peel?"
Activity / Source Work (15–20 min) — Read and build. 1) Read this source aloud: "A Longhouse. Builders set rows of young trees in the ground and bent the tops together into a rounded roof. They covered the frame with wide sheets of elm bark. A longhouse could be longer than two school buses. Cooking fires burned down the middle, and smoke left through holes in the roof. Families related through their mothers lived along both sides. Haudenosaunee means People of the Longhouse." 2) Ask for evidence: "Which two forest materials did builders use?" (Young trees and elm bark.) "How did smoke get out?" (Through holes in the roof.) 3) Ask: "Why might related families share one long house?" (Answers vary: to share work, food, fires and safety.) 4) Your child bends the paper into a long arch and tapes it to the cardboard. 5) With crayons, add bark sheets, a door at each end and smoke holes. 6) Your child points to where fires burned and where families slept.
Notebook Entry (10 min) — Your child makes a fact card with five headings: Region, Nations, Homes long ago, Food, Today. Sample: Eastern Woodlands; Haudenosaunee, Wampanoag, Lenape, Cherokee; longhouses and wigwams; the Three Sisters, deer and fish. Under Today, write: "These nations live here today and have their own governments."
Exit Ticket (5 min) — Read each question aloud. Your child answers in the notebook. Praise sentences about today that use is, are or live.

Watch for: Talking about Native nations only in the past, as if they are gone.

Try: Each time your child says "they lived," ask: "Do they live here today?" Your child adds a sentence, such as "The Cherokee Nation has its own government."

Exit ticket:

How do squash plants help the corn and beans?
What is a confederacy?
Which home was round: a longhouse or a wigwam?

Answers: 1) Their wide leaves shade the ground and keep weeds down. 2) A group of nations that agree to work together. 3) A wigwam.

Mathematics

Objective: I can solve multiplication word problems by finding the equal groups.

Standards: 3.OA.A.3, 3.OA.A.1

Builds on: Needs equal groups and arrays from Week 4 and the multiplication facts from Weeks 6 to 8. One-minute check: your child draws 3 groups of 5 and writes the equation (3 × 5 = 15).

New words:

unknown – the number you do not know yet; write ? in its place

Warm-Up (5 min) — Spaced review from Week 11. Ask 45 ÷ 9, 32 ÷ 4 and 42 ÷ 7 (5, 8, 6). Then your child says the ×6 facts in order, with no clock. For a slow ×6 or ×7 fact, name a strategy. Sample: for 6 × 7, think 5 sevens and 1 more seven: 35 + 7 = 42.
Mini-Lesson (10–15 min) — Say: "A word problem is a short story with a question. Four steps help." Write the steps: Read. Find the groups. Write an equation. Answer in a sentence. Write this story and read it aloud: "Diego has 7 plates. Each plate has 6 cookies. How many cookies in all?" Ask: "Are the groups equal?" (Yes. Each plate has 6.) "How many groups?" (7) "How many in each?" (6) Your child highlights 7 plates and 6 cookies. Sketch 7 circles and write 6 in each. Say: "We do not know the total. The total is the unknown. We write ? for it." Write 7 × 6 = ?. Ask: "What is 7 × 6?" (42) Say: "So 7 × 6 = 42. Diego has 42 cookies." Say: "The answer needs its word, cookies." Now your child does more. Read: "A room has 5 rows of 9 chairs. How many chairs?" Your child sketches, writes the equation and answers. (5 × 9 = 45; 45 chairs)
Guided Practice (10–15 min) — Write each story on paper. Your child highlights the two numbers, sketches, writes an equation with ? and answers in a sentence. 1) Amara buys 6 packs of juice boxes. Each pack has 4. How many juice boxes? (6 × 4 = 24; 24 juice boxes) 2) A garden has 5 rows of 8 tomato plants. How many plants? (5 × 8 = 40; 40 plants) 3) Each ribbon is 3 feet long. Lena lays 9 ribbons end to end. How long is the line? (9 × 3 = 27; 27 feet) 4) Mia has 7 red beads and 6 blue beads. How many beads? Ask: "Are these equal groups?" (No. Add: 7 + 6 = 13 beads.) If stuck, say: "Build it with beans. How many groups? How many in each group?"
Independent Practice (15–20 min) — For problems 3 to 8, your child writes an equation with ?. Problems 5 to 8 also need an answer sentence. 1) 7 × 7 = ? (49). 2) 9 × 6 = ? (54). 3) Draw 3 groups of 9 as circles with dots. (3 × 9 = 27) 4) Draw an array with 4 rows of 6. (4 × 6 = 24) 5) 8 vans carry 7 children each. How many children? (56 children) 6) Kenji reads 9 pages every day for 7 days. How many pages? (63 pages) 7) 9 spiders have 8 legs each. How many legs? (72 legs) 8) Each fence piece is 6 feet long. How long are 6 pieces end to end? (36 feet) Check that each sentence names its unit, such as children or legs.
Exit Ticket (5 min) — Put the beans away. Read each question aloud; your child answers on paper and may sketch.

Watch for: Adding the two numbers, such as 7 + 6 = 13, instead of multiplying.

Try: Your child sketches the groups first. Ask: "Is every group the same size?" If yes, multiply.

Exit ticket:

In "Each box has 6 crayons," which word tells you the groups are equal?
Leila sets out 8 plates with 4 cookies on each. How many cookies? Write the equation.
A wall has 3 rows of 7 photos. How many photos?

Answers: 1) "Each." Every box holds the same number. 2) 8 × 4 = 32; 32 cookies 3) 21 photos

English Language Arts

Objective: I can plan a story with an opening, rising action, climax, falling action and ending.

Standards: W.3.3.A, RL.3.5, L.3.6, SL.3.2

Builds on: Needs the Week 1 idea of beginning, middle and end, plus the finished draft from Weeks 10 and 11. One-minute check: ask, "What happens in the middle of a story?" (The characters try to solve the problem.)

New words:

story arc – the hill-shaped path a story follows as the problem grows and then works out
rising action – the part where the problem builds
climax – the biggest, most exciting moment of the story
falling action – what happens right after the biggest moment
resolution – how the problem works out at the end

Warm-Up (5 min) — Word study, about 3 minutes. Say: "This is a review week." Your child reads stopped, swimming, digging, smiled, hiding and baked, then sorts them under Double and Drop the e. Ask: "What are the base words?" (stop, swim, dig, smile, hide, bake) Spaced review from Week 11. Write: stop shouted Dad. Your child adds the marks. ("Stop!" shouted Dad.)
Mini-Lesson (10–15 min) — Draw a hill in the notebook. Say: "A story climbs as the problem builds. It reaches the top at the most exciting moment. Then it comes down as things work out. This shape is the story arc." Label five parts on the hill. Opening: meet the characters and setting. Rising action: the problem builds. Climax: the biggest moment. Falling action: the events just after the climax. Ending, or resolution: how the problem works out. Your child repeats each term and uses climax in a sentence. Read aloud "The Cardboard Boat Race" while your child only listens: On the morning of the Miller Pond boat race, Lena and her cousin Abe carried their cardboard boat to the dock. They had built it from two refrigerator boxes and a whole roll of silver tape. The whistle blew, and they paddled hard. Soon a strip of tape peeled loose. Then cold water crept over Lena's sneakers. Next, the boat beside them pulled ahead. Just before the finish line, the soggy front folded, and the boat began to sink! Lena and Abe jumped into the waist-deep water and shoved their boat across the line. After that, they dragged the dripping heap onto the grass and flopped down beside it. They came in last. Still, the judge handed them a ribbon that said Best Sinking, and they laughed all the way home. Your child retells it in 4 or 5 sentences. (Look for: the race, the leaks, the sinking, the push and the ribbon.) Think aloud: "Opening: I meet Lena and Abe at the pond. Rising action: tape peels, water creeps in and a boat pulls ahead. Each event makes things harder."
Guided Practice (10–15 min) — 1) Ask: "What is the climax?" (The boat starts to sink, and they jump out and shove it across the line.) 2) Ask: "What is the falling action?" (They drag the boat onto the grass and flop down.) 3) Ask: "What is the resolution?" (They come in last but win a ribbon and laugh.) 4) Ask: "How does the rising action lead to the climax?" (The loose tape lets water in, so the boat gets soggy and sinks.) If stuck, say: "After this moment, could things still get worse? If yes, we are still climbing."
Independent Practice (15–20 min) — 1) Your child labels the five arc parts in the margin of the old draft, one color for each part. 2) Your child draws a new hill and plans a new story about a different small moment. Each part gets one sentence. 3) Your child tells you the plan, using all five terms. Sample plan. Opening: On Saturday morning, I set up a lemonade table. Rising action: Nobody stopped, and the ice melted. Climax: A soccer team jogged around the corner. Falling action: I poured as fast as I could. Ending: I gave the last cup to my sister. Look for: five sentences, a problem that grows, and a climax that is the biggest moment.
Exit Ticket (5 min) — Ask the three questions. Your child points to the plan and the old draft while answering.

