Day 4 · Thursday

Objective: I can make a step-by-step plan for one civic action and predict its results.

Standards: D4.7.3-5, D4.8.3-5

Materials: Civic Action Project planner, Step 4 (or a notebook page titled Step 4), Calendar, A box (to hold the project materials), Notebook, Pencil

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 22. Ask: "In a fair vote, how many votes does each person get?" (One. Every vote counts the same.) Then ask the big question: "What one action could make a difference for your issue?"

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "A good plan answers six questions." Count them on your fingers. "What will we do?" "What is our goal?" "When?" "Who will help?" "What do we need?" "How will we know it worked?" Show five kinds of action. Say: "You could write a polite letter to the department in charge. You could hold a cleanup with family. You could run a collection drive. You could make a poster for a library or school. You could do a kindness project." Model a plan. Say: "Action: collect cans for the food bank. Goal: 50 cans in one week. Helpers: Mom puts up flyers, and my brother carries the box. Materials: a box from home and a $3 poster board." Say: "Now I predict. I think we will collect 30 to 50 cans. Later we compare the prediction with what really happens." Say: "A goal needs a number so we can count it. 'Help the food bank' cannot be counted. '50 cans' can." Ask: "Which of the six questions does '50 cans' answer?" (What is our goal?) Ask: "Change 'help the animal shelter' into a goal you can count." (Sample: collect 20 old towels by Friday.) Ask: "Why predict before acting?" (So we can compare it with the real result and learn.) If stuck, say: "What could we count or show when we finish?"

3. Activity / Source Work · 15–20 min

   Plan it. 1) Your child and the helpers talk over the action choices. Each person gives one idea and one reason. Agree on one action together. 2) On Step 4, your child writes the action and a goal with a number. 3) Write a date for each step on the calendar. 4) Name two helpers and give each a job. 5) List the materials and any costs. Put what you already have into the box. 6) Write one safety rule. Sample: "Always work with an adult, and never share our address online." 7) Your child writes a prediction: "I predict ___ because ___." 8) Check the plan with a two-column chart in the notebook: Six questions | Answered? Tick each one. Plans vary. Look for a goal you can count and a date on every step.

4. Notebook Entry · 10 min

   Your child writes the plan as a numbered list of four to six steps. Then draw what success would look like. Sample: "1. Make a flyer Monday. 2. Put the box by the door Tuesday. 3. Count the cans each night. 4. Take the cans to the food bank Saturday."

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Your child answers from the written plan. Praise a goal with a number and jobs with names.

Homework: Your child gathers the rest of the materials on the list and puts them in the box. Look for each listed item checked off.

Objective: I can name quadrilaterals and draw ones that are not squares, rectangles or rhombuses.

Standards: 3.G.A.1

Materials: 6 quadrilateral cards. Before the lesson, draw each on grid paper with the ruler and cut it out. Square: 4 by 4. Rectangle: 6 long and 2 tall. Rhombus: mark the middle of each side of a rectangle 6 long and 4 tall, then join the 4 marks. Roof shape: bottom side 6 long; top side 2 long, 3 rows higher and centered; join the ends. Kite: mark a top point; mark two side points 1 row lower, one 2 squares to the left and one 2 squares to the right; mark a bottom point 6 rows below the top point; join top to sides and sides to bottom. Lopsided shape: bottom side 6 long; mark a point 1 square right and 2 rows up from its left end, and a point 1 square left and 3 rows up from its right end; join the 4 points. Keep the cards for Week 34., Scissors (to cut out the cards), Ruler, Index card (to test square corners), Grid paper, Notebook, Pencil

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 32 Day 2. A square has a perimeter of 12 units. Your child finds the length of each side (12 ÷ 4 = 3 units). Then practice ×6 facts with no clock. Ask 6 × 4, 6 × 6 and 6 × 9 (24, 36, 54).

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Every quadrilateral has 4 sides and 4 vertices. Some have special names. We test two things: corners and sides." Show the test. Say: "A square corner fits the corner of an index card exactly." Work the square card fully. Fit the index card into each corner. Ask: "How many square corners?" (4) Measure each side with the ruler. (All 4 sides are equal.) Say: "It has 4 square corners and 4 equal sides. So this shape is a square." Test the rectangle card. Say: "It has 4 square corners, but its sides are 6, 2, 6 and 2. It is a rectangle." Test the rhombus card. Say: "It has 4 equal sides, but no square corners. A quadrilateral with 4 equal sides is a rhombus." Now your child does more. Your child tests the kite, roof and lopsided cards. (None has 4 square corners or 4 equal sides. All are still quadrilaterals.)

