Day 2 · Tuesday

Objective: I can compare how people traveled in the past with how they travel today.

Standards: D2.His.2.3-5, D2.His.1.3-5

Materials: Long strip of paper for a timeline, about 3 feet, Ruler, Markers, 6 index cards, Tape, Notebook, Pencil

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 10. Ask: "Which river flows south from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico?" (The Mississippi.) Then ask the big question: "It is 250 years ago. You must visit a city 300 miles away. How do you get there?"

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Transportation is how people and goods get from place to place. It has changed a lot." Draw a line along the paper strip with a marker. Use the ruler to mark four equal parts: 1700s, 1800s, 1900s, today. Tell the story in order and point to each part. Say: "In the 1700s, people walked, rode horses, drove wagons on rough dirt roads, or sailed." "In 1807, Robert Fulton's steamboat carried people up the Hudson River. Steam could push a boat against the current." "In 1825, the Erie Canal opened. Boats could now travel between the Great Lakes and New York City." "In 1869, the first transcontinental railroad joined East and West. Chinese and Irish workers did much of the hard, dangerous work." "The tracks crossed the homelands of Plains nations. Trains brought settlers and hunters, and the bison herds shrank." "In 1903, the Wright brothers flew the first powered airplane. By the 1920s, many families owned cars." Ask: "Which came first, the steamboat or the railroad?" (The steamboat.) Ask: "Was the railroad good for everyone?" (No. It helped travelers, but it harmed Plains nations.) If stuck, say: "Say both dates aloud. The smaller number came first."

3. Activity / Source Work · 15–20 min

   Build the timeline. 1) Your child sketches six cards and writes the date on each. Wagon, 1700s. Steamboat, 1807. Canal boat, 1825. Train, 1869. Airplane, 1903. Car, 1920s. 2) Mix the cards. Your child puts them in order and tapes them under the line. 3) Your child writes one sentence under each card. Sample: "1869: A railroad crosses the country." 4) Compare a 300-mile trip. Say: "A wagon went about 15 miles a day." Ask: "How many days for 300 miles?" (About 20. Ten days is 150 miles, so 20 days is 300.) 5) Make a chart with two columns: Way to travel, Time for 300 miles. Fill in: wagon, about 20 days. Early train, less than 1 day. Car, about 5 hours. Jet, about 1 hour. Ask: "What pattern do you see?" (Each new way is faster.) Check that the dates run in order from left to right.

4. Notebook Entry · 10 min

   Your child copies the timeline into the notebook with at least five entries. Then finish the frame: "The biggest change was ___ because ___." Sample: "The biggest change was the railroad because crossing the country took about a week, not months."

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Read the questions aloud. Your child may look at the timeline. Praise answers that use a date as evidence.

Homework: Your child asks an older adult how they got to school or took trips as a child. Add the answer to the timeline. Look for: it sits in the right part of the line.

Objective: I can group three factors in different ways to make multiplying easier (associative property).

Standards: 3.OA.B.5

Materials: 30 counters (dried beans, coins or buttons), 6 small cups, 2 sheets of paper (the trays), Notebook, Pencil

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Day 1. Write 8 × 5 = 5 × ?. Your child finds the unknown (8) and names the property (commutative). Then practice ×2 and ×5 facts with no clock. Ask 2 × 9, 5 × 7 and 5 × 8 (18, 35, 40).

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Today we multiply three factors. We can only multiply two numbers at a time. So we group two factors first." Lay down the 2 sheets as trays. Put 3 cups on each tray and 4 beans in each cup. Write 2 × 3 × 4. Ask: "What does each factor count?" (Trays, cups on a tray, beans in a cup.) Say: "Parentheses show which part we do first." Write (2 × 3) × 4. Ask: "How many cups in all?" (2 × 3 = 6) "What is 6 cups of 4 beans?" (6 × 4 = 24) Now write 2 × (3 × 4). Ask: "How many beans are on one tray?" (3 × 4 = 12) "What is 2 trays of 12?" (12 doubled is 24) Ask: "Did we add or take away any beans?" (No.) Say: "So 2 × 3 × 4 = 24 both ways. The grouping changed. The product did not." Say: "This is the associative property. It lets us pick the easy pair first." Now your child does more. Write 5 × 2 × 7. Your child puts parentheses around 5 × 2 and solves. (10 × 7 = 70) Ask: "Why is 10 × 7 easy?" (It is 7 tens.) Say: "Look for a pair that makes 10."