Watch for: Labeling the first exciting event as the climax, even though the problem keeps building after it.

Try: Ask: "After this moment, could things still get worse?" If yes, it is rising action, not the climax.

Exit ticket:

Say the five arc parts in order, from the first step up the hill to the last step down.
In your new plan, what is the climax? Why is it the biggest moment?
Find the rising action in your old draft. How does the problem grow there?

Answers: 1) Opening, rising action, climax, falling action, ending (resolution). 2) Answers vary. Look for: the moment the character faces the problem head-on, after which things calm down. 3) Answers vary. Look for: one or two events that make things harder for the character.

Science

Objective: I can build a food chain and draw arrows that show energy moving from the food to the eater.

Standards: 3-LS4-3

Builds on: Needs Week 10 Day 3: producers make food and consumers eat. One-minute check: ask, "Is grass a producer or a consumer? Is a frog?" (Producer. Consumer.)

New words:

food chain – a line of living things that shows who eats whom and how food energy moves
predator – an animal that hunts and eats other animals

Day 56 — Food Chain Basics — Wonder Warm-Up (5 min) — Spaced review from Week 11. Ask: "Name a physical adaptation of an owl and how it helps." (Large eyes for dim light, soft feathers for quiet flight, or sharp claws for grabbing.) Then ask: "What does a frog eat? What eats a frog?" Say: "Today we line those up."
Mini-Lesson (10–15 min) — First write one name on each card: clover, grasshopper, frog, snake, hawk, acorn, squirrel, bobcat, grass, rabbit, fox. Say: "A food chain shows how food energy moves from one living thing to the next." Lay clover, grasshopper and frog in a row with an arrow between each pair. Point to an arrow. Say: "Read each arrow as the words is eaten by. It points to the eater, the way the energy goes." Read it: "The clover is eaten by the grasshopper. The grasshopper is eaten by the frog." Add the snake and the hawk. Say: "A chain starts with a producer. The hawk is the top predator here. Nothing in this chain eats it." Ask: "Which one is the producer?" (Clover.) Ask: "What eats the frog in this chain?" (The snake.) Ask: "Could a frog survive well in a place with no insects?" (No. It would have no food.) If stuck, say: "Touch the arrow and read it: is eaten by."
Investigation / Hands-On (15–20 min) — Card Chains. 1) Mix the cards. Your child rebuilds the clover chain with 5 cards and 4 arrows, reading each link aloud. 2) They build a second chain: acorn, squirrel, bobcat. The acorn is a seed from an oak tree, a producer. A bobcat is a wild cat. 3) Mistake hunt. Turn one arrow backward, so it points from the squirrel to the acorn. Your child finds it and fixes it. 4) They build a third chain: grass, rabbit, fox. 5) Check with a table: Chain, Producer, Top predator. Expect clover and hawk, acorn and bobcat, grass and fox. Every arrow must point toward the eater. If your child builds a different true chain, accept it and ask for each link read aloud.
Science Notebook Entry (10 min) — Your child draws the 3 food chains with arrows. They label the producer P and each consumer C, and circle the top predator. Then give the frame: "In my chain, the ___ is eaten by the ___." Look for: "the squirrel is eaten by the bobcat."
Wrap-Up & Exit Ticket (5 min) — Ask the three questions; your child draws for question 1. If an arrow is backward, your child says "is eaten by" while tracing it. Praise chains that start with a producer.

Watch for: Pointing arrows from the eater to the food, such as frog to grasshopper, because it reads as "the frog eats."

Try: Say: "The arrow carries the energy." Your child traces with a finger the energy leaving the clover and going into the grasshopper.

Exit ticket:

Draw a food chain that uses a robin, a leaf and a caterpillar.
In your chain, what does the arrow from the leaf to the caterpillar mean?
Why must a food chain start with a producer?

Answers: 1) leaf → caterpillar → robin 2) The leaf is eaten by the caterpillar, so energy moves from the leaf to the caterpillar. 3) Producers make food. Animals cannot make their own, so all the food energy starts with producers.

Print Day 1 practice pages →

Day 2 · Tuesday

Social Studies

Objective: I can explain how Plains nations depended on the bison and how they live today.

Standards: D2.Geo.4.3-5, D2.His.2.3-5, D2.His.4.3-5, D2.His.5.3-5

Builds on: Needs Week 6 Day 2 (tipis and bison) and Week 7 (people can see one event from different points of view). One-minute check: ask what a point of view is (how one person or group sees something).

New words:

sinew – a strong, stringy part of an animal that joins muscle to bone
earth lodge – a round home with a wood frame covered with soil

Warm-Up (5 min) — Spaced review from Week 11. Ask: "What is the land like in much of the Midwest?" (Flat or gently rolling, with rich soil.) Then point to the Great Plains on the map. Say: "These are wide grasslands. What if your main food walked away across the grass each season?"
Mini-Lesson (10–15 min) — Say: "Plains nations include the Lakota, Cheyenne, Comanche, Crow, Kiowa and Pawnee." Say: "Huge herds of bison, often called buffalo, lived on the Plains." Say: "Hunters wasted very little. Meat was food. Hides became clothing and tipi covers. Bones became tools. Sinew became thread." Say: "A tipi is a cone of long poles covered with hides." Say: "Not every Plains nation moved all year. The Pawnee also farmed and lived in earth lodges." Say: "Spanish colonists brought horses. On horseback, hunters could travel farther and faster." Say: "In the 1800s, hunters from the United States killed millions of bison, mostly for their hides. Fewer than 1,000 were left. Plains nations lost their main food. The U.S. government forced them onto reservations." Say: "Today many Plains nations raise their own bison herds." Ask: "Which nation also farmed?" (The Pawnee.) "Who brought horses?" (Spanish colonists.) "What happened to the bison in the 1800s?" (Hunters killed almost all of them.) If stuck, say: "Tell me one thing a family got from a bison."
Activity / Source Work (15–20 min) — 1) Write meat, hide, bones and sinew on four index cards. Write food, clothing and tipi covers, tools, and thread on four more. Your child matches each part to its use. 2) Your child rolls the paper into a cone, tapes it and draws a door. Ask: "Why was a home like this useful for following the herds?" (It was light and quick to take down and move.) 3) Read this source aloud. It was written for this lesson from real history. "Two views of the bison, 1870s. A Lakota mother: The bison give us food, our homes and our tools. Our whole way of life follows the herd. A hide hunter: Each hide sells for about three dollars. I shoot as many as I can before winter." 4) Ask: "What does the bison mean to each speaker? Which words are your evidence?" (To her, food, homes and a way of life. To him, three dollars a hide.) 5) Ask: "Why did they see the bison so differently?" (Her family needed bison to live. He wanted to earn money.)
Notebook Entry (10 min) — Your child makes a fact card with five headings: Region, Nations, Homes, Main food, Today. Sample: Great Plains; Lakota, Cheyenne, Pawnee; tipis and earth lodges; bison. Under Today, write: "Many Plains nations are bringing bison back to their lands." Then finish the frame: "For Plains nations the bison meant ___. For hide hunters it meant ___."
Exit Ticket (5 min) — Read each question aloud. Your child answers in the notebook. Praise answers that show two points of view fairly.

Watch for: Thinking every Native nation lived in tipis.

Try: Set the Day 1 longhouse model beside the paper tipi. Ask: "Which nations built each one, and why?" Recall the Pawnee earth lodges too.

Exit ticket:

A Plains family needed a new tipi cover. Which part of the bison did they use?
How did horses change life for many Plains nations?
The bison almost disappeared in the 1800s. What are many Plains nations doing about bison today?

Answers: 1) The hide. 2) Hunters could travel farther and faster, so hunting bison and moving camp became easier. 3) They raise their own bison herds and are bringing bison back to their lands.

Mathematics

Objective: I can solve sharing word problems where I find how many are in each group.

Standards: 3.OA.A.3, 3.OA.A.2

Builds on: Needs sharing from Week 10 Day 1 and the division facts from Week 11. One-minute check: your child shares 12 beans onto 3 plates and writes the equation (12 ÷ 3 = 4).