3. Guided Practice · 10–15 min

   Your child tests every card with the index card and the ruler. 1) Sort the 6 cards into four groups. (1 square, 1 rectangle, 1 rhombus, 3 other quadrilaterals) 2) Turn the square card onto one corner. Ask: "Is it still a square?" (Yes. Its corners and sides did not change.) 3) Ask: "Does the square pass the rhombus test, 4 equal sides?" (Yes. A square is a special rhombus.) 4) On grid paper, your child draws a quadrilateral that is not a square, rectangle or rhombus. (Sample: bottom side 5, top side 2, slanted ends.) If stuck, say: "Check two things. Do all four corners fit the card? Are all four sides the same length?"

4. Independent Practice · 15–20 min

   Your child draws with a ruler on grid paper, then tests corners and sides. 1) Draw a square with sides 3 units long. Count its square corners and equal sides. (4 and 4) 2) Draw a rectangle 5 units long and 2 units tall. Is it a square too? (No. Its sides are not all equal.) 3) Mark the middle of each side of a rectangle 4 long and 2 tall. Join the 4 marks. Name the new shape. (a rhombus; 4 equal sides) 4) Draw a quadrilateral with no square corners and no equal sides. (It has no special name.) 5) Draw a quadrilateral with exactly 2 square corners. (Sample: bottom side 5, left side straight up 3, top side 2.) 6) You turn the rhombus card on its side. Your child names it. (still a rhombus) 7) A kite has two sides of 2 feet and two sides of 4 feet. Can it be a rhombus? (No. Its sides are not all equal.) 8) A frame has sides of 4, 6, 4 and 6 inches. One corner does not fit the index card. Is it a rectangle? (No. A rectangle needs 4 square corners.)

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Read each question aloud; your child answers on grid paper and may use the ruler and the index card.

Fact fluency: ×6 facts

Homework: Your child sketches three quadrilaterals seen at home and labels each one square, rectangle, rhombus or other quadrilateral. Sample: a window is a rectangle; a floor tile is a square.

Objective: I can rehearse my talk and answer audience questions with details.

Standards: SL.3.4, SL.3.6, SL.3.3

Materials: Note cards, Visual aid, Clock, Writer's notebook, Pencil, A family member as audience

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Word study (about 3 minutes). Use four words in meaning. Ask: "Which word names the dirt that plants grow in?" (soil) "Which word means to like doing something?" (enjoy) "Which word means to send a boat or rocket off?" (launch) "Point has two meanings. Name both." (A sharp tip, and to show with a finger.) Your child says one sentence with each word. Spaced review from Week 31. Ask: "Is adding a missing comma revising or editing?" (Editing.)

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "After a talk, listeners ask questions. A strong answer has three parts. Say the question again. Answer it. Add a detail from your research." Read aloud this "Fact Card: The Otters Come Back": Long ago, hunters killed sea otters for their thick fur. By 1911, only about 1,000 to 2,000 otters were left in the world. That year, several countries signed a treaty that stopped the hunt. Slowly, the otters came back. Today, more than 100,000 sea otters live along the coasts of the northern Pacific Ocean. Model with the card. Say: "A listener asks, Why did people hunt sea otters? I answer: Why did people hunt sea otters? They wanted the fur. Otter fur is very thick." Your child counts the three parts on fingers. Then teach the honest answer: "Good question. My sources did not say, but I can look it up." Say: "Always answer in complete sentences, never just yes or no."

3. Guided Practice · 10–15 min

   Use the fact card. 1) Ask: "How many otters were left by 1911?" (How many otters were left by 1911? Only about 1,000 to 2,000 were. Hunters had taken the rest.) 2) Ask: "What stopped the hunt?" (What stopped the hunt? A treaty did. Several countries signed it in 1911.) 3) Ask: "How long does a sea otter live?" (The card does not say. Your child gives the honest answer.) 4) Together, predict three questions about your child's own topic and write them in the notebook. Your child answers each with three parts. Then watch one full run of the talk. Give one glow (a strength) and one grow (a next step). If stuck, say: "Say my question back to me. Now answer it. Now add one fact."

