Day 1 · Monday

Objective: I can sort communities into urban, suburban, and rural and explain how I know.

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

Materials: 6 pictures cut from magazines, flyers or old calendars, or quick sketches (2 city, 2 suburb, 2 countryside), Scissors, Notebook, Pencil

1. Day 6 — Three Types of Communities — Big Question Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 1. Ask: "Name three community needs." (Any three: safety, health, learning, getting around, food and supplies, gathering.) Then ask the big question: "What is around our home: tall buildings, houses with yards, or farms and open land?"

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Communities come in three main types." Draw three boxes of the same size in the notebook. Put 20 dots in the first box, 8 in the second and 2 in the third. Say: "Each dot is a home." Point to the first box. Say: "Urban means a city. Many people live close together, with tall buildings, buses and trains." Point to the second. Say: "Suburban means a community near a city. It has mostly houses with yards, and many people drive." Point to the third. Say: "Rural means countryside. It has farms, forests, small towns and lots of land between homes." Give clue sentences. Ask: "I ride the subway to the museum. Which type?" (Urban.) "We drive to the shopping center and play in our yard." (Suburban.) "Our nearest neighbor is a mile away." (Rural.) If stuck, say: "How close together are the homes? Is a big city nearby?"

3. Activity / Source Work · 15–20 min

   1) Your child cuts out the six pictures with scissors and lays them out. 2) Your child sorts them into three piles: urban, suburban, rural. 3) For each picture your child points to two clues. Sample: "Tall buildings and a bus mean urban." 4) In pencil, fill in a chart together: Picture | Type | Clues I see. 5) Decide which type your own community is, with two clues. Expect two pictures in each pile. Some pictures are hard to call, and real places mix types. Look for the pattern: how close the homes are and what the land is used for.

4. Notebook Entry · 10 min

   Draw three columns: Urban | Suburban | Rural. Your child writes two clue words under each and may add a quick sketch. Keep the six pictures loose, because Days 2 to 5 use them again. Then your child finishes: "My community is ____ because ____ and ____." Sample: "My community is suburban because the houses have yards and we drive to stores."

5. Wrap-Up & Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Ask the three exit questions aloud. Praise every answer that includes a clue, even in your child's own words.

Homework: Tell a family member which type your community is. Look for: two clues that prove it.

Objective: I can add 3-digit numbers in my head using place value and friendly numbers.

Standards: 3.NBT.A.2

Materials: Scrap paper for base-ten drawings and number lines, Notebook, Pencil

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 1. Your child rounds 386 to the nearest 10 (390) and the nearest 100 (400). Then add tens aloud: 40 + 30 (70), 70 + 20 (90), 50 + 50 (100). Ask: "How many tens are in 40 and 30 together?" (7 tens)

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Today we add in our heads. We learn two ways." Write 156 + 132. Say: "Way 1: add each place." Draw both numbers with squares for hundreds, sticks for tens and dots for ones. Ask: "How many hundreds in all?" (2 hundreds; 100 + 100 = 200) "How many tens?" (8 tens; 50 + 30 = 80) "How many ones?" (6 + 2 = 8) Write 200 + 80 + 8 = 288. Say: "156 + 132 = 288. We added hundreds to hundreds, tens to tens and ones to ones." Next write 199 + 35. Say: "Way 2: use a friendly number. 199 is almost 200." Ask: "What is 200 + 35?" (235) "Did we add too much or too little?" (1 too much) Say: "We take the extra 1 back. 235 − 1 = 234. So 199 + 35 = 234." Show it on a number line: start at 35, jump 200, step back 1. Now your child does more. Write 243 + 125. Your child adds each place aloud and tells the sum. (300, 60 and 8; 243 + 125 = 368)

3. Guided Practice · 10–15 min

   Your child chooses a way, then says the thinking aloud. 1) 420 + 350 (add each place; 770). 2) 298 + 47 (think 300 + 47 = 347, then 347 − 2 = 345). 3) 314 + 263 (add each place; 577). 4) 499 + 120 (think 500 + 120 = 620, then 620 − 1 = 619). Ask after each one: "Why did that way fit?" (Sample: 298 is close to 300.) If stuck, say: "Is one number close to a hundred? If not, add the hundreds, then the tens, then the ones."

4. Independent Practice · 15–20 min

   Your child solves in the head and writes only the sum. 1) 240 + 130 (370). 2) 153 + 42 (195). 3) 366 + 100 (466). 4) 199 + 50 (249). 5) 425 + 250 (675). 6) You draw 3 squares and 4 sticks, then 2 squares and 5 sticks. Your child adds them (340 + 250 = 590). 7) A baker made 215 rolls in the morning and 180 in the afternoon. How many rolls in all? (215 + 180 = 395) 8) A bus drove 299 miles on Monday and 150 miles on Tuesday. How many miles in all? (299 + 150 = 449) Then your child picks one problem and writes the steps used.

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Read each problem aloud; your child solves in the head, writes the sum and tells the way used.

Fact fluency: Adding tens mentally

Homework: Solve in your head: 230 + 150 (380), 99 + 45 (144), 302 + 406 (708), 198 + 60 (258). Tell a family member how you solved one.

Objective: I can name character traits that tell what a character is like inside.

