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Worksheet Grade 5 Careers & CTE

Inside the Stonemill Water Reclamation Plant: A Careers Worksheet

A grade 5 careers worksheet where students read about a wastewater operator's four cleaning steps and answer recall and apply questions about the job.

Objectives

  1. Students will name the four cleaning steps a wastewater operator watches over.
  2. Students will explain why used water is cleaned before it returns to a river.
  3. Students will apply the steps to a new situation, such as a storm washing trash into a sewer.

Vocabulary

Wastewater
Wastewater is used water from sinks, showers, toilets, and businesses that goes down the drain. It travels through sewer pipes to a treatment plant to be cleaned before returning to nature.

Also: screening, settling, disinfect

Teacher overview

Used water from sinks, showers, and toilets does not just disappear; it flows to a plant to be cleaned before it returns to a river. This worksheet gives students a short reading about the Stonemill plant, a made-up plant for this scenario, and the operator who watches over its four cleaning steps. Students answer recall questions and then apply the steps to a new problem, keeping the focus on the wastewater operator's job.

Inside the Stonemill Water Reclamation Plant: A Careers Worksheet — Grade 5 Careers & CTE
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Read the passage, then answer the questions.

At the Stonemill plant, a wastewater operator cleans used water in four steps. In the first step, called screening, metal screens catch big trash like sticks, rags, and wipes. In the second step, called settling, the water rests in a wide tank so heavy bits sink to the bottom. In the third step, tiny living things called microbes eat the waste that is still in the water. In the last step, called disinfecting, the plant kills germs so the water is safe. The operator tests the water before it flows back to the river. If a test looks wrong, the operator holds the water and cleans it more. Clean water protects the fish and plants that live in the river.

  1. Copy the sentence that tells what the screens catch.
  2. What sinks to the bottom of the tank during the settling step?
  3. What do the microbes do in the third step?
  4. Why does the plant disinfect the water in the last step?
  5. List the four cleaning steps in the correct order.
  6. What does the operator do before the clean water flows back to the river?
  7. A storm washes many sticks and rags into the sewer. Which step catches them? Explain how you know.
  8. Why does it matter that the water is cleaned before it returns to the river?
  9. The word "wastewater" means used water from homes and buildings. Give one example of wastewater from a home.
  10. Name one reason the operator's job is important to the town.

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: "In the first step, called screening, metal screens catch big trash like sticks, rags, and wipes." Accept this sentence copied correctly.
  2. Answer: Heavy bits of waste sink to the bottom of the tank.
  3. Answer: The microbes eat the waste that is still in the water.
  4. Answer: Disinfecting kills germs so the water is safe before it leaves the plant.
  5. Answer: Screening, then settling, then cleaning with microbes, then disinfecting.
  6. Answer: The operator tests the water, and holds it for more cleaning if a test looks wrong.
  7. Answer: Screening, because the passage says the screens catch big trash like sticks and rags.
  8. Answer: Clean water protects the fish and plants that live in the river.
  9. Answer: Accept any home example, such as water from a sink, shower, bathtub, dishwasher, washing machine, or toilet.
  10. Answer: Accept any reason, such as the operator keeps the river clean and keeps used water from making people or wildlife sick.

Differentiation

Support

Provide a four-box picture strip (screen, settling tank, microbes, spray of clean water) beside the passage so students can match each step to a picture while they answer. Allow item 1 to be answered by underlining the sentence in the passage.

Extension

Ask students to write two sentences explaining what might happen to the river if the Stonemill operator skipped the disinfecting step, using only what the passage states about germs and safety.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "wastewater," "screening," "settling," and "disinfect" with a labeled picture for each. Allow recall items 2, 3, and 4 to be answered with short phrases, and let item 5 be completed by numbering the picture strip from 1 to 4.