Day 1 · Monday
Mathematics
I can fix my mistakes when adding and subtracting with regrouping.
Builds on: Needs Week 2 Days 3 and 4 and Week 3 Days 3 and 4: regrouping to add and to subtract. One-minute check: your child solves 53 − 27 (26) and tells where the trade happened.
Materials: 3 index cards (before the lesson, copy these with their wrong answers: 603 − 248 with 445, 456 + 278 with 624, 524 − 176 with 452), Grid paper, Colored pencil, Notebook, Pencil
5 min · Warm-Up
Spaced review. Your child solves 268 + 125 from Week 2 (393) and 562 − 138 from Week 3 (424). Then make 100. Say a number; your child says its partner to 100. Use 60 (40), 35 (65), 82 (18), 49 (51).
10–15 min · Mini-Lesson
Say: "Today you are the teacher. You will find mistakes and fix them." Write 347 + 285 in columns with the wrong answer 522. Say: "This answer is wrong. Let's find out why." Estimate first: 350 + 290 = 640. Ask: "Is 522 close to 640?" (No.) Rework it with the colored pencil. Ones: 7 + 5 = 12. Write 2 and a small 1 above the tens. Tens: 4 + 8 + 1 = 13. Write 3 and a small 1 above the hundreds. Hundreds: 3 + 2 + 1 = 6. The sum is 632. Ask: "What was the mistake?" (Both small 1s were left out.) Now your child does more. Show the first card: 603 − 248 with the wrong answer 445. Your child checks by adding: 445 + 248 = 693. Ask: "Is that 603?" (No.) Your child reworks it and names the mistake. (5 hundreds, 9 tens, 13 ones; 355. Smaller digits were taken from bigger ones.)
10–15 min · Guided Practice
Use the other two cards, then write the third problem. Your child finds each mistake and fixes it. 1) 456 + 278 with the wrong answer 624. (The small 1s were left out; 734) 2) 524 − 176 with the wrong answer 452. (Smaller digits were taken from bigger ones; 348) 3) Write 700 − 236 with the wrong answer 474. (After both trades the tens are 9, not 10; 464) If stuck, say: "Check with an estimate or by adding. Then rework one column at a time. Which column is different?"
15–20 min · Independent Practice
Your child solves each, then checks subtraction by adding and addition with an estimate. 1) 538 + 276 (814). 2) 709 − 352 (357). 3) 465 + 389 (854). 4) 800 − 463 (337). 5) 624 − 187 (437). 6) Draw squares, sticks and dots for 304 − 158. Show the trades (146). 7) A library has 415 picture books and 398 chapter books. How many books in all? (813) 8) A hall has 900 chairs. 645 are taken. How many are empty? (255) Your child reworks any problem that does not check.
5 min · Exit Ticket
Put the cards away; your child answers on grid paper and checks question 2 by adding.
Watch for: Treating 0 tens as 10 tens without taking 1 from the hundreds, so the answer comes out too big.
Try: Your child writes the regrouped top number before subtracting. For 600, write 5, 9 and 10 above the digits.
Exit ticket (3 questions)
- Solve 486 + 357.
- Solve 600 − 274.
- What mistake do you need to watch for most when regrouping?
Show answers
- 843
- 326
- Answers vary. Look for: a named step, such as adding the small 1 or trading from the hundreds when there are 0 tens.
Support: Use 2-digit error hunts first. Show 52 − 28 with the wrong answer 36. Your child draws sticks and dots and fixes it (24).
Extend: Your child makes two error-hunt cards with a hidden mistake for you to find. The right answers go on the back.
Homework: Solve 3 problems and check each. 357 + 468 (825), 900 − 615 (285), 742 − 386 (356).
English Language Arts
I can tell the difference between what happens in a story and its central message.
Builds on: Needs Week 4 Day 2, stating the moral of a fable. One-minute check: ask, "What is the moral of 'The Ant and the Grasshopper'?" (Get ready today for what you will need later.) If your child retells events instead, today's lesson is the fix.
