Day 1 · Monday

Objective: I can explain what voting is and hold a fair family vote with a secret ballot.

Standards: D2.Civ.2.3-5, D2.Civ.11.3-5

Materials: 8 small paper slips for ballots (one per voter, plus spares), A box or bag for a ballot box, A large book or folder to stand up as a voting screen, Pencils, Notebook

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 21. Ask: "What does a jury do?" (It listens to a trial and decides what the facts show.) Then ask the big question: "How can a group choose fairly when people want different things?"

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Voting is a way for a group to make a choice. Each person gets one vote. Every vote counts the same." Hold up one paper slip. Say: "This is a ballot. A voter marks a choice on it." Stand the book up as a screen and mark a slip behind it. Say: "This is a secret ballot. Nobody sees my choice, so nobody can pressure me." Say: "To vote for national leaders, a person must be a U.S. citizen and at least 18 years old." Say: "Almost every state asks voters to register first. That means signing up on the list of voters." Say: "The choice with the most votes wins. A majority means more than half of the votes." Draw 7 stick-figure voters in the notebook. Ask: "How many votes make a majority of 7?" (4 or more.) Ask: "Where did I mark my ballot to keep it secret?" (Behind the book, in private.) Say: "After a fair vote, the winners still respect people who voted the other way." If stuck, say: "Split the 7 voters into two teams. The bigger team has 4. That is a majority."

3. Activity / Source Work · 15–20 min

   Family vote. 1) Pick a question with three choices, such as "Which game shall we play Saturday: a puzzle, a board game or tag?" 2) Your child makes one ballot per voter. Each ballot lists the three choices with a box beside each. 3) Keep it fair. Every voter gets one ballot, the same choices and a private place to mark it. 4) Each voter marks one box behind the book, folds the ballot and drops it in the box. 5) Your child opens the box and counts. Make a chart with three columns: Choice, Tally marks, Total. 6) Check the count. Do the totals add up to the number of voters? 7) Your child announces the winner. Ask: "Did the winner get a majority?" With three choices, the winner may have the most votes but not more than half. Real results vary. Look for a fair count. If two choices get the same number of votes, vote again between them. Ask: "How is a vote different from one person deciding?" (One person is faster. A vote gives everyone a say.)

4. Notebook Entry · 10 min

   Your child copies the tally chart, then finishes two frames: "Our vote was fair because ___. We kept our ballots secret by ___." Sample: "Our vote was fair because each person had one vote. We kept our ballots secret by marking them behind a book."

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Read the three questions aloud. Your child answers in full sentences. Praise careful counting.

Homework: Your child runs a second family vote tonight on a new question and records the tally. Look for: totals that match the number of voters.

Objective: I can compare fractions that have the same denominator.

Standards: 3.NF.A.3.D

Materials: Fraction wall from Week 21 Day 1 (six marked strips, each 24 cm long), 3 index cards. Before the lesson, write one sign on each: <, > and =., 2 paper strips of different lengths (about 24 cm and 12 cm), Crayons, Notebook, Pencil

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 21 Day 4. Ask: "What whole number is 8/4?" (2) Then practice ÷8 facts with no clock. Ask 24 ÷ 8, 48 ÷ 8 and 80 ÷ 8 (3, 6, 10). Ask: "Which fact helps with 48 ÷ 8?" (8 × 6 = 48)

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Today we compare fractions with the same denominator. The denominator names the size of the pieces." Point to the eighths strip on the wall. Ask: "Are all the eighths the same size?" (Yes.) Write 2/8 and 5/8. Your child touches 2 eighths, then 5 eighths, counting from the left end. Ask: "Which one reaches farther?" (5/8) Say: "The pieces are the same size, so more pieces is more." Place the < card between the fractions. Read it together: "Two eighths is less than five eighths." Say: "So 2/8 < 5/8. The open side of the sign faces the greater fraction." Next, hold up the long strip and the short strip. Fold each one in half. Lay the two halves side by side. Ask: "Is half of the long strip the same as half of the short strip?" (No. Half of the long strip is longer.) Say: "We compare fractions only when the wholes are the same size. On the wall, every strip is the same whole." Now your child does more. Write 4/6 and 3/6. Your child shows both on the sixths strip, places a card and reads it. (4/6 > 3/6. Four sixths is greater than three sixths.)

