Day 4 · Thursday

Objective: I can present my council proposal and write a respectful letter to a local official.

Standards: D4.7.3-5, D4.8.3-5, D2.Civ.12.3-5, D4.1.3-5

Materials: Proposal from Day 3, Notebook, Pencil, Writing paper and an envelope, A spoon to tap as a gavel, Ballot slips, one per council member, and the ballot box from Week 22

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 22. Ask: "Five council members vote. How many votes make a majority?" (3 or more.) Then ask: "How does a plan reach the people who decide?"

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "People can act alone or together." Draw two columns in the notebook: Alone, Together. Say: "Alone, a person can write a letter or speak at a hearing. Together, people can sign a petition, hold a cleanup or form a group." Ask: "Which might a council notice more: one letter, or a petition signed by 50 neighbors? Why?" (The petition. It shows many people care.) Say: "This is how people change rules. They speak, write and vote until leaders act." Say: "A respectful civic letter has six parts." Your child writes the list: greeting, who you are, the problem, your solution, one reason with evidence, a thank-you. Model a letter aloud. "Dear Council Member Lopez, I am a third grader who rides my bike to the pool. The bike rack there is broken. Please replace it. Last week, twelve bikes were lying on the grass. Thank you for your time." Ask: "Where is the evidence in that letter?" (Twelve bikes were lying on the grass.) Ask: "What is missing if a letter starts, 'Fix it now'?" (A greeting, who you are and polite words.) If stuck, say: "Point to each part on the list and say it in one sentence."

3. Activity / Source Work · 15–20 min

   Council hearing. 1) Family members play council members. One is the chair and holds the spoon. 2) The chair taps the spoon and says: "This hearing is open." 3) Your child presents the Day 3 proposal for about one minute. 4) Each council member asks one question. Your child answers with evidence from the two sources. 5) One member plays a worried neighbor and speaks against the plan. Your child answers respectfully. 6) The council votes Yes or No by secret ballot. Your child counts the slips and fills in a chart: Yes, No, Result. 7) Ask: "If the council says yes, what happens next?" (Action: the town carries out the plan.) Ask: "If it says no, what could you do?" (Gather more evidence, ask neighbors to sign a petition and try again.) 8) Your child says the six letter parts aloud for the litter problem or a real local problem. Results vary. Look for respectful answers that use evidence.

4. Notebook Entry · 10 min

   On writing paper, your child writes the letter in 5 to 7 sentences and checks off the six parts. Record the council vote in the notebook. Sample opening: "Dear Mayor ___, I am a third grader who plays at ___ Park." Fill in the official's title and name together. If the letter is about a real problem, your family may mail it in the envelope.

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Read the three questions aloud. Praise a calm, polite answer to the worried neighbor.

Homework: Your child reads the letter to a family member. Decide together whether and how to send it. Look for: all six parts, with one piece of evidence.

Objective: I can use measuring cups to show fractions of one cup and find equal amounts.

Standards: 3.NF.A.1, 3.NF.A.3.A, 3.NF.A.3.C

Materials: Measuring cups: 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup and 1/4 cup, About 3 cups of dry rice or small dried beans, Large bowl, Tray (to catch spills), Notebook, Pencil

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 22 Day 1. Ask: "Which is greater, 1/8 or 6/8? Why?" (6/8; the parts are the same size, and 6 is more.) Then practice ÷4 facts with no clock. Ask 12 ÷ 4, 24 ÷ 4, 32 ÷ 4 and 36 ÷ 4 (3, 6, 8, 9).

