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Worksheet Grade 4 Careers & CTE

Who Keeps Clearford's Tap Water Safe? A Water-Jobs Worksheet

A grade 4 careers worksheet where students match water plant workers to their jobs, order the treatment steps, and write about why the town needs them.

Objectives

  1. Students will match a water plant worker to the job that worker does.
  2. Students will write to explain why a town needs people to run its water plant.

Vocabulary

Key words: treatment, operator, filter, chlorine, plant

Teacher overview

The Clearford Water Plant (an example plant) cleans river water so it is safe to drink. Many different workers keep the plant running, and each one has a job to do. This worksheet has students match five workers to their jobs, put the cleaning steps in order, and write a few sentences about why the town needs these workers. It builds an early picture of the team behind a glass of tap water.

Who Keeps Clearford's Tap Water Safe? A Water-Jobs Worksheet — Grade 4 Careers & CTE
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Use this word bank to answer questions 1 to 5. Each worker is used once.

Word bank: plant operator, lab technician, maintenance mechanic, line operator, engineer.

  1. Which worker checks that the water is clean before it leaves the plant?
  2. Which worker tests water samples in the lab?
  3. Which worker fixes a pump or a filter that breaks at the plant?
  4. Which worker keeps the right water pressure in the pipes to homes?
  5. Which worker plans and designs a bigger plant when the town grows?
  6. Write what the word "treatment" means in your own words.
  7. Put these cleaning steps in order from first to last: adding chlorine, screening out trash, letting dirt settle, filtering.
  8. A filter takes tiny bits out of the water. If a filter wears out, which worker would put in a new one?
  9. Next year Clearford will grow and must clean more water. Name one worker who could help plan a bigger plant, and tell why.
  10. Write three to four sentences that explain why the town of Clearford needs people to work at its water plant. Name at least two jobs.

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Answer Key
  1. Answer: Plant operator. The plant operator checks that the water is clean and safe before it leaves the plant.
  2. Answer: Lab technician. The lab technician tests water samples to see if the water meets the safety rules.
  3. Answer: Maintenance mechanic. The maintenance mechanic repairs pumps, filters, and other machines when they break.
  4. Answer: Line operator. The line operator, also called a distribution operator, keeps the right water pressure in the pipes to homes.
  5. Answer: Engineer. The engineer plans and designs a larger plant when the town needs to clean more water.
  6. Answer: Answers will vary. A correct answer says treatment means cleaning the water and making it safe to drink.
  7. Answer: Screening out trash, letting dirt settle, filtering, adding chlorine. This is the order water follows through the plant, from first to last.
  8. Answer: The maintenance mechanic. This worker repairs and replaces broken or worn parts, including a worn-out filter.
  9. Answer: The engineer, because the engineer plans and designs new and bigger plants; accept the plant operator with a reason about running the larger plant, if the student explains the choice.
  10. Answer: Answers will vary. A strong paragraph names at least two water plant jobs, tells what each worker does, and gives a clear reason the town needs them, such as keeping the drinking water safe.

Differentiation

Support

Give these students a picture next to each word-bank job (a control panel, a test tube, a wrench, a pressure gauge, a set of plans) to help them match. For item 7, provide the four steps on cards they can move into order before writing.

Extension

Ask students to add one job to the word bank that is not listed, describe what that worker does at the plant, and explain where that worker fits in the cleaning steps.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "treatment," "operator," "filter," and "chlorine" with a picture and a short definition for each. Allow items 1 to 5 to be answered by drawing a line from the job to a picture, and allow item 10 to be three short sentences.