Day 4 · Thursday

Objective: I can explain why different regions produce different goods and trade with each other.

Standards: D2.Geo.11.3-5, D2.Eco.4.3-5, D2.Eco.5.3-5

Materials: U.S. map with the five regions (the one colored in Week 11), 10 index cards, 10 crackers and 10 raisins, or paper picture cards, 6 coins, Notebook, Pencil

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 4. Ask: "What is a natural resource? Name one." (A useful thing from nature, such as soil, water or trees.) Then ask the big question: "Why can't Maine grow its own oranges?"

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Each region has its own land, climate and resources. So each region is good at producing certain things." "When a place focuses on what it does best, we say it specializes." Point to each region on the map as you name its products. Northeast: maple syrup in Vermont, lobster in Maine. Southeast: oranges in Florida, peanuts in Georgia. Midwest: corn in Iowa, wheat in Kansas, cars in Michigan. Southwest: cattle and oil in Texas. West: apples in Washington, almonds in California, fish in Alaska. Say: "Trade means giving something to get something else. Buying and selling is trade." "Swapping goods is hard. A wheat farmer who wants oranges must find an orange grower who wants wheat." "Money fixes this, because almost everyone accepts money." Ask: "Why does Florida grow oranges but Maine does not?" (Orange trees need warmth. Maine winters are cold.) Ask: "Is buying apples at a store trade?" (Yes. We give money and get goods.) If stuck, say: "What does this place have a lot of? What is it missing?"

3. Activity / Source Work · 15–20 min

   Part 1, product match. Write these ten products on cards. Your child places each on its region. Maple syrup and lobster (Northeast). Oranges and peanuts (Southeast). Corn and wheat (Midwest). Cattle and oil (Southwest). Apples and fish (West). Part 2, trade game. Check for food allergies first, or use picture cards. 1) You hold only crackers. Your child holds only raisins. Swap until each of you has some of both. Ask: "Are we both better off?" (Yes. Each of us has two kinds now.) 2) Say: "Now I do not want raisins." Ask: "Can you still get crackers by swapping?" (No.) 3) Give your child 3 coins and keep 3. Your child buys crackers with coins. Ask: "How did money help?" (You took coins even though you did not want raisins.) Ask: "What can I do with the coins?" (Buy something you do want.) Look for this idea: trade gives each region things it cannot easily grow or make.

4. Notebook Entry · 10 min

   Your child makes a chart with three columns: Region, Two products, Why. The Why column names land or climate. Fill in all five rows. Sample row: "Midwest, corn and wheat, flat land with rich soil."

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Read the questions aloud. Your child answers in the notebook. Praise answers that explain how both sides gain.

Homework: Your child picks three foods at home and guesses which region each came from. Check one label together. Look for a guess that names land or climate.

Objective: I can use the rules for multiplying and dividing with 0 and 1.

Standards: 3.OA.B.5, 3.OA.C.7

Materials: 20 counters (dried beans, coins or buttons), 9 paper plates, Notebook, Pencil

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Day 3. Your child breaks apart 6 × 7 and writes one equation. Look for 6 × 7 = (5 × 7) + (1 × 7) and 35 + 7 = 42. Then your child says the ×9 facts in order, with no clock. For a slow fact, use 10 groups minus one group. Sample: 9 × 6 is 60 − 6 = 54.