3. Guided Practice · 10–15 min

   Your child shows each pair on the wall, places a sign card and reads the sentence aloud. 1) 1/4 and 3/4 (1/4 < 3/4) 2) 5/6 and 4/6 (5/6 > 4/6) 3) 7/8 and 4/8 (7/8 > 4/8) 4) 2/3 and 2/3 (2/3 = 2/3) If stuck, say: "Are the pieces the same size? Then count the pieces. Which fraction has more?"

4. Independent Practice · 15–20 min

   Your child writes <, > or = for each one in the notebook. 1) 1/3 ___ 2/3 (<) 2) 5/8 ___ 1/8 (>) 3) 2/4 ___ 3/4 (<) 4) 6/8 ___ 6/8 (=) 5) 5/6 ___ 3/6 (>) 6) You draw two same-size bars, each cut into 4 equal parts. Shade 1 part of one bar and 2 parts of the other. Your child writes the comparison. (1/4 < 2/4) 7) Ana walks 1/6 of a mile. Ben walks 5/6 of a mile. Who walks farther? (Ben. 5/6 > 1/6) 8) Two same-size pans of cornbread are each cut into 8 equal pieces. The Lee family eats 5 pieces. The Cruz family eats 7 pieces. Write both fractions. Who eats more? (5/8 and 7/8; the Cruz family. 7/8 > 5/8) Your child reads two answers aloud as full sentences, such as "one third is less than two thirds."

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Put the wall away. Read each question aloud; your child writes each comparison with a sign.

Fact fluency: ÷8 facts

Homework: Your child writes 4 comparisons in fourths or sixths and draws strips for one of them. Sample: 1/6 < 4/6 and 3/4 > 2/4.

Objective: I can make an inference by using a text clue and what I already know.

Standards: RL.3.1, SL.3.1, L.3.6

Materials: Reader's notebook, Pencil, A wet umbrella or a muddy shoe

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Word study, Week 22: compound words. Write sunshine, rainbow, snowman, bedroom, notebook, bookshelf. Say: "A compound word is two small words joined into one. Spell each small word, then join them with no space." Your child reads each word and draws a line between its two small words (sun|shine, rain|bow, snow|man, bed|room, note|book, book|shelf). Spaced review from Week 21. Ask: "Which linking words can start a new reason paragraph? Name two." (Any two: First, Another reason, Most importantly.)

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Before the lesson, set the wet umbrella or muddy shoe by the door. Point to it. Ask: "What happened outside? How do you know?" (It rained. The umbrella is wet, and umbrellas get wet in rain.) Say: "You just made an inference. An author does not tell you everything. You infer the rest." Write: Text clue + What I know = Inference. Read this story aloud. "After the Game": Tessa dropped her bag by the door and did not say hello. Her cleats left a trail of grass across the floor. She peeled off her shin guards and stared at the wall. "There's always next Saturday," Dad said softly. He set a bowl of popcorn beside her. Tessa picked up one piece, sighed, and leaned her head on his shoulder. Think aloud: "The text says cleats and shin guards. I know soccer players wear those. So I infer Tessa plays soccer. The author never used the word soccer." Write those three parts under the formula.

3. Guided Practice · 10–15 min

   Reread "After the Game." Your child says all three parts of the formula each time. 1) Ask: "How did the game go?" (Her team lost. Clues: no hello, staring at the wall, "next Saturday." People get quiet after a loss.) 2) Ask: "Why does Dad bring popcorn?" (He wants to cheer her up. People bring treats to comfort someone.) 3) Ask: "How does Tessa feel at the very end?" (A little better. She leans on Dad.) 4) Talk it over. Ask: "Could she just be tired? Which words rule that out?" (Dad's words about next Saturday point to a loss.) If stuck, say: "Put your finger on a clue. What do you know about that from real life?"