3. Guided Practice · 10–15 min

   Your child writes the parentheses, solves each one both ways and tells which grouping was easier. 1) 2 × 5 × 3 as (2 × 5) × 3, then as 2 × (5 × 3). (10 × 3 = 30; 15 doubled is 30) 2) 4 × 2 × 3 as (4 × 2) × 3, then as 4 × (2 × 3). (8 × 3 = 24; 4 × 6 = 24) 3) Write 5 × 7 × 2. Say: "The pair that makes 10 is not side by side. The commutative property lets 7 and 2 trade places." Your child writes 5 × 2 × 7 and solves. (10 × 7 = 70) 4) Build 2 × 2 × 3 with trays, cups and beans. Your child shows both groupings. (4 × 3 = 12; 2 × 6 = 12) If stuck, say: "Put parentheses around two factors. Multiply them. Now multiply by the factor left over."

4. Independent Practice · 15–20 min

   For problems 1 to 5, your child solves both ways and circles the easier grouping. Both groupings must give the same product. For problems 7 and 8, your child tells which two factors were multiplied first. 1) 5 × 2 × 4 (10 × 4 = 40; 5 × 8 = 40). 2) 2 × 3 × 6 (6 × 6 = 36; 18 doubled is 36). 3) 3 × 3 × 2 (9 × 2 = 18; 3 × 6 = 18). 4) 3 × 2 × 4 (6 × 4 = 24; 3 × 8 = 24). 5) 2 × 4 × 2 (8 × 2 = 16; 2 × 8 = 16). 6) Draw 2 trays with 2 cups on each and 5 dots in each cup. Write the equation. (2 × 2 × 5 = 20) 7) A shop has 2 shelves. Each shelf holds 4 boxes. Each box has 6 pens. How many pens? (2 × 4 × 6 = 48) 8) 3 tables have 2 plates each. Each plate has 5 grapes. How many grapes? (3 × 2 × 5 = 30)

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Put the cups away. Read each question aloud; your child answers on paper and shows the grouping.

Fact fluency: ×2 and ×5 facts

Homework: Your child picks an easy grouping for each and shows the parentheses. Solve 5 × 3 × 2, 2 × 5 × 5 and 3 × 2 × 3. Answers: 30, 50, 18.

Objective: I can replace weak, overused words with stronger, more exact words.

Standards: W.3.5, L.3.3.A, L.3.5.C, RF.3.3.A, L.3.4.B

Materials: Narrative draft, 12 index cards, Notebook, Pencil

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Word study, about 3 minutes. Write these base words in the notebook: pack, safe, fill, tell, appear, obey. Your child adds un-, re- or dis- to build unpack, unsafe, refill, retell, disappear and disobey. They draw a line between each prefix and its base word. Ask: "Did the spelling of the base word change?" (No. The prefix is just added to the front.) Spaced review from Week 11. Ask: "Give one body clue that shows a character is nervous." (Sample: Her hands shook.)

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Some words are worn out: said, went, big, good, nice, stuff. An exact word helps the reader see and hear." Write: "My brother ate the pancake." Think aloud. Say: "Ate is a weak word. If he was starving, I write gobbled. If he was full, I write nibbled. One word changes the whole picture." Next, write cool, chilly, cold and freezing on four index cards. Say: "This is a word ladder. The words climb from a little cold to very cold." Mix the cards. Your child puts them back in order. Then write a ladder on four more cards for how sure someone is: wondered, suspected, believed, knew. Say: "I wondered if the dog took my sock. I suspected the dog took my sock. I knew the dog took my sock." Ask: "In which sentence do I have no doubt at all?" (The one with knew.) "In which am I only guessing?" (The one with wondered.)

