Day 4 · Thursday

Objective: I can finish my relief map with a key, compass rose, and labels and use it to teach someone.

Standards: D2.Geo.1.3-5, D2.Geo.2.3-5, D2.Geo.8.3-5

Materials: Salt-dough map from yesterday, Paints or markers (blue, green, brown), 3 toothpicks, 3 small strips of paper, Tape, 1 index card, Pencil, Notebook

1. Day 24 — Flex: Relief Map, Part 2, and Map Tour — Big Question Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 3. Ask: "What are the four cardinal directions? Which one goes at the top of most maps?" (North, south, east and west. North.) Then look at yesterday's map. Ask the day's wonder: "What would a visitor need in order to understand this map?" (A key, labels and a compass rose.)

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "A map without a key is like a puzzle without the picture on the box." Show the finishing steps on one small part of the map. Color one river blue. Say: "Blue is water." Color low land green and high land brown. Tape a paper strip to a toothpick to make a flag. Write a star on it. Say: "A star stands for our capital city." Start the key on the index card. Draw a blue line and write "river" beside it. Say: "Every color and every symbol on the map goes in the key." Ask: "I painted a lake blue. What do I add to the key?" (A blue shape and the word lake.) "Where does the compass rose go?" (In a corner, with N pointing to the top.) "A flag has a dot. What might the dot mean?" (A town. The key must say so.) If stuck, say: "Touch it on the map. Now find it on the key."

3. Activity / Source Work · 15–20 min

   Finish the map and give a tour. 1) Your child colors water blue, low land green and high land brown. If the dough is still damp, use markers lightly or color the cardboard around it. 2) Your child makes three flags in pencil. Use a star for the capital, a dot for your town and a picture for one natural resource. 3) Your child finishes the key and draws a compass rose in a corner. 4) Your child touches each color and symbol on the map, then finds it on the key. Add any that are missing. 5) Map Tour. Your child talks for about two minutes to a family member. The tour names each feature and uses one direction sentence. It also tells how one feature helps people. Sample: "The river is east of the mountains. Farms are on the plain because the land is flat." Ask one question: "Why do you think our town is where it is?" (Answers vary. Look for a reason such as water, flat land or a harbor.)

4. Notebook Entry · 10 min

   In the notebook, your child writes three sentences from the tour. "One landform in our state is ____. One body of water is ____. People use the land to ____." Sample: "People use the land to grow apples in the valley."

5. Wrap-Up & Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Read the three exit questions aloud while your child looks at the map. Praise a key that matches the map and reasons that link land to people.

Homework: Your child gives the Map Tour again to another family member, in person or on a call. Look for one direction sentence and one way land helps people.

Objective: I can design a garden using arrays and multiplication.

Standards: 3.OA.A.1, 3.OA.A.3

Materials: Grid paper, Crayons, Ruler, 30 counters (dried beans, coins or buttons), Pencil

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 4. Ask: "How many are in 5 groups of 4?" (20) Your child draws 2 rows of 6 dots and writes the sentence (2 × 6 = 12). Then count by 3s to 30 and by 4s to 40 together.

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Today you plan a garden. Each kind of plant grows in its own array." On grid paper, color 3 rows of 4 squares red. Say: "These are tomato plants. One square is one plant." Ask: "How many rows? How many in each row?" (3; 4) Write 3 × 4 = 12 beside the array. Check by counting rows: 4, 8, 12. Next, color 2 rows of 5 squares green for bean plants. Your child writes the sentence (2 × 5 = 10). Ask: "How many plants in all?" Write 12 + 10 = 22. Say: "We multiply to find each array. We add to find the whole garden." Now your child does more. Your child colors 4 rows of 3 carrots and writes 4 × 3 = 12. Ask: "How many plants are in the garden now?" (22 + 12 = 34)

3. Guided Practice · 10–15 min

   Plan three more plant beds together. Your child writes each sentence first, then draws. 1) Peppers: 2 rows of 6 (2 × 6 = 12). 2) Sunflowers: 5 rows of 2 (5 × 2 = 10). 3) Say: "Corn needs 24 squares. Try 4 rows of 6, then 3 rows of 8." Your child draws both and counts (4 × 6 = 24; 3 × 8 = 24). 4) Your child adds the three beds: 12 + 10 + 24 = 46. If stuck, say: "How many rows? How many in each row? Write the rows number first."

4. Independent Practice · 15–20 min

   Your child draws a new garden on a clean sheet of grid paper. 1) Choose 4 kinds of plants. 2) Outline one array for each with the ruler. Use 2 to 6 rows. 3) One kind must have 24 plants. Pick 4 rows of 6 or 3 rows of 8. 4) Write a multiplication sentence beside each array. 5) Check each product by counting the rows. 6) Add the four products to find all the plants. Sample: 24 + 10 + 12 + 15 = 61. 7) A farmer plants 5 rows of 4 pumpkins. How many pumpkins? (5 × 4 = 20) 8) Another garden has arrays of 16, 20 and 9 plants. How many plants in all? (45)

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Your child shows you the garden, reads two sentences aloud, then answers the three questions on paper.

Fact fluency: Skip-counting by 3s and 4s

Homework: Show your garden to a family member and explain two of the multiplication sentences. Sample: "This is 3 rows of 4 tomato plants, so 3 × 4 = 12."

Objective: I can share my fable aloud, answer questions about it, and retell a fable I heard.