4. Independent Practice · 15–20 min

   Your child reads these three short scenes from this page. 1) "The streetlights blinked on. Mom called from the porch, and the kids groaned and picked up their bikes." 2) "Eli opened his lunch box and frowned. He looked at his sister's sandwich. 'Want to trade?' he asked." 3) "Grandpa patted every pocket. Then he looked under the newspaper and felt the top of his head." For each scene, your child writes three lines in the notebook: Clue, What I know, Inference. Good answers: 1) It is getting dark, so playtime is over, and the kids wish it were not. 2) Eli does not like his lunch. 3) Grandpa has lost something, probably his glasses. Look for a clue copied from the scene. Look for an inference the scene never states.

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Read each question aloud. Your child writes the answers alone, then checks them with you.

Homework: Read for 15 minutes. Then notice one clue about how a family member's day went. Write the clue and your inference. Look for a real clue, such as "Dad kicked off his shoes and sighed."

Objective: I can name five climate types and color them on a world map.

Standards: 3-ESS2-2

Materials: World map outline on paper (printed, or traced from an atlas), World atlas or globe, Crayons in 5 colors: red, yellow, green, blue, brown, Flashlight, 1 sheet of white paper and a pencil, Science notebook

1. Day 106 — The Five Major Climates — Wonder Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 21. Ask: "Why do we see lightning before we hear its thunder?" (Light travels much faster than sound.) Then the wonder. Point to the equator and to the North Pole on the globe or atlas. Ask: "The same sun shines on both places. Why is one hot and one frozen?" Say: "A flashlight will help us find out."

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "A climate region is a large area where the usual weather is much the same." Now the flashlight model. 1) Lay the white paper flat on a table. 2) Hold the flashlight about 6 inches above the paper, pointing straight down. Your child traces the bright patch in pencil. 3) Keep the same distance, but tilt the flashlight so the light hits at a low slant. Your child traces the new patch. Ask: "Which patch is bigger?" (The slanted one.) "Which patch looks brighter?" (The straight-down one.) Say: "The same light is spread over more paper, so each spot gets less." Say: "Near the equator, sunlight comes almost straight down much of the year. Near the poles it comes at a low slant. Spread-out light warms the ground less." If stuck, say: "Which patch squeezes the light into less space?" Name the five types and their colors: tropical red, arid yellow, temperate green, polar blue, mountain brown.

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

   Color a Climate Map. Find each place in the atlas first. 1) Your child draws the equator across the outline map. 2) Red: a band along the equator through northern South America, the middle of Africa and Southeast Asia. 3) Yellow: the Sahara in northern Africa and the middle of Australia. 4) Blue: Antarctica, Greenland and the far northern edges of North America and Asia. 5) Brown: the Rocky Mountains, the Andes and the Himalayas. 6) Green: the eastern United States, most of Europe and eastern China. 7) Add a map key: five colored boxes with the climate names. 8) Ask for evidence: "What pattern do you see from the equator to the poles?" (Hot regions lie in the middle. Cold ones lie at the top and bottom.) Ask: "Does the brown follow that pattern?" (No. Mountains are cold because they are high.) Real climate maps show more regions, so small differences are fine.

4. Science Notebook Entry · 10 min

   In the notebook, your child makes a chart with three columns: Climate, What it is like, Example place. Look for five rows like these. Tropical: hot all year, often rainy; Manaus, Brazil. Arid: very dry; Cairo, Egypt. Temperate: four seasons; Paris, France. Polar: cold all year; Antarctica. Mountain: colder high up; the Andes in Peru. Then your child adds your own town and its climate type.

5. Wrap-Up & Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Read the three exit questions aloud; your child may point to the map. Praise answers that use the map or the flashlight as evidence.

Homework: Your child names the climate type where three relatives or friends live. Look for a reason for each, such as "Grandma's town is arid because it is very dry."