Warm-Up (5 min) — Spaced review from Day 1. Read: "3 bags hold 8 apples each. How many apples?" Your child answers with an equation (3 × 8 = 24). Then practice ÷5 and ÷6 facts with no clock. Ask 35 ÷ 5, 30 ÷ 6 and 48 ÷ 6 (7, 5, 8). Your child names the multiplication fact that helps each time.
Mini-Lesson (10–15 min) — Say: "Today's stories are sharing stories. We know the total and the number of groups. We find how many are in each group." Read aloud: "24 candies are shared equally by 6 friends. How many candies does each friend get?" Ask: "What is the total?" (24) "How many groups?" (6 friends) "What is unknown?" (How many each friend gets.) Set out 6 plates. Your child deals 24 beans, one to each plate, round and round. Write 24 ÷ 6 = ?. Ask: "How many are on each plate?" (4) "Does every friend get the same number?" (Yes.) Say: "So 24 ÷ 6 = 4. Each friend gets 4 candies." Say: "Check with multiplication. 6 groups of 4 is 24." Write 6 × 4 = 24. Now your child does more. Read: "Rosa has 35 beads. She makes 5 bracelets with the same number on each. How many beads are on each bracelet?" Your child sketches 5 circles, writes the equation and checks. (35 ÷ 5 = 7; 7 beads; 5 × 7 = 35)
Guided Practice (10–15 min) — Your child sketches circles, writes an equation with ? and answers in a sentence. 1) 30 crayons are shared equally by 5 children. How many does each child get? (30 ÷ 5 = 6; 6 crayons) 2) 27 strawberries go equally into 3 bowls. How many are in each bowl? (27 ÷ 3 = 9; 9 strawberries) 3) A ribbon is 32 inches long. It is cut into 4 equal pieces. How long is each piece? (32 ÷ 4 = 8; 8 inches) If stuck, say: "What is being shared? Write that total first. How many plates do we need?"
Independent Practice (15–20 min) — For problems 3 to 8, your child writes an equation with ? and a multiplication check. Problems 5 to 8 also need an answer sentence. 1) 40 ÷ 5 = ? (8). 2) 54 ÷ 6 = ? (9). 3) Draw 18 dots shared into 3 circles. (18 ÷ 3 = 6) 4) Draw 28 dots shared into 4 circles. (28 ÷ 4 = 7) 5) 49 stickers go equally onto 7 pages. How many are on each page? (7 stickers) 6) Mr. Okafor puts 40 chairs in 4 equal rows. How many are in each row? (10 chairs) 7) 63 marbles are shared equally among 7 jars. How many are in each jar? (9 marbles) 8) A rope is 36 feet long. It is cut into 6 equal pieces. How long is each piece? (6 feet)
Exit Ticket (5 min) — Put the plates away. Read each question aloud; your child answers on paper.

Watch for: Writing the numbers in the wrong order, such as 5 ÷ 30.

Try: Ask: "What is being shared?" That total is written first. Your child points to the plates for the second number.

Exit ticket:

45 grapes are shared equally among 5 children. How many grapes does each child get?
16 muffins are split equally onto 2 plates. Write the equation and solve.
In a sharing story, what do you know and what do you find?

Answers: 1) 9 grapes 2) 16 ÷ 2 = 8; 8 muffins on each plate 3) You know the total and the number of groups. You find how many are in each group.

English Language Arts

Objective: I can create a clear problem that matters to my character.

Standards: W.3.3.A, RL.3.3

Builds on: Needs yesterday's story hill plan and the term rising action. One-minute check: ask, "What does the rising action do?" (It makes the problem build.)

New words:

vs. – short for versus, which means against

Warm-Up (5 min) — Word study, about 3 minutes. Your child writes tiger, music, swimming and digging, then draws a line between the syllables. (ti|ger, mu|sic, swim|ming, dig|ging) Ask: "Why does the first part of tiger say a long i?" (It is an open syllable. It ends in a vowel.) Spaced review from Week 8. Ask: "Fact or opinion: Dogs are the best pets?" (opinion)
Mini-Lesson (10–15 min) — Ask: "What small problem did you have this week?" (Sample: a lost shoe.) Say: "Problems are the seeds of stories. A story problem must matter to the character." Write three types. Say: "Vs. means against." Person vs. person: Diego and his sister both want the last library copy of a book. Person vs. nature: thick fog rolls in while Ines hikes back to camp. Person vs. self: Hana freezes halfway up a climbing wall, though she practiced all summer. Ask: "Why does Hana's problem matter to her?" (She worked hard and wants to reach the top.) Say: "Rising action makes the problem grow." Read the model: Ines wanted to reach camp before dark, but fog hid the trail. First, she could not find the next trail marker. But then her flashlight flickered. But then the path split in two. Think aloud: "Each sentence makes it harder for Ines. Nothing is fixed yet." Ask: "What might Ines do next? How would that change the story?" (Sample: She stops and listens for the creek by camp, then follows the sound.)
Guided Practice (10–15 min) — Write each problem type on an index card. Read each one aloud. Your child points to the right card and says why. 1) "A raccoon keeps tipping over Wes's bird feeder." (Nature. An animal causes the trouble.) 2) "Zara and Malik both want to be team captain." (Person. Two people want the same thing.) 3) "June knows the answer, but she is afraid to raise her hand." (Self. The trouble is a fear inside her.) 4) Your child writes the problem in the new plan with the frame "___ wants ___, but ___." Name its type together. If stuck, say: "Who or what is in the way: a person, nature or a feeling inside?"
Independent Practice (15–20 min) — Your child drafts the rising action for the new story. 1) Copy the problem sentence. 2) Write 3 to 5 sentences. Each one makes things a little harder: a second try fails, time runs out, or someone laughs. 3) Use "but then" twice, or two time-order words. 4) After each sentence, ask: "Is it getting harder?" Look for: the problem is not solved yet, each sentence adds trouble, and the verbs stay in the past tense.
Exit Ticket (5 min) — Ask the three questions. Your child reads the problem sentence aloud for question 3.

Watch for: Solving the problem in the very next sentence, so there is no rising action.

Try: Your child adds two "but then" sentences before anything gets fixed.

Exit ticket:

Name the three types of story problems.
Person, nature or self? "Hail pounds Eli's garden the week his tomatoes turn red."
Read your problem sentence. Why does this problem matter to your character?

Answers: 1) Person vs. person, person vs. nature, person vs. self. 2) Person vs. nature. 3) Answers vary. Look for: something the character wants, loves or worked hard for.

Science

Objective: I can explain that the energy in every food chain starts with the sun.

Standards: 3-LS4-3

Builds on: Needs Day 1: a food chain starts with a producer, and arrows point to the eater. One-minute check: your child puts frog, clover and grasshopper in order (clover, grasshopper, frog).

New words:

photosynthesis – the way a plant uses sunlight, air and water to make its own food

Day 57 — Energy from the Sun — Wonder Warm-Up (5 min) — Spaced review from Week 10. Ask: "Is the sun living? Use the Living Checklist." (No. It does not eat, grow or reproduce.) Then ask: "Where does grass get the energy to grow?" Write the guess down to check later.
Mini-Lesson (10–15 min) — Shine the flashlight on the houseplant or leaf. Say: "Pretend this light is the sun. Plants catch energy from sunlight. They use it, with air and water, to make food. That is photosynthesis." Say: "When a cow eats grass, some of that energy moves into the cow. When you drink milk, energy moves again." Draw it on paper: sun, grass, cow, milk, person. Draw a wavy line from the sun to the grass. Say: "The wavy line is sunlight. Nothing eats the sun." Draw arrows for the rest. Say: "An animal can live only where its food can live." Ask: "Which food passed energy to the cow?" (The grass, and before that the sun.) Ask: "Could a rabbit live where no plants grow?" (No. It would have no food.) Ask: "Is the sun a producer?" (No. It is not alive. It is the energy source.) If stuck, say: "Ask what it ate, again and again, until you reach a plant. Then name the sun."
Investigation / Hands-On (15–20 min) — Trace It Back to the Sun. Safety: handle the egg gently and wash hands after touching it. Nothing is eaten. 1) Your child picks up the cheese and traces it backward aloud. Cheese came from milk. Milk came from a cow. The cow ate grass. The grass used sunlight. 2) Do the egg: a hen laid it, the hen ate grain, the grain plant used sunlight. 3) Do the cracker: it is made from wheat, and wheat used sunlight. 4) Record in a table: Food, Steps back to the sun, Number of steps. Expect cheese 4, egg 3, cracker 2. 5) Ask: "Which chain is shortest? What does every chain pass through?" (The cracker. A plant.) A food with many ingredients has many chains. Pick one ingredient.
Science Notebook Entry (10 min) — Your child draws two sun-to-me chains, each starting with a wavy line from the sun. Above the wavy line they write "sunlight energy." Then give the frame: "Without the sun, ___ because ___." Look for: "Without the sun, plants could not make food because they need sunlight. Then animals would have nothing to eat." Check the warm-up guess.
Wrap-Up & Exit Ticket (5 min) — Ask the three questions aloud. Praise any chain that reaches the sun through a plant.

