Worksheet Grade 5 Art & Music
Silver Creek Health Signs: A Grade 5 Color-Key Worksheet
A grade 5 art worksheet where students design and test a three-color key for a creek health sign based on a real dissolved-oxygen benchmark.
Objectives
- Students will design a three-color key that matches water readings to a safe range for fish.
- Students will explain how color choices help a viewer read a sign quickly.
- Students will add a design feature that works for a viewer who cannot tell red from green.
Vocabulary
- Dissolved oxygen
- Dissolved oxygen is the oxygen gas mixed into water that fish and other underwater animals breathe. Cold, moving water holds more oxygen than warm, still water.
Also: color key, benchmark, contrast
Teacher overview
Imagine a fictional creek called Silver Creek. A town wants a sign at the creek that tells visitors if the water is healthy for fish. Fish breathe a gas in the water called dissolved oxygen. Most fish need dissolved oxygen above 5 mg/L, a standard benchmark scientists use. The sign will use a three-color key: green, yellow, and red. This worksheet has students design that key, test it on a few readings, and make it work for every viewer.
Student Worksheet
The sign has a dial that shows the dissolved oxygen in the fictional Silver Creek. Your job is to design the color key for the dial and make sure it is easy to read. The readings below are made-up sample readings for this creek. Use these facts: most fish need dissolved oxygen above 5 mg/L, and lower numbers mean less oxygen and more danger for fish.
The sign uses three colors: green, yellow, and red. Which color should mean the water is healthy for fish? Give one reason for your choice.
Most fish need dissolved oxygen above 5 mg/L. What reading should sit right at the line where green changes to yellow?
A reading of 6.4 mg/L comes in. Which color should the dial show? Explain in a few words.
A reading of 3.8 mg/L comes in. Which color should the dial show?
A reading of 5.1 mg/L comes in. Which color should the dial show, and why is this one close to the line?
Why is red a good choice for the lowest readings? Use what colors usually mean to a viewer.
One visitor cannot tell red from green. Add one design feature besides color so the sign still works for them. Name your idea.
Write a short caption, one sentence, for the green zone of the sign. It should tell a visitor what a green reading means.
Explain why the town puts this sign at the creek. Use one idea about how a community can watch and protect its water.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Answer Key
Answer: Green. Green usually means safe or go, so it fits the reading that is healthy for fish; accept any answer that pairs green with the safe range and gives a reason.
Answer: 5 mg/L. The benchmark says most fish need dissolved oxygen above 5 mg/L, so 5 is the line between the healthy green zone and the caution yellow zone.
Answer: Green. 6.4 mg/L is above the 5 mg/L benchmark, so the water is healthy for fish and the dial shows green.
Answer: Red. 3.8 mg/L is well below 5 mg/L, so oxygen is low and the dial shows red for danger. The worksheet does not set a yellow-red line, so also accept yellow if the student's key puts the red line below 3.8 mg/L and says so.
Answer: Green. 5.1 mg/L is just above the 5 mg/L line, so it is barely in the healthy zone, which is why it sits close to the green-yellow border.
Answer: Red stands out and usually warns of danger, so it draws the eye to the readings that need attention; accept any answer about red meaning stop, warning, or danger.
Answer: Any of: add a word label (safe, caution, low) in each zone, use a symbol or shape for each zone, or place the zones in a fixed order so position alone tells the reading. The feature must not depend on color.
Answer: A one-sentence caption such as "Green means the creek has enough oxygen for fish to breathe." Accept any clear sentence that explains a green reading is healthy for fish.
Answer: The town uses a science benchmark to check the creek and warn people when oxygen drops, which is one way a community watches over and protects its water. Accept answers naming monitoring, warning, or protecting the creek.
Differentiation
Support
Give students a blank dial with the three color zones already outlined, so they place the readings rather than design the whole layout. Provide the 5 mg/L line already marked on the dial.
Extension
Ask students to add a fourth, darker zone for very low readings and explain what new color they chose, why it reads as more urgent than red, and where its line should fall below the red zone.
ELL supports
Provide the words green, yellow, and red with a color swatch and the words safe, caution, and low next to each, in the student's home language alongside English where possible. Let students answer with labeled sketches where a full sentence is not required.
Extensions
Look up whether your state or a local group posts real creek or beach signs that use colors to show water safety, and compare their color choices with the class designs.