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Today plates show us the rules for 1 and 0." Set out 1 plate with 7 beans. Ask: "How many groups? How many in each?" (1; 7) Write 1 × 7 = 7. Now set out 7 plates with 1 bean on each. Write 7 × 1 = 7. Say: "Any number times 1 is that same number." Ask: "Why are both 7?" (The factors traded places. That is the commutative property.) Next set out 7 empty plates. Ask: "7 groups of 0. How many beans?" (0) Write 7 × 0 = 0. Say: "So 7 × 0 = 0. Any number times 0 is 0." Clear the table. Say: "Now 0 plates of 7. No groups means no beans." Write 0 × 7 = 0. Say: "Now division. 6 cookies all go to 1 child." Write 6 ÷ 1 = 6. Say: "6 cookies are shared by 6 children." Ask: "How many each?" (1) Write 6 ÷ 6 = 1. Set out 4 plates and no beans. Ask: "0 cookies are shared by 4 friends. How many each?" (0) Write 0 ÷ 4 = 0. Say: "Now try 6 cookies for 0 friends. There are no plates, so no sharing can happen." Say: "We never divide by 0. You cannot share among 0 groups." Say: "A number divided by 1 stays the same. A number divided by itself is 1, but never use 0." Now your child does more. Your child acts out 5 × 1, 5 × 0 and 5 ÷ 1 with plates. (5, 0, 5)

3. Guided Practice · 10–15 min

   Your child acts out each one with plates and beans, writes the equation and says the rule in words. Sample: "Groups of zero make zero." 1) 4 empty plates (4 × 0 = 0). 2) 1 plate with 5 beans (1 × 5 = 5). 3) 8 beans all on 1 plate (8 ÷ 1 = 8). 4) 9 beans shared onto 9 plates (9 ÷ 9 = 1). If stuck, say: "Tell the story with plates. How many plates? How many beans on each plate?"

4. Independent Practice · 15–20 min

   1) 1 × 8 and 8 × 1 (8, 8). 2) 0 × 6 and 6 × 0 (0, 0). 3) 6 ÷ 1 and 3 ÷ 3 (6, 1). 4) 0 ÷ 7 and 0 ÷ 2 (0, 0). 5) 1 × 100 and 0 × 100 (100, 0). 6) Draw plates to show 3 × 0 and 3 × 1. (3 empty plates, 0 in all; 3 plates with 1 dot each, 3 in all) 7) 5 nests have 0 eggs in each. How many eggs? (5 × 0 = 0; 0 eggs) 8) 10 crayons go 1 in each cup. How many cups? (10 ÷ 1 = 10; 10 cups) Your child tells which rule each answer used. Ask: "Can we share 5 beans among 0 plates?" (No. There are no groups to share among.)

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

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

Fact fluency: ×9 facts

Homework: Your child writes 2 real examples of ×1 and 2 of ×0. Samples: 1 dog has 4 legs, 1 × 4 = 4; 4 bowls hold 0 apples, 4 × 0 = 0. Your child draws one of them.

Objective: I can capitalize sentences, names and titles and use the right end marks.

Standards: L.3.2, L.3.2.A

Materials: Narrative draft, Red pencil, Two or three books from your child's shelf, Notebook, Pencil

1. Warm-Up · 5 min

   Word study, about 3 minutes. Ask each question aloud. "If you unpack a bag, what do you do?" (Take the things out.) "Your tower falls and you redo it. What do you do?" (Build it again.) "Two friends disagree about a game. What does that mean?" (They do not think the same thing.) Then your child uses unhappy in a sentence of their own. Spaced review from Week 10. Ask: "Name two time-order words." (Sample: first, then, finally.)

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Capitalize the first word of a sentence and the word I. Proper nouns get capitals too. Those are the names of people and places, plus days, months and holidays." Write in the notebook: "my friend omar moved to texas in march." Fix it with the red pencil while you think aloud. Say: "My starts the sentence. Omar is a person. Texas is a place. March is a month." Next, teach titles. Say: "In a title, the first and last words get capitals. So does each important word. Little words stay small in the middle: a, an, the, and, of, in, to." Write "the day the river froze". Say: "The first word gets a capital. Day, River and Froze are important. The middle 'the' stays small." Write: The Day the River Froze. Last, review end marks. Say: "A period ends a telling sentence. A question mark ends an asking sentence. An exclamation point shows strong feeling."

