Day 1 · Monday

Objective: I can explain what culture is and name parts of my own family's culture.

Standards: D2.Geo.4.3-5

Materials: Notebook, Large sheet of paper, Crayons, Pencil, Tape, One family object, such as a recipe card, a game or a photo

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 12. Ask: "How do thick adobe walls help Pueblo families in the desert?" (They stay cool in the day and warm at night.) Then ask the big question: "What makes our family's way of living special?"

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Culture is the way of life a group of people share." Name its parts and count them on your fingers: language, food, music, celebrations, art, clothing, stories, games and beliefs. Say: "Everyone has a culture. Many people belong to more than one." "Culture is learned. Grandparents, parents and neighbors pass it down." Hold up the family object. Say: "This is part of our culture." Ask: "Who taught us this?" Read aloud: "Daniela's family speaks Spanish and English at home. They make tamales in December and play a picture game called lotería on Sundays." Ask: "Which parts of culture did you hear?" (Language, food and a game.) Say: "Culture and place work together. Families who live near the sea often have fish recipes." Ask: "Is a recipe your uncle taught you part of culture?" (Yes. It is food that was passed down.) Ask: "Is having brown eyes part of culture?" (No. You are born with it. Nobody teaches it.) If stuck, say: "Did someone teach it to you? Do other people share it? Then it is culture."

3. Activity / Source Work · 15–20 min

   Six-box culture chart. 1) Fold the large paper into six boxes. Label them Language, Food, Music, Celebrations, Games or Sports, and Stories or Sayings. 2) Your child fills each box with one thing from your own family. Drawing with crayons or writing is fine. Family means the people who raise your child. 3) For each box, ask: "Who taught you this?" Your child writes that person's name in the box. 4) Look at the family object again. Ask: "What does this tell about our family? Which box does it fit?" 5) Check each box for a specific example. "Food" is too general. "Grandpa's Sunday pancakes" is specific. Every family's chart will differ. Look for the pattern: every family can fill every box. If a box stays empty, say: "What do we say, sing or play at home?"

4. Notebook Entry · 10 min

   Tape the chart into the notebook, or your child copies three boxes. Then finish the frame: "One part of my family's culture I want to keep is ___ because ___." Sample: "I want to keep our Friday soup because Grandma taught it to Mom."

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Read the questions aloud. Your child answers in the notebook. Praise specific examples and the word "learned."

Homework: Your child asks a family member about one tradition and why the family keeps it. Write one sentence. Look for a reason.

Practice page · Week 15, Day 1

Social Studies

I can explain what culture is and name parts of my own family's culture.

Show answers

Kofi's Saturdays

Kofi's family speaks Twi and English at home. On Saturdays, Kofi's grandpa cooks a big pot of jollof rice, a spicy rice dish from West Africa. After lunch, Kofi plays soccer with his cousins in the park. In the evening, the family sings songs while his uncle plays the drums. These things are all part of Kofi's family's culture.

Read about Kofi. Then write the part of culture for each example. Use the word bank.

Word bank: language · food · music · games or sports

1. 1.

   speaks Twi and English
2. 2.

   eats jollof rice
3. 3.

   sings songs with drums
4. 4.

   plays soccer every Saturday

Fill in the culture chart for your family. Then answer.

Part of culture	My family

1. 5.

   What is culture?
2. 6.

   Which part of your family's culture do you want to keep? Why?

Challenge: Can a person be part of more than one culture? Explain.

Objective: I can find the two steps in a word problem before I solve it.

Standards: 3.OA.D.8

Materials: Notebook (copy the two Mini-Lesson stories into it before the lesson), Crayons (two colors), 30 counters (dried beans, coins or buttons), Pencil

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 12. Your child solves 6 × ? = 54 (9). Then try ×7 facts with no clock. Ask 7 × 4, 7 × 5, 7 × 8 and 7 × 6 (28, 35, 56, 42). Your child names the strategy for one.

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "A two-step problem has a hidden question. You must answer it first." Read: "Sara has 20 stickers. She buys 12 more. Then she puts all of them equally on 4 pages. How many stickers go on each page?" Ask: "What does the story ask?" (How many on each page.) Ask: "What must we know first?" (How many stickers in all.) Say: "That is the hidden question." Your child colors the Step 1 facts in one color: 20 stickers, 12 more. Write Step 1: 20 + 12 = 32. Your child colors the Step 2 fact in the other color: 4 pages. Write Step 2: 32 ÷ 4 = 8. Say: "So 8 stickers go on each page." Now your child does more. Read: "Jamal has 3 boxes of 8 crayons. He gives away 5. How many are left?" Ask: "What is the hidden question? What are the two steps?" (How many crayons in all; 3 × 8 = 24, then 24 − 5 = 19)