Watch for: Calling the sun a producer, or saying that plants eat sunlight like food.

Try: Say: "The sun is not alive, so it is not a producer. The plant uses the sun's energy to make food in its leaves."

Exit ticket:

Trace a glass of orange juice back to the sun.
A hawk eats only meat. Why can it still not live in a place with no plants?
What three things does a plant use to make its food?

Answers: 1) Juice came from oranges, oranges grew on an orange tree, and the tree used sunlight. 2) The animals it hunts eat plants, or eat plant-eaters. With no plants, the hawk has no food. 3) Sunlight, air and water.

Print Day 2 practice pages →

Day 3 · Wednesday

Social Studies

Objective: I can describe how Pueblo nations and the Navajo Nation adapted to the desert Southwest.

Standards: D2.Geo.4.3-5, D2.His.2.3-5

Builds on: Needs Week 11 Day 4: much of the Southwest is hot and dry. One-minute check: ask for two landforms of the Southwest (deserts, canyons or mesas).

New words:

pueblo – a village of stone and adobe homes joined together; also the name for the nations who build them
hogan – a traditional Navajo home of logs and earth, round or many-sided
dry farming – growing crops with only rain and melted snow

Warm-Up (5 min) — Spaced review from Week 11. Ask: "Why does land behind a tall mountain often stay dry?" (Wet ocean air drops its rain on the other side.) Then say: "The Southwest has a hot, dry climate. How could people grow food and stay cool in a desert?"
Mini-Lesson (10–15 min) — Point to Arizona and New Mexico. Say: "Pueblo nations include the Hopi, Zuni, Acoma and Taos. Each one is its own nation." Say: "A pueblo is a village of homes joined together, built of stone and adobe. Adobe is mud mixed with straw and dried hard in the sun." Say: "Some pueblos rise four or five stories, like apartments. Long ago, people climbed ladders to the upper rooms." Say: "Thick walls slow the heat. Rooms stay cooler by day and warmer on cold desert nights." Say: "Water is precious here. Hopi farmers are known for dry farming. They grow corn with only rain and melted snow." Say: "People have lived at Taos Pueblo for about 1,000 years. Families live there today." Say: "The Navajo call themselves Diné. The Navajo Nation has the largest reservation in the country and its own government. A hogan is a traditional Navajo home of logs and earth." Ask: "Is Pueblo one nation or many?" (Many.) "What is adobe made from?" (Mud and straw.) If stuck, say: "Think of mud drying in the sun. What does it turn into?"
Activity / Source Work (15–20 min) — Thick-wall test and model. 1) Put one ice cube on each plate. 2) Fold the towel thick and cover one cube. Leave the other bare. Change only the cover. Keep the cubes, plates and warm spot the same. 3) Wait 15 minutes. Meanwhile your child stacks the sugar cubes into a stepped pueblo with two or three levels. Ask: "Where would the ladders go?" 4) Your child draws a chart with two columns, Pueblo and Hogan, and three rows: materials, shape, nation. (Stone and adobe, stacked rooms, Pueblo nations. Logs and earth, round or many-sided, Navajo Nation.) 5) Check the ice. Record in a small table: Cube, Covered or bare, Melted a little or a lot. Expect the covered cube to melt less. If not, say: "Real results vary. Look for the pattern." Try once more with a thicker fold. 6) Ask: "How is the towel like a thick adobe wall?" (Both slow the heat getting in.)
Notebook Entry (10 min) — Your child makes a fact card with five headings: Region, Nations, Homes, Food and water, Today. Sample: Southwest; Hopi, Zuni, Acoma, Taos, Navajo; pueblos and hogans; corn, beans and squash, with dry farming. Under Today, write: "People live at Taos Pueblo and in the Navajo Nation today." Then finish: "Thick adobe walls help because ___."
Exit Ticket (5 min) — Read each question aloud. Your child answers in the notebook. Praise answers that link a home to the desert climate.

Watch for: Thinking Pueblo is one single tribe, or calling all Southwest nations by one name.

Try: Your child writes Hopi, Zuni and Acoma in the notebook. Say: "Three names, three nations, three governments." Your child repeats it.

Exit ticket:

What is a hogan, and which nation builds it?
What is dry farming?
On a hot afternoon, which room would feel cooler: one with thin walls or one with thick adobe walls? Why?

Answers: 1) A traditional home of logs and earth, built by the Navajo (Diné). 2) Growing crops with only rain and melted snow. 3) The room with thick adobe walls. Thick walls slow the heat coming in.

Mathematics

Objective: I can solve grouping word problems where I find how many groups there are.

Standards: 3.OA.A.3, 3.OA.A.2

Builds on: Needs grouping from Week 10 Day 2 and skip-counting. One-minute check: your child puts 15 beans in groups of 5 and tells how many groups (3).

Warm-Up (5 min) — Spaced review from Day 2. Read: "32 crayons are shared equally by 4 children. How many each?" Your child answers with an equation (32 ÷ 4 = 8). Then practice ÷4 and ÷8 facts with no clock. Ask 36 ÷ 4, 40 ÷ 8 and 64 ÷ 8 (9, 5, 8). For ÷4, your child may halve twice.
Mini-Lesson (10–15 min) — Say: "Yesterday we knew the number of groups. Today we know how many go in each group. We find how many groups." Read aloud: "Ana has 24 cookies. She puts 4 in each bag. How many bags does she fill?" Ask: "What is the total?" (24) "How many in each group?" (4) "What is unknown?" (The number of bags.) Your child counts out 24 beans and fills cups, 4 beans in each. Count by 4s as each cup fills: 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24. Ask: "How many cups?" (6) "Are any beans left over?" (No.) Write 24 ÷ 4 = ?. Say: "So 24 ÷ 4 = 6. Ana fills 6 bags." Say: "Check: 6 groups of 4 is 24." Now your child does more. Read: "A coach has 36 players. She makes teams of 9. How many teams?" Your child skip-counts by 9s, writes the equation and answers. (9, 18, 27, 36; 36 ÷ 9 = 4; 4 teams)
Guided Practice (10–15 min) — Your child writes an equation with ?, skip-counts to check and answers in a sentence. 1) 20 apples go in bags of 5. How many bags? (20 ÷ 5 = 4; 4 bags) 2) 42 stickers go 7 on each page. How many pages? (42 ÷ 7 = 6; 6 pages) 3) A board is 30 inches long. It is cut into pieces 6 inches long. How many pieces? (30 ÷ 6 = 5; 5 pieces) 4) Read two stories: "12 pens go in 3 equal cups" and "12 pens go 3 in each cup." Ask: "Which is sharing?" (The first: 4 pens in each cup. The second is grouping: 4 cups.) If stuck, say: "Circle the group size. Count by that number up to the total. Count your jumps."
Independent Practice (15–20 min) — For problems 3 to 8, your child writes an equation with ?. Problems 5 to 8 also need an answer sentence. 1) 35 ÷ 7 = ? (5). 2) 72 ÷ 8 = ? (9). 3) Draw 16 dots. Circle groups of 4. (16 ÷ 4 = 4) 4) Draw 21 dots. Circle groups of 3. (21 ÷ 3 = 7) 5) 36 chairs are set in rows of 6. How many rows? (6 rows) 6) 45 crayons go 5 in each box. How many boxes? (9 boxes) 7) Some spiders have 56 legs in all. Each spider has 8 legs. How many spiders? (7 spiders) 8) 18 socks are matched in pairs. How many pairs? (9 pairs) Check that each answer names the groups, such as rows or boxes.
Exit Ticket (5 min) — Put the cups away. Read each question aloud; your child answers on paper.

Watch for: Answering with the group size instead of the number of groups.

Try: Before solving, your child writes the word the question asks for, such as bags or rows. The answer must carry that word.

Exit ticket:

54 chairs are set in rows of 6. How many rows?
28 cards go 4 in each pile. How many piles? Write the equation.
How is grouping different from sharing?

Answers: 1) 9 rows 2) 28 ÷ 4 = 7; 7 piles 3) Grouping finds how many groups. Sharing finds how many are in each group.

English Language Arts

Objective: I can write an ending that solves the problem and fits my story.

