September · Week 1 · Day 1 · School day 1

Day 1: Welcome to the Map Room

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🌍 Play with your child: Root Explorers

The day, step by step

1. 10–15 min Morning meeting SL.6.1

   1. Post the question of the day: "What is one place in the world you would love to visit, and why?" Students jot an answer in their notebook before the meeting.
   2. Go over the daily schedule and three agreements: be kind, be ready, give your best try.
   3. Students share answers and find a partner who chose a place on a different continent.

2. 15–20 min Word study L.6.4b

   1. Write geo on the board: geo means earth. Brainstorm words: geography, geology, geometry, geode.
   2. Explain that geometry first meant earth measuring, because early surveyors measured land.
   3. Students start a root page: root, meaning, 3 example words and a quick sketch.
   4. Quick check: What might a geologist study? (rocks, soil and the earth)

   Spelling list goes home: geography, geology, geometry, autograph, paragraph, graphic, biology, ecology, photograph, telegraph.

3. 25–30 min Reading workshop RL.6.3

   Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (Wonderscape Library)

   1. Show the reading log: date, title, pages read and one sentence about what happened.
   2. Read aloud the opening of chapter 1, where the old sea captain arrives at the Admiral Benbow inn.
   3. Ask: What do we know about the setting? Which clues tell us this happened long ago?
   4. Students record the setting (time and place) and the first important character in their log.

4. 35–45 min Math 6.RP.1

   1. Warm-up: count the windows and doors in the room.
   2. Define ratio: a comparison of two quantities. Write 3 windows to 1 door three ways: 3 to 1, 3:1 and 3/1.
   3. Model: a fruit bowl has 4 apples and 6 bananas. Apples to bananas is 4:6; bananas to apples is 6:4. Order matters.
   4. Guided practice: 5 red pens and 2 blue pens. Write red to blue (5:2), blue to red (2:5) and red to all pens (5:7).
   5. Independent: write 4 ratios about the class in all three forms.

   Math center: ratio hunt cards with photos of groups of objects.

5. 25–30 min Science MS-PS1-1

   1. Ask: Is air matter? Students vote, then blow up a balloon. The balloon grows, so air takes up space.
   2. Define matter: anything that has mass and takes up space (volume).
   3. Weigh a rock and a cup of water on a kitchen scale and record the ounces. Both have mass.
   4. Sort cards: light, sound, a pencil, water, air, heat. Light, sound and heat are forms of energy, not matter.
   5. Exit ticket: In one sentence, explain how you know air is matter.

6. 25–30 min Writing W.6.10

   1. Introduce the Reader and Writer Profile: a one-page piece about you as a reader and writer.
   2. Brainstorm in 3 boxes: books I love, where I write best, one goal for this year.
   3. Quick write for 10 minutes using one box.
   4. Share one sentence with a partner.

7. 20–30 min Centers and independent practice

   1. Root tree: add a geo branch with 3 words.
   2. Ratio hunt: write 5 ratios about the room in three forms.
   3. Map lab: find the Equator and the Prime Meridian on the world map.
   4. Reading nook: read 15 minutes and fill in the log.

   Device time (15 min): play Root Explorers in the Wonderscape game room.

   Today’s game: Root Explorers

8. 5–10 min Closing circle SL.6.1

   1. What is one ratio you noticed today?
   2. How do you know something is matter?
   3. What are you curious about in Treasure Island?

Short day? Keep the reading log set-up, the ratio lesson and the balloon demo.