3. Guided Practice · 10–15 min

   Your child tells the hidden question, names both steps, then solves. 1) Ines buys 4 packs of 6 juice boxes. She drinks 3. How many are left? (4 × 6 = 24; 24 − 3 = 21) 2) 35 cards are shared equally by 5 friends. Then each friend gets 2 more. How many does each friend have? (35 ÷ 5 = 7; 7 + 2 = 9) 3) 18 big blocks and 22 small blocks go in stacks of 5. How many stacks? (18 + 22 = 40; 40 ÷ 5 = 8) If stuck, say: "What must we know before we can answer? Is that number in the story?"

4. Independent Practice · 15–20 min

   Your child writes Step 1 and Step 2 for each one. 1) Read: "7 rows of 6 chairs, plus 9 more chairs." Name the two steps only (multiply, then add). 2) Now solve it (7 × 6 = 42; 42 + 9 = 51). 3) Mr. Lee has 50 apples. He uses 14. He puts the rest in bags of 4. How many bags? (50 − 14 = 36; 36 ÷ 4 = 9) 4) Draw 2 bunches of 8 grapes, then cross out 5. Write both steps (2 × 8 = 16; 16 − 5 = 11). 5) 6 vans carry 5 children each. 4 more children walk. How many children? (6 × 5 = 30; 30 + 4 = 34) 6) 45 beads are shared equally on 9 strings. Each string then loses 2 beads. How many are on each string? (45 ÷ 9 = 5; 5 − 2 = 3) 7) Nia has 27 shells and finds 9 more. She fills 4 jars equally. How many in each jar? (27 + 9 = 36; 36 ÷ 4 = 9) 8) A book has 80 pages. Omar reads 8 pages a day for 7 days. How many pages are left? (7 × 8 = 56; 80 − 56 = 24)

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Read each question aloud; your child answers on paper with no beans.

Fact fluency: ×7 facts

Homework: Find a two-step story at home and solve it. Sample: 2 packs of 6 yogurts, 3 eaten; 2 × 6 = 12, then 12 − 3 = 9 left.

Objective: I can find the lines and stanzas in a poem and use poetry words to talk about it.

Standards: RL.3.5, L.3.6, RF.3.3.A, L.3.4.B

Materials: A sheet of paper with 'Morning on Maple Street' copied by hand (8 lines; keep it for Day 2), Any storybook from your child's shelf, Notebook, Colored pencils, Pencil

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Word study, about 3 minutes. Say: "Three new prefixes. Pre- means before. Mis- means wrongly or badly. Non- means not or without." Write preheat, preview, misread, misplace, nonsense and nonliving in the notebook. Your child reads each word, circles the prefix and sorts it under pre-, mis- or non-. Ask: "What does preheat mean?" (To heat before.) Spaced review from Week 13. Ask: "Which words get capitals in a title?" (The first and last words, plus every important word.)

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Before the lesson, copy this poem on paper. You will use the same copy tomorrow. Start a new row at each slash, and leave a blank row at the double slash. "Morning on Maple Street": The bakery lights blink on at five. / The sleepy street comes back alive. / A bus sighs open at the stop, / And on the curb the sparrows hop. // My sister hums a little tune. / The kettle whistles, much too soon. / I pull my socks on, one and two. / Another day is fresh and new. Lay the copy beside an open page of the storybook. Ask: "How do they look different?" (The poem has short rows and a gap. The story fills the page.) Say: "A poem is writing set out in lines. The poet is the writer. Each row of words is called a line. A stanza is a set of lines that belong together, followed by a blank space. It is like a paragraph in a poem." Read the poem aloud. Think aloud. Say: "I put my finger on the first row. That is line 1. I count down to the blank space: 1, 2, 3, 4. Those four lines make stanza 1." Write 1 to 4 in the margin with a pencil and bracket the stanza.

3. Guided Practice · 10–15 min

   1) Your child numbers the lines of the second stanza and brackets it. Ask: "How many lines does the poem have altogether? How many stanzas?" (8 lines; 2 stanzas.) 2) Say: "Read line 6 aloud." (The kettle whistles, much too soon.) 3) Ask: "Where does stanza 1 happen? Where does stanza 2 happen?" (Outside on the street; inside the speaker's home.) 4) Ask: "What does stanza 2 add after stanza 1?" (First the street wakes up. Then the family wakes up and gets ready.) If stuck, say: "Put a finger at the start of each row. Count rows, not periods. A blank space means a new stanza."

