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Worksheet Grade 1 English Language Arts

Sidewalk Salt at Dunnock Pond: A Grade 1 Opinion Worksheet

Ten grade 1 items about winter salt washing from a school walk into a pond, asking students to sort facts from opinions and write an opinion with a reason.

Objectives

  1. Students will tell a fact sentence apart from an opinion sentence.
  2. Students will state an opinion about how much salt a school should spread.
  3. Students will supply one reason for that opinion using the word because.

Vocabulary

Key words: salt, melt, opinion, reason, pond

Teacher overview

Dunnock School is an invented school whose front walk slopes downhill to a small pond where frogs live. In winter the custodian spreads salt on that walk to melt the ice, and in March the melting snow carries the leftover salt down the slope and into the pond. The worksheet holds that one scene so students sort facts from opinions inside a familiar winter routine before writing an opinion of their own. The misconception these items address is the idea that salt vanishes once the ice is gone; item 7 asks directly where the salt goes after the snow melts.

Sidewalk Salt at Dunnock Pond: A Grade 1 Opinion Worksheet — Grade 1 English Language Arts
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Read the story, or listen while your teacher reads it.

Snow fell on Dunnock School. The front walk was slick. Mr. Reyes spread salt on the walk. The salt melted the ice, and the walk was safe. In March the snow melted too. The melt water ran down the hill. It carried the old salt into Dunnock Pond. Frogs live in that pond. Too much salt is not good for them.

  1. Circle the sentence that gives a fact. (a) Salt melts ice on a walk. (b) Salt is the best thing about winter.
  2. Circle the sentence that gives an opinion. (a) The melt water ran down the hill. (b) That hill is too steep.
  3. Write your opinion. Should the school use less salt on the walk? Start with the words I think.
  4. Write one reason for your opinion. Start with the word because.
  5. Write a closing line. Tell the reader what to do.
  6. Which reason goes with this opinion: I think Mr. Reyes should shovel first and salt after. Circle one. Shoveling takes the snow off, so less salt is needed. / Shovels have long handles.
  7. Where does the salt go when the snow melts? Circle one. down the hill to the pond / back up into the sky / into the salt bag
  8. Name one animal from the story that too much salt could hurt.
  9. A friend says a slick walk is not safe for people. Write one sentence telling what you think. Use the word because.
  10. Make a small sign for the salt bin. Write three words that tell people how much salt to use.

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: (a) Salt melts ice on a walk. Choice (b) tells what someone likes about winter, so it is an opinion.
  2. Answer: (b) That hill is too steep. Choice (a) tells what the water did, so it is a fact from the story.
  3. Answer: Accept any clear opinion, such as "I think the school should use less salt" or "I think the school should keep using salt." The sentence must take a side.
  4. Answer: Accept any reason from the story joined by because, such as "because the salt ends up in the pond" or "because people can slip on the ice." A reason that repeats the opinion in new words should be revised with the writer.
  5. Answer: Accept any closing line that tells the reader what to do, such as "Please use a small scoop of salt." A restated opinion counts as closure at this grade.
  6. Answer: Shoveling takes the snow off, so less salt is needed. The length of a shovel handle has nothing to do with how much salt the walk needs.
  7. Answer: down the hill to the pond. The melting snow carried the leftover salt with it, so the salt did not disappear when the ice did.
  8. Answer: Frogs. They are the animals named in the story as living in Dunnock Pond.
  9. Answer: Accept any sentence joined by because that answers the friend, such as "A slick walk is not safe because people fall." Students may agree with the friend and still meet the standard, and stronger answers name both the walk and the pond.
  10. Answer: Accept any three words that guide the scooper, such as "Use one scoop," "Just a little," or "Salt only ice." A drawing of a small scoop beside the words is a reasonable addition.

Differentiation

Support

Read the story aloud twice and trace the melt water's path with a finger from the walk to the pond. For items 1, 2, 6, and 7, cover the choice a student has already ruled out with a slip of paper. Allow students to dictate items 3, 4, and 5 to an adult and then copy them.

Extension

Ask students to write a second reason and to name one person at school who should read their closing line. A further step is to write one sentence a classmate with the other opinion might say, and then answer it in a sentence of their own.

ELL supports

Pre-teach salt, melt, and slick with a cup of ice, a pinch of salt, and a drawing of a walk sloping to a pond. Provide the frames "I think the school should _____." and "I think that because _____." Let students point to the pond on the drawing before answering item 7, and accept short phrases on items 8 and 10.

Extensions

Stir a spoonful of salt into a clear cup of warm water and let the class watch the grains disappear from sight. Set the cup on a sunny sill and look again after two days, once some of the water has dried off and a white ring has formed at the edge. Students write one sentence telling what the ring shows about where the sidewalk salt went.