4. Independent Practice · 15–20 min

   Your child rehearses with the cards, the visual aid and the clock. 1) Give the full talk twice more. Write down each time in the notebook. 2) After the last run, a family member asks two questions. 3) Your child answers each with three parts. Look for: a talk of 3 to 5 minutes and the visual shown at the star. Each answer uses a fact from the report.

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Ask the three questions. Your child stands to answer question 1 as if facing an audience.

Homework: Give your talk one last time for a family member. Answer one surprise question with a three-part answer.

Practice page · Week 33, Day 4

English Language Arts

I can answer audience questions with details.

Show answers

Look: a three-part answer

1. Repeat the question.
2. Answer it.
3. Add a detail from your research.

Fact Card: Honeybees

Honeybees dance to tell other bees where flowers are. A waggle dance shows which way to fly. A bee in winter stays in the hive and huddles with others to keep warm.

Use the fact card above.

1. 1.

   Question: 'How do bees tell each other where flowers are?' Write a three-part answer.
2. 2.

   Question: 'What do bees do in winter?' Write a three-part answer.
3. 3.

   Someone asks a question you cannot answer. What can you say?
4. 4.

   Write one question an audience might ask about your topic.

Circle the word that is spelled correctly.

1. 5.

   Which is correct?

   ○ point○ poynt
2. 6.

   Which is correct?

   ○ enjoi○ enjoy

Challenge: Give your talk once. Write one glow (something strong) and one grow (something to improve).

Objective: I can use fossils as evidence of what environments were like long ago.

Standards: 3-LS4-1

Materials: World map or globe, 3 sheets of plain paper (model rock layers), Colored pencils, Science notebook and pencil

1. Day 164 — Fossils and Past Environments — Wonder Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 20. Ask: "What is climate?" (The usual weather pattern of a place over many years.) Then the wonder. Ask: "Suppose you found seashells inside the rock on a mountaintop. What would you think?"

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Each kind of living thing needs a certain environment. So a fossil is a clue about the place where it lived." Say: "Fossil seashells are found in rock high on mountains. That rock formed under a sea long ago. Later the land was slowly pushed up." Say: "Fossil leaves and tree trunks are found in Antarctica. Today ice covers it. Long ago it was much warmer and had forests." Say: "Earth's surface changes very slowly, over millions of years." Now lay down the 3 sheets one at a time in a stack. Say: "Sediment settles in layers. The first layer ends up on the bottom." Your child labels the bottom sheet "oldest" and the top sheet "youngest." Say: "So fossils in lower rock layers are usually older than fossils above them." Ask: "A leaf fossil lies two layers above a coral fossil. Which living thing lived there later?" (The plant with the leaf.) Ask: "Fossil leaves of warm-weather trees are found where winters are long and snowy. What was that place like long ago?" (Warmer.) If stuck, say: "What does this living thing need? So what was the place like?"

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

   Past and Present Chart. 1) Read three cases. Your child finds each place on the map or globe. Case 1: sea animal fossils in rock high in the Himalaya mountains of Asia. Case 2: fossil forests in Antarctica. Case 3: stone logs of giant trees in the dry desert of Arizona. 2) Your child fills in a table: Place | Fossils found | Past environment | Environment today. (Himalayas: a sea; high, cold mountains. Antarctica: a warmer forest; ice. Arizona: a wet forest; dry desert.) 3) For each row they say: "My evidence is ___." 4) Layer story. With colored pencils, your child draws one fossil on each sheet. A trilobite goes on the bottom, a fern in the middle and a mammoth tooth on top. Say: "Woolly mammoths lived on cold grasslands." Your child tells the story from the bottom up. (A sea. Then damp land with ferns. Then cold grassland.) Look for a past environment that matches what each living thing needed. Say: "Scientists check many fossils before they decide."

4. Science Notebook Entry · 10 min

   In the notebook, your child chooses one place and draws it twice, labeled "Long Ago" and "Today." Under the drawings they finish the frame: "Long ago this place was ___. My evidence is ___." Sample: "Long ago this place was a forest. My evidence is the stone logs in the desert."

5. Wrap-Up & Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Ask the three exit questions aloud; your child answers aloud or in writing. Praise each answer that uses the word evidence.

Homework: Ask a family member, "What might our town have been like long ago?" Draw one idea and the fossil that would be evidence. Look for: the fossil fits the environment.