- abstract noun – a noun that names an idea or a feeling you cannot see or touch, like courage
Materials: Six index cards or paper slips, Reader's notebook, Pencil, Your child's own book
5 min · Warm-Up
Word study, flex review of Weeks 1–4. Write hop, cape, paint, snow, shark, table. Say: "Each word shows a pattern we know." Your child reads each word and names its pattern. (hop: closed, short vowel. cape: silent e. paint and snow: vowel team. shark: r-controlled. table: consonant-le.) Spaced review, Week 4. Ask: "What does a myth explain?" (Something in nature.)
10–15 min · Mini-Lesson
Say: "What happens in a story is its events. The central message is the lesson we learn from them." Read aloud the fable "Fox and the Cracked Jug": [Fox borrowed Heron's blue water jug. On the path home he slipped, and the jug cracked from top to bottom. Fox hid it under a bush. "The wind must have blown it away," he told Heron. All night Fox tossed and turned. At sunrise he carried the broken jug to Heron's door. "I cracked it, and then I lied," he said. "I am sorry." Heron looked at the jug, then at Fox. "A jug can be mended," she said. "I am glad you told me." Together they patched it with river clay.] Think aloud and write: "What happens: Fox breaks the jug, lies, and then tells the truth. Message: Telling the truth takes courage, and it keeps a friendship strong." Say: "Truth, courage and friendship are abstract nouns. They name ideas or feelings. You can touch a jug. You cannot touch courage. Some abstract nouns are built with endings: sad, sadness; brave, bravery; friend, friendship." Your child circles the three abstract nouns in the message.
10–15 min · Guided Practice
Write six index cards: "Fox slips on the path." "Honesty brings peace." "Fox hides the jug." "Forgiveness mends a friendship." "Heron and Fox patch the jug." "Courage means owning up." 1) Your child sorts them into What Happens and Message. (Events: slips, hides, patch. Messages: the other three.) 2) Ask: "How can you spot a message card?" (It names no character. It is true for anyone.) 3) Ask: "Which words show that the lie bothered Fox?" ("All night Fox tossed and turned.") 4) Your child circles one abstract noun on each message card. (honesty or peace; forgiveness or friendship; courage) If stuck, say: "Does this card tell what a character did? Or what all of us should learn?"
15–20 min · Independent Practice
Your child writes in the reader's notebook. 1) For "Stone Soup," write one What Happens sentence and one Message sentence. 2) Do the same for "The Boy Who Cried Wolf." 3) Do the same for their own book or a favorite story. 4) Circle one abstract noun in any message. Look for: event sentences that name characters; message sentences that fit anyone and could start with "People should." Sample: "What happens: A traveler gets a village to add food to his soup. Message: Generosity helps a whole village."
5 min · Exit Ticket
Read each question aloud. Your child answers in the notebook in full sentences. The fox fable may stay open.
Watch for: Writing an event as the message, such as "Fox told the truth."
Try: Ask, "What should we learn from Fox?" Help your child turn the event into a lesson with no character names.
Exit ticket (3 questions)
- Write one event from the fox fable. Tell why it is not the message.
- Heron says, "I am glad you told me." How do her words help show the message?
- Use the abstract noun "honesty" in a sentence about Fox.
Show answers
- Answers vary. Sample: Fox hid the jug. That is something a character did. It is not a lesson for everyone.
- Answers vary. Look for: Heron cares more about the truth than about the jug, so telling the truth keeps the friendship.
- Answers vary. Sample: Fox showed honesty when he told Heron what really happened.
Support: Sort only four cards, two of each kind. Read each one aloud and ask, "Did someone in the story do this?"
Extend: Your child writes a new ending in which Fox keeps lying. Then they name the message that ending would teach.
Homework: Read your own book for 15–20 minutes. Then tell a family member the fox fable in three sentences and say its message. Look for events first, then a lesson for anyone.
Science
I can use arrows to show whether forces are balanced or unbalanced and predict what will happen.
Builds on: Needs Week 2 Day 3, the penny tug-of-war, and Week 2's balanced and unbalanced forces. One-minute check: ask, "Two equal pulls in opposite directions: balanced or unbalanced?" (Balanced.)
