summer learning parent guide...summer learning 1 help the townspeople! parent guide grades 2-3 day...

Summer Learning

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Help the Townspeople! Grades 2-3 Parent Guide

Day 1: Reading Day – Neptune and Minerva by Laura Strom Materials

• Neptune and Minerva, student journal

Before Reading

• Look at the cover of the story and ask your child what the book might be about. • Share any information you know about Ancient Rome. Discuss with your child any

stories they read or seen movies or television shows about mythological Roman gods? • Say: When we read the story together today, we are going to make inferences about

the problems the characters have and write them in the journal. During Reading

• Have your child read the story with or to you, helping them with words as needed. • Have them stop every few pages and think about any problems the characters are

having.

There are three types of inferences: 1. Inferences I can make only from the text. 2. Inferences I can make using my own knowledge. 3. Inferences I can make using both the text and my own

knowledge.

Parent Tip: Possible Problems

• Page 5 – Rocks are shattered. Earthquakes happen when there is a storm from the sea. • Page 8 – The town needed a god. • Page 10 – The people do not want to anger a god by choosing the wrong gift. • Page 12 – Fresh water is hard to find. • Page 13, 16 – The water Neptune found is salt water. The water tastes like brine.

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After Reading

• Ask your child some questions about the story:

How did the Neptune change from the beginning of the story to the end of the story? (Possible answer: At the beginning of the story Neptune was angry. I know this because he was known for his bad temper and broke rocks and made earthquakes. At the end of the story he laughed and was happy.)

Think about the story, what lesson did Neptune learn? (Possible answer: Neptune learned that it is ok to make mistakes.)

• In the journal, have your child complete the task in the top box, “List some problems the characters encountered throughout the story.”

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Day 2: Reading Day – Erosion by Lola Schaefer Materials

• Erosion, student journal Before Reading

• Reflect on the story Neptune and Minerva. Ask your child:

How did the townspeople feel about Neptune at the beginning of the story? (Possible answer: The people were afraid to make Neptune angry.)

Why were the townspeople afraid to make Neptune angry? (Possible answer: The characters were afraid if they made him angry he would shatter rocks and cause earthquakes.)

What have you learned in science about how wind and water changed the land? (Answers may vary.)

Is Neptune the only cause of shattered rocks? (Answers may vary.)

• Say: In Neptune and Minerva, Neptune was in charge of the water, so today we are going to read about how water can change the shape of the land. As we read the text, let me know when you hear how water can change the shape of the land.

During Reading

• Stop when the text describes how water changes the shape of the land. Talk about the changes and how they occur.

After Reading

• On page one of their journal, have your child write details about how water changes and shapes the land. (They should identify details about rivers, ice, and oceans to write in their journals. If they did not identify all 3 causes, read the story again, and have your child specifically listen for the missing cause.)

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Day 3: Re-Reading Day – Neptune and Minerva by Laura Strom Materials

• Neptune and Minerva, student journal

Before Reading

• Ask your child: What problems did we find in the story? (Refer to the student’s response in

their journal.) Pretend you are a character in the story, what problem would you want us to

solve? (Pick one problem to explore and solve.) • Have your child write the problem on page two of the journal.

During Reading

• Have your child read the story Neptune and Minerva with or to you again, helping them with words as needed.

• Remind your child to look for details that relate to the problem they chose to solve. • As your child identifies details, have them add them on page two of the journal.

Remember, some of the problems were inferences. When we look for details, we can find the evidence in three ways:

1. Using only the text 2. Using our own knowledge 3. Using both the text and our own knowledge

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Parent Tip: Sample details from sample problems

Sample Problems

Page 5 – Rocks are shattered; earthquakes happen when there is a storm from the sea.

Page 8 – The town needed a god.

Page 10 – The people do not want to anger a god by choosing the wrong gift.

Page 12 – Fresh water is hard to find.

Page 13, 16 – the water Neptune found is salt water. The water tastes like brine.

Sample evidence with both inferences and details

from the text.

There is rock erosion and if the rocks break, their town might fall into the sea because they live close to the ocean (p5,11).

They need someone to help solve their problems with food and water, because they do not have good dirt to grow a tree (the tree came out of the stone, not the dirt p14), and they do not have a lot of fresh water to drink or grow plants because they lived near the salty sea (p12).

They want to make both gods happy, but gods are not good at sharing (p10). If they did not choose Neptune, he might get angry and hurt the town (p5).

They need lots of fresh water to drink or grow plants because they lived near the salty sea (p12).

They need lots of fresh water to drink or grow plants because they lived near the salty sea (p12).

After Reading

• Ask your child to think of a solution(s) to help the characters solve the selected problem, reminding them the characters lived in Ancient Rome (with no electricity, batteries, etc.). On page two of the journal, have them sketch their proposed solution(s).