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Set the cups, the bowl and the rice on the tray. Say: "The 1-cup measure is our whole. The small cups are unit fractions of it." Hold up the 1/4 cup. Ask: "How many of these will fill 1 cup? Make a guess." Scoop rice with the 1/4 cup and pour it into the 1 cup. Count each scoop aloud: "one fourth, two fourths, three fourths, four fourths." Say: "4 scoops fill the cup. 4 parts of size 1/4 make 1 whole." Write it. Say: "So 4/4 = 1." Tip the rice back. Now your child does more. Your child guesses, then fills the 1 cup with the 1/3 cup. Ask: "How many scoops? What do we write?" (3; 3/3 = 1)

3. Guided Practice · 10–15 min

   Your child guesses first, then tests with rice and writes each result. 1) How many 1/2-cup scoops fill 1 cup? (2; 2/2 = 1) 2) How many 1/4-cup scoops fill the 1/2 cup? (2; 2/4 = 1/2) 3) Which holds more, the 1/3 cup or the 1/4 cup? Pour one into the other. (The 1/3 cup; it overflows the 1/4 cup.) 4) Hold the 1 cup over the bowl. Pour in 5 scoops of 1/4 cup. Is 5/4 more than 1 cup? (Yes. The cup is full after 4 scoops, and scoop 5 spills over.) If stuck, say: "Count the scoops aloud. Each scoop is one equal part."

4. Independent Practice · 15–20 min

   Your child writes a guess, tests with rice, then writes the answer. For 2 cups, fill the 1 cup twice and tip it into the bowl. 1) How many 1/3-cup scoops make 2/3 cup? (2) 2) How many 1/2-cup scoops make 2 cups? (4; 4/2 = 2) 3) How many 1/4-cup scoops make 2 cups? (8; 8/4 = 2) 4) Which holds more, the 1/2 cup or the 1/3 cup? (the 1/2 cup) 5) Write 1 cup as a fraction in halves, in thirds and in fourths (2/2, 3/3, 4/4). 6) Pour 6 scoops of 1/4 cup into the bowl. How many 1/2-cup scoops is that? (3; 6/4 = 3/2) 7) Dana's recipe needs 3/4 cup of oats. She has only the 1/4 cup. How many scoops does she need? (3) 8) Sam pours 2 scoops of 1/4 cup. Jo pours 1 scoop of 1/2 cup. Who has more? (They have the same amount; 2/4 = 1/2)

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Put the rice away. Read each question aloud; your child answers on paper.

Fact fluency: ÷4 facts

Homework: Your child helps with a recipe or a snack and reads the fraction on each cup used. Your child tells how many of that cup make 1 cup. Sample: 3 scoops of the 1/3 cup.

Objective: I can present my opinion speech, listen to others and ask good questions.

Standards: SL.3.1, SL.3.1.A, SL.3.1.B, SL.3.1.C, SL.3.1.D, SL.3.2, SL.3.3, SL.3.4, SL.3.6

Materials: Speech cards, Poster, Reader's notebook, Pencil

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Word study: meaning. Ask: "Which review word means 'can be read'?" (readable) "Which means 'more happy'?" (happier) "Which names the hard top of a road or path?" (pavement) Your child uses one of them in a sentence about the fair. Spaced review from Week 9. Ask: "What is the plural of puppy? Of mouse?" (puppies; mice)

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Today you are a speaker and a listener. Good listeners take notes, retell and ask a question." Your child draws a listening sheet in the notebook with four lines: Opinion, Reason 1, Reason 2, My question. Give this model speech, or have a family member give one. "Saturday Hikes": Saturdays should be for family hikes. First, hiking is good exercise for everyone, even the dog. Second, we notice things outside. Last month we saw a hawk, three deer and a frozen waterfall. Most of all, hikes give us time together. We tell jokes all the way up the trail. So lace up your boots this Saturday. Let's hike! Your child fills in the sheet while listening. Then model the listener's jobs. Retell: "You think Saturdays should be for hikes because hiking is exercise and we notice things." Ask a question that starts with Why, How or What if: "What if it rains?" Link to what was said: "You said hikes give us time together, and I would add that we sleep better afterward."