Materials: Toy car, 2 strings, each about 3 feet long, 2 paper cups, each with a string handle taped on, 25 pennies, Tape, Paper and scissors (to cut 3 short and 3 long arrows), A hardcover book, Science notebook and pencil
5 min · Flex Day 1 — Catch-Up: Balanced vs. Unbalanced — Wonder Warm-Up
Spaced review from Week 2. Ask: "One child pulls a wagon, and it starts to roll. Balanced or unbalanced forces?" (Unbalanced. Its motion changed.) Then set the book on the table. Ask: "This book is not moving. Are there any forces on it right now?" Take your child's idea. Say: "Today arrows will help us decide."
10–15 min · Mini-Lesson
Say: "A force arrow shows a push or a pull. It points the way the force goes. A longer arrow means a stronger force." Draw the book on the table with one arrow pointing down. Ask: "What pulls the book down?" (Gravity.) "Why doesn't it fall through the table?" (The table pushes up on it.) Draw an up arrow the same length. Say: "Equal arrows in opposite directions mean balanced forces. Balanced does not mean no forces. It means the motion does not change." Now draw a still ball with one long arrow to the right, for a kick. Ask: "Balanced or unbalanced? What will the ball do?" (Unbalanced. It starts moving right.) Ask: "A still chair has a long arrow left and a short arrow right. Which way does it start to move?" (Left, toward the stronger force.) If stuck, say: "Find the longer arrow. The motion changes that way."
15–20 min · Investigation / Hands-On
Safety: keep feet clear of the hanging cups. 1) Tape a string to each end of the car. Set the car in the middle of the table. 2) Run each string over an opposite table edge and tie on a cup. 3) Plan three rounds. Round A: 8 pennies in each cup. Round B: 8 pennies and 15 pennies. Round C: an empty cup and 8 pennies. 4) Before each round, hold the car still. Your child lays a paper arrow beside each string, short or long, pointing toward that cup. 5) Let go. Record in a chart: Round, Pennies left, Pennies right, Arrows, What the car did. Change only the pennies. Keep the same car, cups and start spot. Expect the car to stay still in Round A. Expect it to roll toward 15 in Round B and toward 8 in Round C. The empty cup still pulls a little, so it gets a short arrow. If the car sticks in Round B, say: "Real results vary. Friction is holding it. Add pennies one at a time." Ask: "Did your arrows match what happened?"
10 min · Science Notebook Entry
Your child draws the car three times, once for each round, with its two arrows. Under each drawing, write balanced or unbalanced and what the car did. Sample for Round B: a short arrow toward 8 and a long arrow toward 15. "Unbalanced. The car rolled toward the 15 pennies."
5 min · Wrap-Up & Exit Ticket
Ask the three exit questions; your child may draw arrows to answer. Praise any answer that says a still object still has forces on it.
Watch for: Saying a still object has no forces on it.
Try: Your child rests a hand flat on the table, and you set the book on it. Ask, "Do you feel the book pressing down? Your hand pushes up just as hard."
Exit ticket (3 questions)
- A cat sleeps on a couch without moving. Name the force pulling the cat down and the thing pushing up on it.
- You push on a door, and a friend pushes back from the other side. The door does not move. What do you know about the two pushes?
- A toy boat has a short arrow pointing left and a long arrow pointing right. Are the forces balanced or unbalanced? Which way does its motion change?
Show answers
- Gravity pulls down. The couch pushes up just as hard, so the forces are balanced.
- They are equal in strength and opposite in direction, so the forces are balanced.
- Unbalanced. Its motion changes to the right, toward the longer arrow.
Support: Run only Rounds A and C. Place the arrows together with your child before each one.
Extend: Start with 8 pennies in each cup. Your child predicts how many extra pennies will move the car, then adds one at a time. Ask why one is not enough. (Friction resists the start.)
Homework: Draw one balanced and one unbalanced situation from home, with force arrows. Look for equal opposite arrows on the still object and unequal arrows where motion changes.