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Day 4: Engineering Day Materials

• Miscellaneous household items, student journal Before Building

• Say: Today, we are going to build a model of a solution for the townspeople, using household materials. Sometimes we can get ideas from other people that will make our final project better.

• With your child, search the internet for pictures of similar structures. (For example if your child wants to build a way for the town to get fresh water, look for pictures of wells.)

• Ask: What is one thing you learned from the pictures that can make your design better?

• Say: We are going to build our solution for the townspeople, but we can only build one design using the materials in our house to build a model of the solution. Remember, a model can be a smaller, non-working version of the real object.

• Say: On page 3 of the journal, sketch your final plan before we build. The final plan should include labels about how long our pieces should be.

• Ask: What do you remember about measuring length?

Parent Tip

In second grade students should have learned:

• Different units of length (inches, feet, yards, centimeter, meters) • Different tools to measure length (ruler, tape measure, yard stick) • How to use a ruler and measure to the nearest whole inch • The smaller the unit the more of the unit you need to measure the

object

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During Building

• On page three of the journal, have your child list the materials used to solve the problem and the approximate length of each material.

• If they need to update their final sketch with actual measurements or design elements, they may do so.

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Day 5: Reflection and Extension Day Materials

• Neptune and Minerva, Erosion, Student-created model, student journal After Building

• Reflect using the model. • Ask your child:

How can you use math or numbers to describe your model? How would the characters from the book use your design to solve the

problem? • After your child explains how the characters can use the design to solve the problem,

have them write directions to the characters on page four of the journal. Provide help as needed.

• Ask: In your opinion, if the characters had your model during the story or just after it ended, how would the story change or continue?

• Together with your child, write their opinion about how the story would change. Take turns sharing and writing ideas.

Parent Tip

A well-written paragraph can include an introduction, steps for using the model (first, next, last), and a closing thought.

Parent Tip

A well-written opinion piece can include an introduction, their opinion, reasons that support their opinion, and a closing thought.

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Help the Townspeople! Grades 2-3 Student Journal

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Book Titles: Neptune and Minerva by Laura Strom and Erosion by Lola Schaefer

Read and discover the problems the characters encounter in the story. List them in the box below.

The people were afraid. If they made Neptune angry, he would cause the rocks to shatter and cause earthquakes. Research and take notes about how water can change the shape of the land. (Cite your sources. Optional: Read “Erosion” by Lola Schaefer)

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Choose a problem from the box above you want to help the characters to solve.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Use details from the story and your knowledge to explain why that is a problem for the characters.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Imagine and draw something that would help the characters solve their problem.

Possible object used to solve

the problem. Possible object used to solve

the problem.

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Sketch and label your final model.

List and measure the length of the materials you need to build your model.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• Build your model. • Share your model with a family member and have them ask you

questions about your model. • Discuss problems or changes needed. Fix and rebuild for

improvements, if you want to.

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Explain to the townspeople how to use your model.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

How would having your design change the town or the story? Use evidence from the text and your model to support your answer.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Help the Townspeople! Grades 2-3 Resources

Dig Deeper with Research!

Use the QR code or click on the images below to dig into these Gale eBooks to learn about erosion and the earth.

Use your school’s Gale password for the library ID.

https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=GVRL&sw=w&u=68online&v=2.1&it=etoc&id=GALE|6SSV&sid=GVRLhttp://tinyurl.gale.com/tinyurl/Csv5K2https://go.gale.com/ps/i.do?p=GVRL&sw=w&u=68online&v=2.1&it=etoc&id=GALE|6OPT&sid=GVRLhttp://tinyurl.gale.com/tinyurl/Csuzs2

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Discover more facts about erosion and engineering with these Magazine articles.

Hint: Click on the to have the article read to you.

https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A189287579/ITKE?u=68online&sid=ITKE&xid=2eb85c73https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A192484702/ITKE?u=68online&sid=ITKE&xid=273ffe92https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A101681164/ITKE?u=68online&sid=ITKE&xid=1d1611e7

The book included in this unit is from Benchmark Education and is not to be distributed in any way to non-DoDEAstudents.

Help the Townspeople_Fiction_Non-Fiction Text.pdfNeptune and Minerva_powerpointbookslidesSlide Number 1Slide Number 2Slide Number 3Slide Number 4Slide Number 5Slide Number 6Slide Number 7Slide Number 8Slide Number 9

erosion_powerpointbookslidesSlide Number 1Slide Number 2Slide Number 3Slide Number 4Slide Number 5Slide Number 6Slide Number 7Slide Number 8Slide Number 9Slide Number 10Slide Number 11Slide Number 12Slide Number 13Slide Number 14Slide Number 15Slide Number 16

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