Standards: W.3.3.D

Builds on: Needs yesterday's problem sentence and rising action. One-minute check: your child reads the problem sentence aloud and names its type. (Answers vary. Look for: person, nature or self.)

New words:

open-ended – an ending that leaves the reader wondering what happens next

Warm-Up (5 min) — Word study, about 3 minutes. Dictate: "The tiger stopped digging by the basket." Your child writes it. Check it together: the capital, the period, and the doubled p and g. Spaced review from Week 11. Ask: "Show excited with two body clues, and do not say excited." (Sample: I bounced on my toes and could not stop grinning.)
Mini-Lesson (10–15 min) — Say: "Endings can be happy, sad, surprising or open-ended. A strong ending matches the story and settles the problem. It also shows how the character feels or changed." Read aloud "Hana's Climb": All summer, Hana had practiced on the low wall at the gym. Today she stood under the tall one. She gripped the first blue hold and climbed. Halfway up, she looked down, and her legs began to shake. Then her foot slipped. "I can't," she whispered. Below her, Coach Dee called, "One hold at a time!" Hana pressed her forehead against the wall. She reached for the next hold, then the next. Read two endings. Ending A: Hana went home. Ending B: Hana slapped the bell at the top, and it clanged across the gym. Back on the mat, her arms felt like noodles, but she grinned. "Can I go again?" she asked. Ask: "Which ending settles Hana's problem?" (B. She reaches the top.) Ask: "How can you tell Hana changed?" (She grins and wants to climb again.) Think aloud: "The problem was her fear. Ending B answers it. It shows her feeling with a body clue and a line of dialogue. It is a happy ending."
Guided Practice (10–15 min) — 1) Ask: "How could Ending B become open-ended?" (Sample: Hana looked over at the taller wall next door and wondered.) 2) Write the climax of your child's story together in one or two sentences. It is the moment the character faces the problem head-on. 3) Draft two possible endings, one in each color. Read both aloud. 4) Your child picks one and explains why it fits better. If stuck, say: "Read your problem sentence. What would your character do or say once it is over?"
Independent Practice (15–20 min) — Your child adds 4 to 6 sentences to the draft. 1) The climax: one or two sentences. 2) The falling action: one sentence about what happens right after. 3) The ending: solve or wrap up the problem. 4) The last sentence shows a feeling or a change with a body clue or dialogue. Frame: At last, ___. I ___ (body clue). "___," I said. Checklist: it answers the problem sentence. It fits what came before. It shows a feeling. It does not stop with "The end."
Exit Ticket (5 min) — Ask the three questions. Your child reads the last sentence of the draft for question 3.

Watch for: Stopping suddenly with "and then I woke up" or "The end," so the problem is never solved.

Try: Your child rereads the problem sentence aloud and asks, "Does my ending answer this?"

Exit ticket:

Name four kinds of endings.
Max cannot find his library book. Which ending fits best? A: Max ate dinner. B: Max found the book under his bed and zipped it into his backpack.
Read your last sentence. How does it show your character's feeling or change?

Answers: 1) Happy, sad, surprising, open-ended. 2) Ending B. 3) Answers vary. Look for: a body clue or a line of dialogue that fits how the problem worked out.

Science

Objective: I can connect several food chains into a food web.

Standards: 3-LS4-3

Builds on: Needs Days 1 and 2: chains start with a producer, and the energy comes from the sun. One-minute check: your child tells what an arrow in a food chain means (is eaten by).

New words:

food web – many food chains joined together in one ecosystem

Day 58 — Food Webs — Wonder Warm-Up (5 min) — Spaced review from Week 11. Ask: "A bear rests in a den all winter. Is that something it has or something it does?" (Does. It is a behavioral adaptation.) Then ask: "Does a fox eat only rabbits?" (No. Foxes also eat mice, birds, insects and berries.)
Mini-Lesson (10–15 min) — First write one name on each card: sun, clover, berry bush, grasshopper, mouse, rabbit, robin, snake, fox, hawk. Say: "Most animals eat more than one food. Many are eaten by more than one predator. So food chains connect. Many connected food chains make a food web." Lay two chains: clover, rabbit, fox, and below it clover, grasshopper, robin, hawk. Say: "We have only one clover card. Both chains share it." Slide the chains together at the clover. Add the mouse. Say: "A mouse eats berries. A snake, a fox or a hawk may eat the mouse." Ask: "Which card do both chains share?" (Clover.) Ask: "Name two things a fox eats." (Rabbits, mice or berries.) Ask: "A hawk cannot find a mouse. What else could it eat?" (A rabbit, robin or snake.) If stuck, say: "Pick one animal. Ask what it eats. Draw an arrow from each food to it."
Investigation / Hands-On (15–20 min) — Build a Forest-Edge Food Web. 1) Spread the cards on the big paper. Put the sun at the bottom and the clover and berry bush just above it. 2) Draw a wavy line from the sun to each producer. 3) Your child draws an arrow from each food to each eater. From clover: to rabbit and grasshopper. From berries: to mouse, robin and fox. From grasshopper: to robin and mouse. From mouse: to snake, fox and hawk. From rabbit: to fox and hawk. From robin and from snake: to hawk. 4) Count arrows in a table: Animal, Arrows in, Arrows out. Expect hawk 4 in, fox 3 in, mouse 2 in and 3 out. 5) Your child traces 3 different chains, each in its own color. A web with other true arrows is fine.
Science Notebook Entry (10 min) — Your child copies the web into the notebook, or tapes in a photo of it. Under it they write 2 food chains found inside the web. Look for chains like: berries → mouse → snake → hawk. Then give the frame: "A food web is ___."
Wrap-Up & Exit Ticket (5 min) — Ask the three questions with the web in view. Praise answers that follow the arrows.

Watch for: Drawing arrows between any two animals that live near each other, even when one does not eat the other.

Try: Before each arrow ask: "Does it really eat that?" Check a library book together. If unsure, leave the arrow out.

Exit ticket:

How is a food web different from a food chain?
In today's web, name two foods the robin eats.
Why is it helpful for a fox to eat more than one kind of food?

Answers: 1) A food chain is one path of energy. A food web is many food chains joined together. 2) Berries and grasshoppers. 3) If one food is hard to find, it can eat another.

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Day 4 · Thursday

Social Studies

Objective: I can describe how Northwest Coast and Alaska Native nations used the ocean and land, and how they live today.

Standards: D2.Geo.4.3-5, D2.His.2.3-5

Builds on: Needs Week 11 Day 4: the West has a rainy coast with giant forests and tundra in northern Alaska. One-minute check: ask what tundra is (cold land with no trees and frozen ground).

New words:

totem pole – a tall cedar pole carved with animals and figures that tells a family's history or honors a person
potlatch – a big gathering where a host family feeds guests and gives gifts to mark an important event
sod – the top layer of soil, held together by grass roots

Warm-Up (5 min) — Spaced review from Week 11. Ask: "Which region has both a rain forest and tundra?" (The West.) Then say: "Picture a place where forest meets ocean and salmon fill the rivers. What would you eat and build with?"
Mini-Lesson (10–15 min) — Trace the coast from Oregon up to southeast Alaska. Say: "Giant cedar trees grow in the rain here. Nations of this coast include the Tlingit, Haida, Chinook and Coast Salish peoples." Say: "Builders split cedar into wide planks for large houses. Salmon was a main food, and it still is." Say: "Carvers make totem poles. A pole can tell a family's history or honor a person. It is not worshipped." Say: "At a potlatch, a host family feeds guests and gives gifts to mark an important event." Point to northern and western Alaska. Say: "Alaska Native peoples here include the Inupiat, Yupik and Unangan. Few trees grow on the tundra." Say: "Long ago, many families built homes partly underground. Frames of driftwood or whale bone were covered with sod." Say: "In Alaska, snow houses were mostly short-stay shelters for hunters. Inuit in Canada used them more." Say: "Today families live in modern homes, and many still fish, hunt and carve." Ask: "Why cedar on the coast but sod in the far north?" (The coast has forests. The tundra has few trees.) "Did everyone in the Arctic live in snow houses?" (No.) If stuck, say: "What grows or lives there? People used that."
Activity / Source Work (15–20 min) — Read, sort and draw. 1) Read this source aloud: "A Salmon Year. Each summer, salmon swim from the ocean up the rivers of the Northwest Coast. Long ago, families caught them with nets and wooden traps. They dried and smoked the fish on racks so it would last all winter. Many nations hold a First Salmon ceremony to give thanks. Today tribal fishers still catch salmon, and their nations work to keep the rivers healthy." 2) Ask for evidence: "How did families make salmon last all winter?" (They dried and smoked it.) "Which sentence tells about today?" (The last one.) 3) Write these on eight index cards: cedar planks, salmon, totem pole, potlatch, sod, kayak, caribou, tundra. 4) Your child sorts them into Northwest Coast and Northern and Western Alaska. (The first four are Northwest Coast.) 5) With markers, your child draws a cedar plank house beside a sod-covered house. Ask: "What is each made from, and why?"
Notebook Entry (10 min) — Your child makes two fact cards, Northwest Coast and Northern and Western Alaska. Each has four headings: Nations, Homes long ago, Foods, Today. Sample for the first: Tlingit and Haida; cedar plank houses; salmon and shellfish; "Tribal fishers catch salmon today." Sample for the second: Inupiat and Yupik; sod-covered homes; seal, fish and caribou; "Families still hunt and fish today."
Exit Ticket (5 min) — Read each question aloud. Your child answers in the notebook. Praise answers that link a home or food to the land.