Standards: W.3.3, W.3.3.B, W.3.3.C, W.3.3.D, W.3.5, RL.3.7, SL.3.2, SL.3.3, SL.3.4, SL.3.5, RF.3.4.B

Materials: Fable plan and storyboard from yesterday, Writer's notebook, Pencil, Your child's own book

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Word study, flex review. Ask: "Which word names something a hero might wear?" (cape) "Which word is the opposite of tall?" (short) Your child uses plane and puzzle in one sentence each. (Sample: The plane flew over our house. This puzzle has fifty pieces.) Spaced review, Week 4. Ask: "How is a fable different from a myth?" (A fable teaches a moral. A myth explains nature.)

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Today you write your fable and share it. First, listen to mine. Then retell it." Read aloud "The Frog Who Leaped": [One spring morning, Frog and Turtle sat beside Willow Pond. Frog spotted something round and green. "A new lily pad!" he shouted, and he leaped without looking. Thump! He had landed in a deep bucket. First, Frog jumped at the walls. Then he tried to climb. Nothing worked. "Help!" he croaked. Turtle pushed and pushed until the bucket tipped over. At last, Frog tumbled out onto the grass. From then on, he always looked first. Moral: Look before you leap.] Your child retells it in three sentences. (Frog jumps into a bucket without looking. He cannot get out, so Turtle tips it over. Frog learns to look first.) Write this checklist and find each point in the fable together. 1) The opening names the characters and the setting. 2) One line of dialogue has quotation marks. 3) Two time words, such as first, then, later, at last. 4) A closing sentence, then the moral by itself.

3. Guided Practice · 10–15 min

   Your child drafts in the writer's notebook, using the storyboard. 1) Ask: "Who is there, and where are they?" Your child writes the opening. (One sentence naming both animals and the place.) 2) Ask: "What does your first animal say that starts the trouble?" Your child writes it as dialogue. (A comma after the speaker words; quotation marks around the exact words.) 3) Your child writes the problem in two sentences with a time word. 4) Ask: "What happens at the turning point?" Your child says it aloud, then writes it. If stuck, say: "Look at your next storyboard box. Tell me that part aloud, then write it down."

4. Independent Practice · 15–20 min

   1) Your child finishes the draft: 6–10 sentences in all, ending with the moral. 2) Check the four checklist points together. Your child changes one thing to make the fable better, such as adding a time word. 3) Your child practices reading the fable aloud, with a different voice for each animal. 4) Your child reads it to a family audience and holds up each storyboard picture at its part. One listener is enough. 5) Each listener asks one question, such as "Why did the rooster brag?" Your child answers with details from the fable. Look for: a clear voice at an easy pace; answers that come from the story.

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Ask each question aloud. Your child answers aloud while pointing to the draft.

Homework: Read your fable to someone new. Ask them to name the moral. Then read your own book for 15 minutes.

Objective: I can test whether a magnet's force can pass through different materials.

Standards: 3-PS2-3

Materials: 1 magnet, 1 steel paper clip, Thin test materials: sheet of paper, plastic bag, aluminum foil, cloth, craft stick or thin wooden ruler, 10 flat cardboard pieces of the same size, cut from a cereal box, Clear plastic cup half full of water, Ruler with centimeters, Science notebook and pencil

1. Flex Day 4 — Challenge: Can Magnets Pull Through Things? — Wonder Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 4. Ask: "Name two non-contact forces." (Any two: magnetism, static electricity, gravity.) Then hold up the magnet and the notebook. Ask: "Can a magnet pull a paper clip through one page? Through the whole notebook?" Your child votes. Say: "Let's test it."

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "A magnet's force works across a gap of air. Today's question: can it also work through other materials?" Lay the paper clip on the table and cover it with the sheet of paper. Set the magnet on top and lift both. Ask: "Did the clip come up? Did the magnet touch it?" (Your child reports. The paper was between them.) Now put the whole notebook between them and try again. Ask: "What changed between the two tests?" (More paper, so the magnet was farther from the clip.) Say: "We need two fair tests. First we change only the material. Then we change only the thickness." Ask: "In the first test, what must stay the same?" (The magnet, the clip, and the way we lift.) Say: "Engineers ask these questions when they design magnet latches and toys." If stuck, say: "Ask: what is between the magnet and the clip, and how thick is it?"

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

   Test 1, materials. 1) Draw a chart: Material, Prediction, Clip lifted? 2) Cover the clip with one thin material at a time. Use the paper, plastic bag, foil, cloth, craft stick and one cardboard piece. Set the magnet on top and lift. 3) Drop the clip into the cup of water. Hold the magnet against the outside of the cup and slide it upward. Does the clip follow? Expect the clip to lift through most thin materials and to follow through water. Foil is a metal, yet it does not block the magnet. Test 2, thickness. 4) Draw a chart: Cardboard layers, Clip lifted? 5) Add one cardboard piece at a time between the magnet and the clip. Stop when the clip no longer lifts, and count the layers. Change only the number of layers. Expect the pull to fade as layers are added. The number depends on your magnet. If results differ, say: "Real results vary. Look for the pattern." Ask: "Why did more layers stop the magnet?" (They moved it farther from the clip.)

4. Science Notebook Entry · 10 min

   Your child finishes two frames under the charts. "The magnet worked through ___, ___ and ___." "It stopped lifting the clip at ___ layers of cardboard, so the force gets ___ as distance grows." Sample: "The magnet worked through paper, foil and water. It stopped at 6 layers, so the force gets weaker as distance grows."

5. Wrap-Up & Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Ask the three exit questions aloud. Praise answers that name distance, not just thickness, as the reason.

Homework: Find one place at home where a magnet works through something, such as a note on the fridge. Draw it and label what the force passes through. Look for that label.