3. Guided Practice · 10–15 min

   Hold the Opinion Fair. 1) Review the rules: come prepared, wait for your turn, look at the speaker, one voice at a time. Your child rereads the speech cards once. 2) Your child gives the speech with the poster. 3) Each listener retells one reason, then asks one question. One question checks understanding: "Did you mean ___?" 4) Your child answers each question in a complete sentence, using a reason or evidence. Then your child finishes aloud: "Now that I have heard your questions, I think ___." If stuck on an answer, say: "Look at card 2. Which reason helps you answer?"

4. Independent Practice · 15–20 min

   1) Your child writes a recount of "Saturday Hikes" or a family member's speech in three or four sentences. Include the opinion, two reasons and one piece of evidence. 2) Write the question you asked and the answer you got. 3) Write one glow and one grow for your own speech. Sample recount: "Dad thinks Saturdays should be for hikes. He says hiking is good exercise and we notice things outside. Last month the family saw a hawk." Look for the opinion the speaker really gave. Look for reasons in the speaker's order. Look for a specific glow and grow, such as "I looked up" and "I will slow down."

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Ask the questions aloud. Your child answers in complete sentences.

Homework: Ask a family member what they remember from your speech. Compare it with your speech cards. Look for the reason that stuck best.

Objective: I can use evidence to describe the climate of a place and how living things fit it.

Standards: 3-ESS2-2, 3-LS4-3

Materials: 1 large index card or half sheet of cardstock, Markers or colored pencils, World atlas or globe, Science notebook and pencil, Library book about one place (optional)

1. Day 114 — Flex Challenge: Design a Climate Postcard — Wonder Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Day 3. Ask: "What change or pattern did you find in your Sky Journal?" (Answers vary. Look for a change in clouds or temperature.) Check last night's prediction together. Then the wonder. Ask: "A friend lives in the Sahara. What might she write about her weather on a postcard?" (Sample: hot days and almost no rain.)

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Today you make a Climate Postcard from a place in a different climate region." Say: "A postcard describes the usual weather, so it needs climate words like usually and most of the year." Read this model aloud. "Greetings from Manaus, Brazil! It is warm and humid here all year. In the wet season it usually rains hard in the afternoon. Sloths climb slowly through the tall trees. Houses have wide windows to let the breeze in." Ask: "Which climate type is Manaus?" (Tropical.) "Which climate words did you hear?" (All year, usually.) "Which living thing fits, and why?" (A sloth. It lives in trees that stay leafy all year.) Now read a weak one. "It rained here on Tuesday. It is nice." Ask: "What is wrong with it?" (It tells one day's weather and gives no facts.) If stuck, say: "Would that sentence still be true next month?" Say: "Good postcards use facts as evidence. You will combine facts from a fact bank or a book."

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

   Climate Postcard Challenge. 1) Your child picks a place in a different climate type from home. Use this fact bank or the library book. Cairo, Egypt, arid: hot summers, mild winters, about 1 inch of rain a year; date palms grow by the river. Northern coast of Alaska, polar: winters far below zero, short cool summers; Arctic foxes and low mosses. Singapore, tropical: warm every month, about 90 inches of rain a year; orchids and monkeys. Paris, France, temperate: warm summers, cool winters, rain in every season; leafy chestnut trees. 2) Your child finds the place in the atlas. 3) In the notebook, they list three facts: usual temperature, rain and one living thing. 4) They draw the place on the front of the card with markers. 5) On the back they write four sentences with at least one climate word. One sentence tells how a living thing fits the climate. Look for facts that match the climate type.

4. Science Notebook Entry · 10 min

   Beside the three facts, your child writes where each came from, such as the fact bank or a book title. Then they finish the frame: "My place has a ___ climate. I know because ___." Sample: "My place has an arid climate. I know because Cairo gets about 1 inch of rain a year."

5. Wrap-Up & Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Your child reads the postcard aloud as if mailing it home. Then read the three exit questions aloud. Praise climate words and facts used as evidence.

Homework: Your child shows the postcard to a family member and asks about a place they have visited. Look for one question about that place's usual weather.