Watch for: Believing all Arctic peoples lived in igloos all the time.

Try: Reread the mini-lesson sentence about snow houses. Your child corrects this aloud: "Everyone in Alaska lived in igloos."

Exit ticket:

Why did builders in far northern Alaska use sod instead of cedar planks?
What happens at a potlatch?
How did Northwest Coast families keep salmon to eat in winter?

Answers: 1) Few trees grow on the tundra, so there was little wood. Sod was close at hand. 2) A host family feeds guests and gives gifts to mark an important event. 3) They dried and smoked the fish.

Mathematics

Objective: I can choose × or ÷ for a word problem and find the unknown number in an equation like 6 × ? = 42.

Standards: 3.OA.A.3, 3.OA.A.4

Builds on: Needs fact families from Week 10 Day 4. One-minute check: your child writes the fact family for 3, 8 and 24. Look for 3 × 8 = 24 and 8 × 3 = 24. Look also for 24 ÷ 3 = 8 and 24 ÷ 8 = 3.

Warm-Up (5 min) — Spaced review from Days 1 to 3. Ask: "5 groups of 4. Multiply or divide?" (Multiply; 20) "20 split into 5 equal groups?" (Divide; 4) Your child explains each choice. Then practice ×6 and ÷6 facts with no clock. Ask 6 × 8, 48 ÷ 6 and 54 ÷ 6 (48, 8, 9).
Mini-Lesson (10–15 min) — Say: "A story with equal groups has three numbers. They are the groups, how many in each, and the total." Say: "One of them is the unknown. Ask first: do I know the total?" Say: "If the total is unknown, multiply. If the total is known, divide." Say: "The unknown can sit in any spot of an equation." Write 6 × ? = 42. Read aloud: "Nia has 6 strings with the same number of beads on each. She uses 42 beads." Ask: "What does the ? stand for?" (The beads on each string.) "6 times what number is 42?" (7) Cover the ? with a sticky note. Your child writes 7 on the note. Read it back: 6 × 7 = 42. Say: "So the unknown is 7. Each string has 7 beads." Next write ? ÷ 3 = 7. Say: "Some marbles are shared into 3 bags. Each bag gets 7." Ask: "What does the ? stand for?" (All the marbles.) Say: "The total is unknown. Use the fact family." Say: "3 × 7 gives the total." (21) Say: "So the unknown is 21, because 21 ÷ 3 = 7." Now your child does more. Write 45 ÷ ? = 9. Your child tells what the ? could stand for, then solves and checks. (Groups, or how many in each; 5; 45 ÷ 5 = 9)
Guided Practice (10–15 min) — Your child covers each ? with a sticky note, writes the number on it and reads the equation back. Ask each time: "Which fact family is this?" 1) 5 × ? = 40 (8). 2) ? ÷ 2 = 7 (14). 3) 54 = 9 × ? (6). 4) Theo has 8 bags with 3 marbles in each. How many marbles? Ask: "Is the total known?" (No. Multiply: 8 × 3 = ?; 24 marbles) If stuck, say: "Read it as a question. What number makes this true? Try one and check."
Independent Practice (15–20 min) — Your child puts each answer back in the equation to check. For problems 1 to 5, the answer is the unknown. Afterward, your child picks one of those equations and tells a story for it. 1) 8 × ? = 24 (3). 2) ? × 7 = 28 (4). 3) 63 ÷ ? = 9 (7). 4) ? ÷ 5 = 5 (25). 5) 32 = ? × 8 (4). 6) Draw an array to show 4 × ? = 20. (4 rows of 5; the unknown is 5) 7) Priya has 32 stamps in 4 equal rows. How many are in each row? Write an equation with ?. (4 × ? = 32 or 32 ÷ 4 = ?; 8 stamps) 8) 9 plates hold 6 strawberries each. How many strawberries? (9 × 6 = ?; 54 strawberries)
Exit Ticket (5 min) — Read each question aloud; your child answers on paper and puts each number back to check.

Watch for: For ? ÷ 3 = 7, answering 7 or trying 7 ÷ 3. The total is being mistaken for a part.

Try: Say: "The first number in division is the total." Your child rewrites it as 3 × 7 = ? and solves (21).

Exit ticket:

6 × ? = 36. What is the unknown number?
? ÷ 6 = 4. What is the unknown number?
Write and solve an equation: 4 shelves hold 10 books each. How many books?

Answers: 1) 6 2) 24 3) 4 × 10 = ?; 40 books

English Language Arts

Objective: I can write a complete short narrative and share it so listeners can retell it and ask questions.

Standards: W.3.3, W.3.3.C, W.3.3.D, W.3.4, SL.3.2, SL.3.3

Builds on: Needs the new story's plan, rising action, climax and ending from Days 1 to 3. One-minute check: your child points to each arc part in the plan and names it. (opening, rising action, climax, falling action, ending)

Warm-Up (5 min) — Word study, about 3 minutes. Give a clue. Your child says and spells the word. "A big striped cat." (tiger) "Green living things in a garden." (plants) "Songs and tunes." (music) "Staying out of sight." (hiding) Spaced review from Week 10. Ask: "Say the past tense of take and find." (took, found)
Mini-Lesson (10–15 min) — Say: "You have every part. Today you put them together." Write this checklist in the notebook. 1) An opening with a time, a place, a sense detail and a character. 2) A clear problem that grows, with time-order words. 3) Showing details and at least two lines of punctuated dialogue. 4) A climax and an ending that solves the problem. Read aloud the model, "The Last Cup": On a hot Saturday morning, I set my lemonade pitcher on a table by the sidewalk. Ice clinked against the glass. My sister Rosie taped up our sign. First, a jogger ran past without looking. Then a man waved but kept walking. Soon the ice shrank to slivers. "Nobody is coming," I said, and my shoulders sagged. Suddenly, a whole soccer team jogged around the corner. "Lemonade!" the goalie shouted. I poured as fast as I could while Rosie counted quarters. Finally, one cup was left. I handed it to Rosie, and she clinked it against the empty pitcher. Think aloud: "Point 1: a hot Saturday, the sidewalk, clinking ice and Rosie. Point 2: nobody stops, with first, then and soon. Point 3: sagging shoulders and two spoken lines. Point 4: the team arrives, and the last cup is shared." Ask: "Which sentence is the climax?" (The soccer team jogs around the corner.)
Guided Practice (10–15 min) — 1) Your child points to the place in the plan for each checklist point. 2) Ask: "Where will your two lines of dialogue go?" (Sample: when the problem appears, and at the climax.) 3) Agree on the first sentence aloud. Check that it names a time or a place. 4) Your child tells the whole story aloud once, touching each part of the hill. If stuck, say: "Tell me just the next thing that happened."
Independent Practice (15–20 min) — 1) Your child writes the complete story, about one page or 12 to 15 sentences. The parts from Days 2 and 3 can be copied in. 2) Your child ticks each checklist point and adds what is missing. 3) Your child reads the story aloud to you. 4) You retell it: who, the problem and how it ended. Your child says whether you heard it right. 5) You ask two questions, such as "How did you feel right before the climax?" Your child answers with a detail and may add it to the story. Look for: all four checklist points, and a retelling that matches the story.
Exit Ticket (5 min) — Ask the three questions. Your child answers with the finished story in hand.

Watch for: Rushing to finish and dropping the dialogue marks and sense details practiced earlier.

Try: Your child makes one slow pass with the checklist, ticking each point and adding what is missing before sharing.

Exit ticket:

Read your first sentence. Does it name a time, a place or both? Which words?
Point to your climax. What happens there?
What question did your listener ask? What detail did you give in your answer?