4. Independent Practice · 15–20 min

   1) Your child copies the poem into the notebook, keeping every line break and the stanza space. 2) They label the title, line 1 and each stanza. They shade each stanza lightly in a different color. 3) They copy a favorite line and write one or two sentences about it, using at least two poetry words. Sample: "My favorite line is line 3 in the first stanza. The poet makes the bus sound tired." Look for three things. The copy has 8 lines on 8 rows. A blank row sits between the stanzas. The poetry words are used correctly.

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Your child keeps the poem in view. Ask the three questions aloud.

Homework: Read one poem from any book at home to a family member, or reread today's poem. Tell how many lines and stanzas it has.

Practice page · Week 15, Day 1

English Language Arts

I can find the lines and stanzas in a poem.

Show answers

Look: Poetry words

1. A line is one row of words in a poem. The poet is the person who wrote it.
2. A stanza is a group of lines, with a blank space after it.
3. Count lines in the whole poem. Count stanzas by the groups.

Puddle Day

The rain has stopped. The clouds roll by. A puddle holds a piece of sky. I lean right over, close and slow, And see my face look up below. I jump! The sky breaks into bits. It splashes Grandma's woolen mitts. She laughs and shakes her soggy hands, Then jumps in too, right where she stands. The puddle settles, smooth and still. It holds the sky. It always will.

Use the poem above.

1. 1.

   How many lines are in the whole poem?
2. 2.

   How many stanzas does it have?
3. 3.

   How many lines are in stanza 2?
4. 4.

   Draw a bracket around the last stanza.

5. 5.

   Copy your favorite line. Tell why you like it, using the word line or stanza.

Name each prefix and what it means.

1. 6.

   preview
2. 7.

   misplace
3. 8.

   nonsense

Challenge: Write a 2-line stanza about the sun drying the puddle.

Objective: I can describe the stages of a plant's life cycle and start a bean plant to observe.

Standards: 3-LS1-1

Materials: 5 dry pinto or kidney beans, soaked in water overnight, Paper cup with 2 small holes poked in the bottom by an adult, Potting soil, about 1 cup, Saucer or plate to catch drips, Water and a warm, sunny windowsill, Marker, Science notebook and pencil, 1 dried pea and a second cup of soil (only for the extension)

1. Day 71 — Plant Life Cycle — Wonder Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 10. Ask: "Is a dry bean living or never alive?" (Living. It is resting and can sprout.) Then the wonder. Say: "This bean came from a bean plant. How does a bean plant begin, and how does it make new beans?" Take two ideas.

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "A life cycle is the set of stages a living thing goes through. It starts, grows, makes young and dies." Split one soaked bean with your fingers. Slip off the thin skin and open the two halves. Your child opens a second bean. Ask: "What do you see?" (A tiny plant and two thick halves.) Say: "The halves are stored food. The tiny plant uses it until its first leaves make food from sunlight." Draw a circle. Add each stage as you say it. Say: "Seed. The seed germinates, which means it sprouts. Seedling. Adult plant. Flowers. Pollen lands on the seed-making part of a flower. That is pollination. A fruit grows with new seeds inside. A bean pod is a fruit. The seeds scatter, and the cycle starts again." Say: "A bean plant dies at the end of its season." Ask: "Which stage comes first after a seed germinates?" (The seedling.) "Where do new seeds form?" (Inside the fruit.) If stuck, say: "Trace the circle with your finger and name each stop."

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

   Plant a Bean. Safety: raw beans are not for eating. Wash hands after handling soil. 1) Fill the cup with soil to a finger's width below the rim. 2) Your child pushes 3 soaked beans in as deep as the first knuckle and covers them. 3) Water until the soil is damp, not soggy. Set the cup on the saucer in the warm, sunny window. 4) Write your child's name and the date on the cup with the marker. 5) Your child predicts the day the first sprout will show. Most beans sprout in 1 to 2 weeks. 6) Start a Bean Log table: Date | What I see | Height (cm). Look every day. Keep the soil as damp as a wrung-out sponge. Cold soil slows sprouting, so move the cup away from a cold window at night. If nothing sprouts on time, say: "Real results vary. Seeds need warmth and water. Let's keep looking."

4. Science Notebook Entry · 10 min

   In the notebook, your child draws the plant life cycle as a circle with arrows. Labels: seed, seedling, adult plant, flowers, fruit with seeds. They add a small drawing of the old plant dying. Then they write the first Bean Log line: "Day 1: I planted ___ beans. I predict a sprout on ___."

5. Wrap-Up & Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Read the three questions aloud, and let your child point to the circle drawing. Praise answers that use the words germinate, seedling or pollination correctly.

Homework: Check the bean each day and keep the soil damp. Draw anything new in the Bean Log. Look for a dated entry.