3. Guided Practice · 10–15 min

   1) Write: "The dog ran to the door." Ask: "Which word fits a tired old dog: dashed or plodded?" (Plodded. It shows slow, heavy steps.) 2) Write this line: "Look out!" Dad said. Ask: "Which word is stronger than said here?" (Shouted, yelled or cried.) 3) Find 2 weak words in the draft together. For each one, list 3 choices in the notebook. Read the sentence aloud with each choice. (Look for: the word that matches what really happened, not the fanciest word.) 4) Ask: "Which shows Ben is less sure: 'Ben believed the key was lost' or 'Ben knew the key was lost'?" (Believed.) If stuck, say: "Close your eyes. What did it really look or sound like? Say that word."

4. Independent Practice · 15–20 min

   1) Your child replaces at least 5 weak words in the draft with a pencil. They cross out the old word neatly and write the new word above it. 2) They build one more word ladder of four words on index cards. Choices: words for wet, loud or happy. Sample: damp, wet, soaked, drenched. 3) They write two sentences about one event, one with wondered and one with knew. Sample: "I wondered who left the gate open. I knew who left the gate open." Checklist: each new word still makes sense in its sentence. The picture is clearer than before. The ladder climbs in order.

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Ask the three questions aloud. Your child may say or write the answers.

Homework: Read your own book for 15 minutes. Copy 3 strong verbs with their sentences. Look for: verbs that show exactly how something moved or sounded.

Objective: I can compare how wolves, honeybees and elephants live and work together in groups.

Standards: 3-LS2-1

Materials: 1 large sheet of paper, 3 colored pencils, Science notebook and pencil, Library book about meerkats or orcas (only for the extension)

1. Day 62 — Wolves, Honeybees and Elephants — Wonder Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 11. Ask: "Is a sea turtle's flipper a physical or a behavioral adaptation?" (Physical. It is a body part.) Then the wonder. Say: "A wolf, a honeybee and an elephant look nothing alike. How could their groups be alike?" Take one guess.

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Here are three animal groups. Listen for who is in each group and who does each job." Wolves. Say: "A pack is a family: a mother, a father and their young. Most packs have fewer than 12 wolves. They hunt together. Older brothers and sisters help feed the pups." Honeybees. Say: "A colony can hold tens of thousands of bees. One queen lays the eggs. Worker bees are females. They gather nectar and pollen, build wax comb, feed the young and guard the hive. Male bees are called drones." Elephants. Say: "A herd is mothers, aunts, sisters and their young. The oldest female, the matriarch, leads. She remembers where water is in dry times. Aunts and older sisters help watch over each calf. Grown males mostly live apart." Ask: "Who lays the eggs in a bee colony?" (The queen.) "Who leads an elephant herd?" (The matriarch.) "Who helps feed wolf pups?" (Parents and older brothers and sisters.) If stuck, say: "Listen again," and reread that animal's part.

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

   Group Comparison Chart. 1) On the large paper, draw 3 columns: Wolves, Honeybees, Elephants. Draw 4 rows: Group size, Who is in it, How they get food, How they care for young. 2) Reread the mini-lesson, one animal at a time. Your child fills each box, using one colored pencil per animal. Look for these facts. Wolves: fewer than 12, a family, hunt together, older wolves feed pups. Honeybees: tens of thousands, a queen with workers and drones, workers gather nectar and pollen, workers feed the young. Elephants: a family of females and young, the matriarch leads them to food, aunts and sisters help watch the calves. 3) Your child circles two things all three groups do. (They get food together. They care for young together.) 4) They star one big difference. (A bee colony is far bigger. Only one bee lays eggs.) Ask: "What is your evidence?" Your child points to the boxes.

4. Science Notebook Entry · 10 min

   Your child writes three notebook sentences from the chart. Frames: "Wolves, honeybees and elephants all ___. One difference is ___. The group I would most like to watch is ___ because ___." Sample: "Wolves, honeybees and elephants all care for their young together. One difference is that a bee colony is much bigger."

5. Wrap-Up & Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Read the three questions aloud, and let your child look at the chart. Praise answers that use a fact from the chart as evidence.

Homework: Tell a family member three facts, one for each animal group. Write down the fact they found most surprising. Look for facts that match the chart.