Answers: 1) Answers vary. Look for: exact words that name when or where. 2) Answers vary. Look for: the moment the character faces the problem head-on. 3) Answers vary. Look for: the listener's actual question, answered with a detail from the story.

Science

Objective: I can predict what might happen to a food web when one living thing is removed or the habitat changes.

Standards: 3-LS4-4, 3-LS4-3

Builds on: Needs Day 3: the forest-edge food web. One-minute check: your child traces one chain inside the web and reads each arrow as "is eaten by."

Day 59 — What If a Link Is Removed? — Wonder Warm-Up (5 min) — Spaced review from Week 7. Ask: "A latch must hold a door shut. Is that a criterion or a constraint?" (A criterion. It says what the design must do.) Then ask: "What if a sickness made all the rabbits vanish from our web?" Let your child guess.
Mini-Lesson (10–15 min) — Say: "A food web is connected. A change to one part can affect other parts." Cover the rabbit card with your hand. Say: "The fox and the hawk have less food. They may eat more mice, or move away. The clover may spread with fewer rabbits eating it." Say: "Some changes are big and some are small. It depends on what else an animal can eat." Tell a real case: "Wolves were brought back to Yellowstone National Park in 1995. Elk changed where they grazed. In some places, young trees by streams grew back. Scientists still study how much the wolves caused." Ask: "Who loses a food if the rabbits vanish?" (The fox and the hawk.) Ask: "Why might the clover spread?" (Fewer animals eat it.) Ask: "Would the fox starve right away?" (No. It also eats mice and berries.) If stuck, say: "Put a finger on the missing card. Follow each arrow in, then each arrow out."
Investigation / Hands-On (15–20 min) — Remove-a-Link Test. 1) Cover the rabbit with a sticky note marked X. 2) Your child traces each arrow touching the rabbit. For each living thing it reaches, they write a prediction on a sticky note. Samples: "Fox: less food, so it may eat more mice." "Clover: may spread." 3) Ask: "If foxes eat more mice, what might happen to the snake?" (It has less food too.) 4) Habitat change. Say: "A storm knocks down most of the berry bushes. The mouse, robin and fox lose a food." Offer two solutions. A: plant new berry bushes of the kind that grew there. B: put out bread every day. Your child makes a claim and gives a reason. Look for: A, because bushes feed many animals for years. Bread is not their natural food. Predictions will differ. Each needs a what and a why.
Science Notebook Entry (10 min) — Make a chart with four columns: Change, Who is affected, What might happen, Why. Your child fills 3 rows, including the rabbit and the storm. Look for rows like: "Rabbits gone, fox, eats more mice, because it lost a food." Then give the frame: "The better solution is ___ because ___."
Wrap-Up & Exit Ticket (5 min) — Ask the three questions with the web in view. Praise predictions that say "might" and give a "because."

Watch for: Predicting that every other animal in the web will die right away.

Try: Ask: "Does the fox eat anything else?" Animals with several foods may switch, so changes are often smaller or slower.

Exit ticket:

In our web, what might happen to the hawk if the snakes were gone? Why?
A pond is drained to build a parking lot. Name one living thing that might leave or die, and tell why.
A field is paved, and people plant flowers nearby for the bees. Is that a helpful solution? Give one reason.

Answers: 1) Probably only a small change, because the hawk can still eat mice, rabbits and robins. 2) Answers vary. Look for: a frog, fish, duck or water plant that lost its water, food or shelter. 3) Answers vary. Look for a claim with a reason, such as "yes, the flowers give bees food, though less than the field did."

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Day 5 · Friday

Social Studies

Objective: I can match Native nations to their regions and show what I learned in Unit 2.

Standards: D2.Geo.4.3-5, D2.His.2.3-5, D2.Geo.10.3-5

Builds on: Needs the fact cards from Days 1 to 4. One-minute check: ask your child to name one nation from any card and one thing that nation does today.

Warm-Up (5 min) — Spaced review from Week 7. Ask: "Name one thing a Native nation's government does today." (It elects leaders, or runs schools, clinics or businesses.) Then say: "We met many nations this week. Can you match each home to its land?"
Mini-Lesson (10–15 min) — Lay out the fact cards and open the map. Say a clue. Your child names the region, points to it and names one nation. "Bark-covered longhouses." (Eastern Woodlands; Haudenosaunee) "Tipis and earth lodges." (Great Plains; Lakota or Pawnee) "Adobe villages with ladders." (Southwest; a Pueblo nation such as the Hopi) "Cedar plank houses." (Northwest Coast; Tlingit or Haida) "Sod-covered homes on the tundra." (Northern and western Alaska; Inupiat or Yupik) Say: "Each nation is different. All are living nations today." Model a pair of sentences: "Long ago, Wampanoag families built round wigwams. Today, Wampanoag people live in Massachusetts." Your child says a long-ago and today pair for two more nations. Ask: "Which word tells me it is happening now?" (Today, or a verb such as live or raise.) If stuck, say: "Start with the word today. Name something people do now."
Activity / Source Work (15–20 min) — Unit 2 test. 1) Find the Unit 2 test on the Assessments page. It covers Weeks 7 to 12 and takes 30 to 35 minutes. 2) Split it over two days. Give the first two sections now, in about 15 to 20 minutes. Give the last two sections tomorrow. 3) If your child is fresh, give the whole test today and move the notebook entry to tomorrow. 4) You may read every item and source box aloud. Your child may answer aloud while you write. 5) Keep the U.S. map open for the road trip section. Put the fact cards away. 6) Score each section with the notes printed under it. If a section earns less than half its points, revisit the weeks it lists.
Notebook Entry (10 min) — Your child finishes these frames: "One way land shapes how people live is ___. One nation I want to learn more about is ___ because ___." Sample: "Land shapes homes, because forest nations built with bark and desert nations built with adobe." Look for a real example from the fact cards.
Exit Ticket (5 min) — Ask the three exit questions aloud. Then give the stored Week 12 check: 8 items, about 15 minutes. If your child is tired, give it tomorrow. With 6 or more right, move on. With 4 or 5 right, revisit Day 2, the Plains nations. With 3 or fewer right, reteach Day 3 with the pueblo model, then any other day missed. Praise sentences about today.

Watch for: Describing all Native peoples as one group with the same homes and foods.

Try: Lay the fact cards side by side. Ask: "What is different on each card, and why?" Your child links each home to its land.

Exit ticket:

Which was easier to build on treeless tundra: a cedar plank house or a sod-covered home? Why?
Name one nation from the Great Plains and one from the Southwest.
Finish the pair: "Long ago, Pueblo families climbed ladders to their upper rooms. Today, ___."

Answers: 1) A sod-covered home. Few trees grow on the tundra, but sod is close at hand. 2) Answers vary. Plains: Lakota, Cheyenne, Comanche, Crow, Kiowa or Pawnee. Southwest: Hopi, Zuni, Acoma, Taos or Navajo. 3) Answers vary. Look for the present tense, such as "families live at Taos Pueblo" or "Pueblo nations have their own governments."

Mathematics

Objective: I can show what I learned about × and ÷ in Unit 2 on the check and unit test.

Standards: 3.OA.A.2, 3.OA.A.3, 3.OA.A.4, 3.OA.B.6, 3.OA.C.7

Builds on: Needs Weeks 7 to 12: multiplication and division facts, sharing, grouping, fact families and unknown numbers. One-minute check: ask 18 ÷ 2, then the multiplication fact that proves it (9; 2 × 9 = 18).