3. Guided Practice · 10–15 min

   1) Look at the titles on the books. Your child points to each capital letter and hunts for a small middle word. If a cover is all capitals, use the title page. (Answers vary by book.) 2) Write: "on monday, jamal and i visited lake erie". Your child fixes it. (On Monday, Jamal and I visited Lake Erie.) 3) Write: "where did you put my shoes". (Where did you put my shoes?) 4) Write the title "a trip to the moon". (A Trip to the Moon) If stuck, say: "Touch each word. Is it the first word, a name, a day or a month?"

4. Independent Practice · 15–20 min

   1) Your child reads the draft and fixes every capital letter and end mark with the red pencil. 2) They give the narrative a title and capitalize it correctly. 3) They write titles for 3 imaginary books in the notebook with a pencil. Samples: The Night of the Loud Owl, A Dragon in the Bathtub. Look for three things. Every sentence starts with a capital and ends with a mark. Names, days and months have capitals. Small middle words in titles stay lowercase.

5. Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Write the first two items without capitals, just as shown. Your child rewrites them, then answers the third aloud.

Homework: Find 3 proper nouns and 1 title in any book or magazine. Copy them with their capitals. Look for: capitals on names and on the first and last title words.

Objective: I can explain why some animals live alone and compare the costs and benefits of living alone or in a group.

Standards: 3-LS2-1

Materials: 8 index cards: tiger, polar bear, octopus, garden spider, honeybee, zebra, ant, dolphin, 1 sheet of paper, Science notebook and pencil

1. Day 64 — Living Alone or in a Group — Wonder Warm-Up · 5 min

   Spaced review from Week 11. Ask: "What four things must a habitat provide?" (Food, water, shelter and space.) Then the wonder. Say: "A tiger hunts alone. Why might that work better for a tiger than a pack?" Take one guess and check it later.

2. Mini-Lesson · 10–15 min

   Say: "Not all animals live in groups. An animal that lives alone most of the time is solitary." Name some: tigers, polar bears, octopuses and most spiders. Say: "Every way of living has benefits and costs. A cost is a downside." Fold the paper in half. Label the halves Alone and Group. Say and write each list. "Alone, benefits: no sharing food, easy to hide and sneak. Alone, costs: no lookouts, no help with young. Group, benefits: lookouts, help with hunting and young. Group, costs: sharing food, squabbles, sickness spreads faster." Say: "A tiger hides and creeps close to deer. A crowd of tigers would be noticed. One deer would not feed them all." Ask: "Is 'no lookouts' a cost or a benefit?" (A cost.) "Is 'help with young' a cost or a benefit?" (A benefit.) Say: "Some animals do both. A mother bear lives with her cubs, then alone." If stuck, say: "Would this make staying alive easier or harder?"

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

   Solo or Group Sort. 1) Your child sorts the 8 cards under Alone or Group on the folded paper. (Alone: tiger, polar bear, octopus, garden spider. Group: honeybee, zebra, ant, dolphin.) 2) For each card ask: "What is one benefit for this animal? What is one cost?" Your child points to the lists as evidence. 3) Mini-debate. Ask: "Should a tiger join a group?" Your child makes a claim and gives one reason. You argue the other side with one reason. 4) Swap sides for the zebra. Ask: "Should a zebra live alone?" 5) Look for reasons about food or safety, not feelings. Sample: "A tiger should stay alone because it sneaks up on prey and keeps its catch." Sample: "A zebra should stay in the herd because many eyes spot lions."

4. Science Notebook Entry · 10 min

   In the notebook, your child draws a chart: Animal | Alone or group | One benefit | One cost. They fill 4 rows, two solitary animals and two group animals. Then they finish: "Living alone works for a ___ because ___." Sample row: octopus, alone, keeps its food and its den, has no lookout.

5. Wrap-Up & Exit Ticket · 5 min

   Read the three questions aloud, and your child answers in full sentences. Praise answers that name both a benefit and a cost.

Homework: Tell a family member about one solitary animal and one group animal. Write one benefit for each. Look for a reason about food or safety.