Standards: RL.3.3, L.3.6, L.3.1.A, L.3.5.B, L.3.2.D

Materials: Reader's notebook, 10 index cards for a trait word bank, Pencil, Your child's own book

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Word study, Week 2: vowel teams. Say: "Two letters can work as a team to spell one long vowel sound. The teams ai and ay say long a. The teams ee and ea say long e. The teams oa and ow say long o." Write rain, play, green, beach, boat, snow. Your child reads each word and sorts it by long a, long e or long o. (Long a: rain, play. Long e: green, beach. Long o: boat, snow.) Spaced review from Week 1. Ask: "What do we call the big lesson a story teaches?" (The central message.)

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "A character trait tells what someone is like inside, such as kind, brave or patient. It is not how they look. It is not a quick feeling." Write a word bank on the cards: kind, brave, curious, honest, patient, generous, stubborn, shy, clever, bossy. Ask: "Who do you know who is generous? What do they do that shows it?" (Sample: Grandpa shares his garden tomatoes.) Read "First in Line" aloud. Jada was first in line for the swing. She had waited all recess. Then she saw Ben standing alone by the fence, his arm in a cast. "You go first," Jada said, stepping aside. She gave him a gentle push to get him started. Ben smiled for the first time all day. When the bell rang, Jada had not had a turn, but she was humming as she walked inside. Think aloud. Say: "Jada waited all recess, then gave up her turn. Giving to others is generous." Hold up the generous card. Now a grammar link. Write: Jada is kind. Say: "Jada is a noun. It names a person. Is is the verb. Kind is an adjective. It describes the noun." Write: She gave Ben her turn. Say: "She is a pronoun. It takes the place of Jada."

3. Guided Practice · 10–15 min

   1) Ask: "Which other trait card fits Jada? What is your proof?" (Patient. She waited all recess. Or kind. She gave Ben a push.) 2) Say three words: tall, happy, patient. Ask: "Which one is a trait?" (Patient. Tall is how someone looks. Happy is a feeling.) 3) Write: The patient girl waited. Ask: "Which word is the adjective? Which noun does it describe?" (patient; girl) 4) Say: "To show that something belongs to someone, add an apostrophe and s." Write Jada's turn. Ask: "How would you write the cast that belongs to Ben?" (Ben's cast) If stuck, say: "Is she like that most of the time, or only right now? Most of the time means a trait."

4. Independent Practice · 15–20 min

   Your child picks one character from their own book. 1) Choose three trait cards that fit. 2) For each card, write a trait sentence and a How I know sentence. 3) Write one sentence with a possessive: ___'s best trait is being ___. 4) Circle each adjective. Model: Jada is patient. I know because she waited all recess. Jada's best trait is being generous. Look for: inside traits, not looks or feelings; proof from what the character does or says; an apostrophe before the s.

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Ask the three questions aloud. For question 3, your child reads from the notebook and points to the apostrophe.

Homework: Read for 15 to 20 minutes. Pick a character and write three trait words with one reason each. Look for inside traits and a reason from the book.

Objective: I can explain what balanced forces are and what they do to an object's motion.

Standards: 3-PS2-1

Materials: Hardcover book, Table, Small toy car, 2 pieces of string, about 2 feet each, Tape, Science notebook, Pencil

1. Day 6 — Balanced Forces — Wonder Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 1. Ask: "I tap a rolling ball from the side. What changes?" (its direction) Then set the book on the table. Wonder question: "This book is not moving. Is any force acting on it right now?" Take any answer. You will come back to it.

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Often two forces act on one thing at the same time. If they are equally strong and point opposite ways, they are balanced forces. Balanced forces cancel. The motion does not change." Your child holds the book on a flat palm with the arm out. Ask: "What do you feel?" (the book pressing down) Say: "Gravity pulls the book down. Your hand pushes up just as hard. So the book stays still." Set the book on the table. Ask: "What pushes up on it now?" (the table) Say: "Balanced does not mean no forces. It means the forces cancel." Check: "A cup sits on a shelf. Name the two forces on it." (Gravity pulls down. The shelf pushes up.) "Which of those forces is stronger?" (Neither. They are equal.) If stuck, say: "Is the cup starting to fall? No? Then something pushes up as hard as gravity pulls down."

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

   1) Your child presses both palms together with equal force. The hands stay put. 2) Your child pushes harder with the right hand. The hands move left. 3) Tape a string to each end of the toy car. Set the car on the table. You each hold one string. 4) Both pull gently and equally. 5) Your child pulls a little harder. 6) You pull a little harder. After every step ask: "Were the forces equal? Did the motion change?" Record in a chart with columns Step, Equal Forces?, Motion Changed? and Balanced? Expect no change with equal forces. Expect the car to roll toward the stronger pull. Pulling exactly equally is hard. If the car creeps, one pull was a bit stronger.

4. Science Notebook Entry · 10 min

   Your child draws the book on the table with two arrows of the same length. One arrow points down, labeled "gravity." One points up, labeled "table pushes up." Write "balanced" below. Frame: "The book stays still because ___." Sample: "The book stays still because gravity pulls it down and the table pushes it up just as hard." Check that the two arrows match in length.

5. Wrap-Up & Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Go back to the wonder question and let your child answer it again. Then ask the three exit questions. Praise any answer that names both forces on a still object.

Homework: Your child finds 3 things at home with balanced forces, such as a lamp on a table. They sketch one with its arrows. Look for two arrows of equal length pointing opposite ways.