Warm-Up (5 min) — Spaced review from Week 10. Your child writes the fact family for 3, 4 and 12. Look for 3 × 4 = 12 and 4 × 3 = 12. Look also for 12 ÷ 3 = 4 and 12 ÷ 4 = 3. There is no fact routine today. Save energy for the test.
Mini-Lesson (10–15 min) — Play Flip and Prove for 10 minutes. Mix the 8 cards face down. Say: "Flip a card. Find the unknown. Then prove it with another fact from the same family." Model one turn. Flip 5 × ? = 45. Say: "5 times what number is 45? It is 9." Write 5 × 9 = 45. Say: "My proof is 45 ÷ 5 = 9." Now your child takes every turn: flip, solve, write the full equation, say a proof fact. Ask each turn: "Is the total known or unknown?" A correct turn wins the card. There is no clock. Unknowns for the other cards, in the order listed in the materials: 81, 40, 7, 8, 5, 4, 15.
Guided Practice (10–15 min) — Give the stored Week 12 check now. Find it with the Week 12 lessons. Do not time it. Your child may sketch or use counters. Score it with the answer key and note the kind of item missed. Choose a route for the Week 14 catch-up days. 6 or more right: no extra work is needed. 4 or 5 right: match each miss to a day. Multiplication stories missed: redo Day 1 Guided Practice. Sharing stories missed: redo Day 2 Guided Practice. Grouping stories missed: redo Day 3 Guided Practice. Unknown numbers missed: redo Day 4 Guided Practice. 3 or fewer right: reteach the Day 1, 2 and 3 Mini-Lessons with counters and cups. If stuck, say: "Skip it for now. Sketch the groups, then come back."
Independent Practice (15–20 min) — Give the Unit 2 test from the Assessments page. Allow 30 to 40 minutes, so this block runs longer than usual. There is no time limit. Take a short break between parts if your child is tired. Read the directions for each part aloud. Put the multiplication chart away. Your child may use counters, plates or cups and scrap paper. Do not teach or hint. If your child is stuck, say: "Do your best, then we can move on." Score it with the answer key and find the level at the end. Then choose a route by part. Multiplication facts missed: revisit Week 7 Days 1 to 3 and Week 8 Days 1 to 3. What division means missed: revisit Week 10 Days 1 to 3. Division facts or fact families missed: revisit Week 10 Day 4 and Week 11 Days 1 to 4. Word problems or unknown numbers missed: revisit Week 12 Days 1 to 4.
Exit Ticket (5 min) — After the test, your child answers these three questions aloud or on paper. Then go over missed test items together.

Watch for: Rushing word problems and multiplying every time two numbers appear.

Try: Before solving, your child says "The total is known" or "The total is unknown" for each story.

Exit ticket:

9 × ? = 63. What is the unknown number?
Tomas has 40 cards in 5 equal piles. How many cards are in each pile?
Which part of the test felt easiest, and which skill will you practice?

Answers: 1) 7 2) 8 cards 3) Answers vary. Look for: one named skill for each part of the question.

English Language Arts

Objective: I can show what I learned in Unit 2 about main ideas, opinions and narratives.

Standards: W.3.3, RL.3.5, RI.3.2, W.3.1

Builds on: Needs all of Unit 2: main idea (Week 7), opinion writing (Week 8) and narratives (Weeks 10 to 12). One-minute check: ask, "What is the top of the story hill called?" (the climax)

Warm-Up (5 min) — Word study, about 3 minutes. Give an untimed spelling check: tiger, music, boxes, plants, swimming, smiled. Challenge word: sandwiches. Correct it together. Your child names the rule behind each word. Spaced review from Week 7. Ask: "What is a main idea?" (what a whole paragraph or article is mostly about)
Review (10 min) — Review one skill from each part of Unit 2 in the notebook. 1) Main idea. Read: Most owls hunt at night. Their big eyes gather dim light. Their soft feathers let them fly almost without a sound. Ask: "What is the main idea?" (Most owls are built for hunting at night.) Ask: "Which detail tells how they stay quiet?" (the soft feathers) 2) Opinion. Your child finishes this sentence: "I think families should eat dinner together because ___." Your child adds a second reason with also or another reason. (Look for: a reason after because, then a linking word.) 3) Narrative. Reread "The Last Cup" from Day 4 if needed. Ask: "What was the climax? What was the resolution?" (The soccer team arrives. The lemonade sells, and the last cup is shared.) 4) Write: are you ready asked Mom. Your child adds the marks. ("Are you ready?" asked Mom.)
Week 12 Check (10 min) — This block is the stored Week 12 English Language Arts Check. It has 8 items. Your child works alone with the notebook closed. You may read the directions aloud, but not the story. Score it with its answer key. 7 or more right: your child is ready for Unit 3. 5 or 6 right: revisit Day 1, then redo the Day 1 practice page. 4 or fewer right: reteach Day 1. Walk two fingers up the hill drawing while you tell a short story.
Unit Test (about 50 min) — The Unit 2 test, "Main Idea, Opinions & Narratives," is on the Assessments page. It takes 45 to 55 minutes and may be split over two sittings. Today, your child does the article and the story-craft questions. Finish the other sections in a second sitting, later today or tomorrow. If today runs long, give only the weekly check and start the test tomorrow. Your child reads the article alone. You may read the directions and the reading questions aloud. Do not spell words or add punctuation for your child. Say: "Reread each written answer once before you move on." Score it with the test's key. Its notes name the weeks to revisit for each section.
Exit Ticket (5 min) — After the first sitting, ask the three questions. Your child opens the finished story for question 2.

Watch for: On main idea questions, choosing one interesting detail instead of what the whole part is mostly about.

Try: Before the test, practice asking, "Do all the sentences tell about this?" If not, it is a detail.

Exit ticket:

Which Unit 2 skill feels strongest now: main idea, opinion or narrative? Why?
Open your finished story. Read the sentence you are proudest of. Which skill does it show?
What will you remember to do the next time you write a story?

Answers: 1) Answers vary. Look for: a named skill and a reason. 2) Answers vary. Look for: a named skill, such as showing a feeling, a specific detail or punctuated dialogue. 3) Answers vary. Look for: a real strategy, such as planning on a story hill or using time-order words.

Science

Objective: I can show what I know about food chains, food webs and Unit 2 on the Week 12 check and the Unit 2 test.

Standards: 3-LS4-3, 3-LS4-4, 3-PS2-4, 3-5-ETS1-1

Builds on: Needs Weeks 7 to 12: the magnet design, fair tests, ecosystems, habitats and food webs. One-minute check: ask, "Which way does a food chain arrow point?" (To the eater.)

Day 60 — Week 12 Check and Unit 2 Test — Wonder Warm-Up (5 min) — Spaced review from Week 11. Ask: "What four needs does a habitat meet?" (Food, water, shelter and space.) Then your child builds a 4-link chain from the cards, with no rush. (Sample: clover, grasshopper, frog, snake.) Ask: "Where did its energy begin?" (The sun.)
Mini-Lesson (10–15 min) — Preview the Unit 2 test. It covers Weeks 7 to 12: designing with magnets, fair tests, ecosystems and food webs. Review three reminders. First say: "A criterion is what a design must do. A constraint is a limit, such as time or materials." Ask: "Think of a paper bridge that has to carry a toy car. Is carrying the car a criterion or a constraint?" (Criterion.) Ask: "You may use only paper and tape. Which is that?" (Constraint.) Second, ask: "In a fair test, what do you keep the same?" (Everything except the one thing you change.) Third, say: "Start every food chain with a producer. Point every arrow to the eater." Your child draws a chain that starts with seeds. (Sample: seeds → mouse → snake → hawk.) If stuck, say: "Start with the plant. Who eats it? Who eats that?"
Investigation / Hands-On (30 min) — Unit 2 test. Find it on the Assessments page. It has four sections and 19 questions, and it needs the pencil and ruler. It is not a race. The whole test takes about 40 to 45 minutes, so splitting it over two days works well. 1) Today, in this 30-minute block, your child does the first two sections, on magnets and fair tests. 2) Next school day, they do the two ecosystem sections. 3) You may read any question aloud. Do not explain science words or give hints. 4) Offer a stretch break between sections. 5) At the end, your child rereads each answer once. Score later with the key. Scores will differ; use the key's notes to choose what to revisit.
Science Notebook Entry (10 min) — Give two frames: "The easiest part of this unit was ___." "One fact I am proud to know is ___." Look for a real science idea, such as "a food web is many chains joined together."
Wrap-Up & Exit Ticket (5 min) — Ask the three questions aloud. Then give the Week 12 Science Check, which has 7 items and takes about 10 minutes. Give it later today or with the second half of the test. With 6 or more right, move on. With 4 or 5, redo the Day 3 web by joining two card chains. With 3 or fewer, reteach Day 1: pass a ball from food to eater and lay a paper arrow each time.

Watch for: Rushing the test and forgetting to draw arrows or start a food chain with a producer.

Try: Before starting, say: "For any food chain, start with a plant and point every arrow to the eater."

Exit ticket:

Name a 3-link food chain that ends with a fox.
Why is the sun drawn before the producer in a food chain?
Name one thing you will check on every food chain you draw.

Answers: 1) Answers vary. Look for: a plant first and true links, such as berries → mouse → fox. 2) The producer uses the sun's energy to make its food. 3) Answers vary. Look for: it starts with a producer, or every arrow points to the eater.

Print Day 5 practice pages →

Worksheets

math — Day 56 — Multiplication Word Problems
math — Day 57 — Division Word Problems: Sharing
math — Day 58 — Division Word Problems: Grouping
math — Day 59 — Mixed × and ÷ Word Problems
math — Day 60 — × ÷ Word Problems Practice

Assessments

math — Unit Assessment 6 — × and ÷ Word Problems