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Worksheet Grade 1 English Language Arts

Foggy Hollow Creek: A Grade 1 Litter and Water Pollution Worksheet

A grade 1 worksheet where students sort litter from natural objects near a creek and write informative sentences about how trash can hurt fish and clean water.

Objectives

  1. Students will identify litter that could wash into a creek and harm fish.
  2. Students will distinguish litter from natural objects found near water.
  3. Students will write informative sentences explaining why litter near a creek is a problem.

Vocabulary

Key words: litter, creek, trash

Teacher overview

A small creek runs behind the fictional neighborhood of Foggy Hollow, and wind sometimes blows trash from the sidewalk toward the water. This worksheet asks grade 1 students to sort litter from natural objects like leaves and rocks, then write informative sentences explaining why litter near a creek matters. The writing items ask students to name the topic and give one fact, the same structure first graders use across their informative writing.

Foggy Hollow Creek: A Grade 1 Litter and Water Pollution Worksheet — Grade 1 English Language Arts
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

  1. Circle the item that could hurt fish. A) A bottle cap. B) A smooth rock.
  2. Circle the item that could hurt fish. A) A leaf. B) A candy wrapper.
  3. Fill in the blank. Trash can hurt the ____ that live in a creek. Word bank: fish, chairs.
  4. True or false. Litter next to a creek is always safe.
  5. Look at this list. A can. A leaf. A bag. A pinecone. A wrapper. Circle each one that is litter.
  6. Write one sentence about why litter is bad for a creek. Start with "Litter can."
  7. Write one more fact. Use the word rain in your sentence.
  8. Write about one thing you could do if you saw litter by a creek.

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. A plastic bottle cap does not belong in water and could be swallowed by a fish, unlike a smooth river rock, which is a natural part of a creek.
  2. Answer: B. A candy wrapper is litter that could hurt fish, unlike a leaf, which is a natural object that falls into creeks on its own.
  3. Answer: Fish. Trash that blows into a creek can hurt the fish that live there, not chairs.
  4. Answer: False. Wind and rain can carry litter from a sidewalk into a nearby creek, so litter left near water often does reach it.
  5. Answer: Soda can, plastic bag, and candy wrapper are litter. The leaf and the pinecone are natural objects and should not be circled.
  6. Answer: Answers will vary; accept any sentence beginning "Litter can" that names a real problem, such as "Litter can hurt fish that live in the creek."
  7. Answer: Answers will vary; accept any sentence using the word rain that explains litter washing or blowing into water, such as "Rain can wash litter off the sidewalk and into the creek."
  8. Answer: Answers will vary; accept any reasonable response, such as telling a grown-up, or picking up the litter with a grown-up's help and throwing it away in a trash can.

Differentiation

Support

Read each item aloud once before students work independently, and provide small picture cards showing a soda can, a leaf, a plastic bag, and a rock to support items 1, 2, and 5.

Extension

Ask students to write a third informative sentence naming one way a community could keep litter out of a creek, such as a cleanup day or more trash cans near the water.

ELL supports

Pre-teach litter, creek, and trash with picture cards before students begin, and pair litter with a simple gesture like a hand tossing something down. Allow items 6, 7, and 8 to be answered with a short phrase instead of a full sentence.