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Classroom activity Grade 3 English Language Arts

Water Words Scavenger Hunt at the Thistlewood Treatment Plant

A grade 3 partner scavenger hunt where students read eight clue cards about treatment-plant jobs and steps and answer each question with text evidence.

Objectives

  1. Students will read short informational clue cards and answer questions using evidence copied from the text.
  2. Students will identify at least four jobs or tools used at a water treatment plant.
  3. Students will use order words on the cards, such as first, next and after, to put the stops water makes at the plant in order.

Vocabulary

Reservoir
A human-made lake, usually created by a dam, that stores water for later. Reservoirs supply cities and farms and help control floods.

Also: operator, filter, disinfect

Teacher overview

In this whole-class scavenger hunt, students work in pairs. Eight clue cards about the fictional Thistlewood water treatment plant are taped around the room. Six cards describe the stops water makes on its way through the plant (the reservoir, the intake screen, the settling basin, the filter, disinfection and the storage tank), and two describe the people who work there (the operator and the lab analyst). Pairs travel from card to card, read each short clue, and record an answer to that card's question along with the words on the card that prove it. Because the cards are numbered in a mixed order rather than in the order water travels, the class then uses the order words written on the cards to rebuild the water's path during the debrief.

Activity Directions

  1. Before class, print the eight clue cards from the Student Handout and tape them around the room, spread far enough apart that two or three pairs can read a card at once. Print one recording sheet for each pair. The cards are numbered 1 through 8 in a mixed order on purpose, so do not rearrange them to follow the water's path.
  2. Divide the class into pairs and give each pair one recording sheet and a pencil.
  3. Model the routine with Card 1 before the hunt begins. Read it aloud, answer the question ("A reservoir stores water before it is cleaned."), and show how to copy the proof words from the card into the second column of the recording sheet.
  4. Explain that pairs may visit the cards in any order. At each card, one partner reads the clue aloud, both partners agree on the answer, and one partner writes the answer and the proof words before the pair moves on.
  5. Set a timer for 20 minutes. Pairs move around the room at their own pace, recording answers as they go.
  6. When the timer ends, or when every pair has visited all eight cards, call the class back together.
  7. Go through the eight questions in number order, calling on a different pair for each one to share their answer and to read aloud the sentence on the card that supports it. Use the Answer Key to confirm each answer.
  8. Hold the debrief using the three questions under "Debrief" in the Answer Key. For the last question, write the six stops on the board as the class names them, and ask students which words on the cards told them the order.
  9. End with a quick check: ask pairs to raise their hands if they answered at least six of the eight questions correctly with proof words (or three of the four for pairs using the shorter Support set), and note which cards gave the class the most trouble for later review.
Water Words Scavenger Hunt at the Thistlewood Treatment Plant — Grade 3 English Language Arts
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

Clue Cards

Print each card on its own sheet or half-sheet.

Card 1: The Reservoir

A reservoir is a lake or tank that stores water before it is cleaned. Thistlewood's reservoir is a lake filled by the river, and it holds enough water for the whole town. Water leaves the reservoir first and flows through a big pipe to the treatment plant.

Question: What does a reservoir do?

Card 2: The Operator

A water treatment plant operator runs the machines that clean the water. Operators check the pumps and gauges, and they test the water many times during each work shift. Someone is working at the Thistlewood plant every hour of the day and night, because the town needs clean water all the time.

Question: Name two things an operator does.

Card 3: The Filter

After the settling basin, the water still has tiny bits of dirt in it. Next, the water moves through a filter, which is a deep bed of sand and gravel. The sand and gravel catch the small bits of dirt as the water trickles down.

Question: What catches the small bits of dirt in a filter?

Card 4: The Intake Screen

When water first comes into the plant from the reservoir, it passes through an intake screen. The screen is a metal mesh with small holes, much like a kitchen strainer. It stops sticks, leaves and fish from getting into the plant.

Question: What does the intake screen keep out of the plant?

Card 5: The Lab Analyst

A water quality lab analyst collects small bottles of water, called samples, from the plant and from around the town. In the lab, the analyst tests the samples for germs and checks how cloudy the water is. The analyst writes down every result so the operators know whether the water is safe.

Question: Why does the lab analyst write down every result?

Card 6: Disinfection

To disinfect means to kill germs. After the filter, operators add a small, carefully measured amount of chlorine to disinfect the water. A little chlorine stays in the water to keep germs from growing as the water travels through the pipes.

Question: What does the word disinfect mean?

Card 7: The Settling Basin

After the intake screen, operators add a chemical that makes tiny bits of dirt stick together into clumps. Then the water flows slowly through a settling basin, which is a large, calm tank. The heavy clumps sink to the bottom, and the cleaner water at the top moves on.

Question: What happens to the heavy clumps in the settling basin?

Card 8: The Storage Tank

After the water is disinfected, it goes to its last stop at the plant, a storage tank that holds the clean water until people need it. Thistlewood's storage tank sits on a hill above the town. When someone turns on a faucet, water flows downhill from the tank through pipes to the home.

Question: What does the storage tank hold?

Recording Sheet

Write both partners' names at the top of the sheet.

Write your answer in the middle column. In the last column, copy the words from the card that prove your answer.

Card Our answer Proof words from the card
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8

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 reservoir stores water before it is cleaned. Proof: "A reservoir is a lake or tank that stores water before it is cleaned."
  2. Answer: Any two of these: runs the machines that clean the water, checks the pumps and gauges, or tests the water. Proof: "A water treatment plant operator runs the machines that clean the water" and "Operators check the pumps and gauges, and they test the water many times during each work shift."
  3. Answer: Sand and gravel catch the small bits of dirt. Proof: "The sand and gravel catch the small bits of dirt as the water trickles down."
  4. Answer: The intake screen keeps out sticks, leaves and fish. Proof: "It stops sticks, leaves and fish from getting into the plant."
  5. Answer: The analyst writes down every result so the operators know whether the water is safe. Proof: "The analyst writes down every result so the operators know whether the water is safe."
  6. Answer: Disinfect means to kill germs. Proof: "To disinfect means to kill germs."
  7. Answer: The heavy clumps sink to the bottom of the tank. Proof: "The heavy clumps sink to the bottom, and the cleaner water at the top moves on."
  8. Answer: The storage tank holds the clean water until people need it. Proof: "a storage tank that holds the clean water until people need it."

Debrief

These questions are for the whole-class discussion in step 8 and are not on the recording sheet.

  • "Why does someone work at the Thistlewood plant at night?" Answer: Because the town needs clean water all the time (Card 2). Students may add that operators check pumps and gauges and test the water during every shift.
  • "Which three cards describe a step that removes dirt or other things from the water?" Answer: Card 4, the intake screen (sticks, leaves and fish); Card 7, the settling basin (heavy clumps of dirt sink); and Card 3, the filter (sand and gravel catch small bits of dirt). If a student names Card 6, accept it as a reasonable idea, and point out that the card says chlorine kills germs rather than taking anything out of the water.
  • "Put the six stops the water makes in order, from the reservoir to the storage tank. Which words on the cards told you the order?" Answer: reservoir (Card 1), intake screen (Card 4), settling basin (Card 7), filter (Card 3), disinfection (Card 6), storage tank (Card 8). The order words are "Water leaves the reservoir first" (Card 1), "When water first comes into the plant from the reservoir" (Card 4), "After the intake screen" (Card 7), "After the settling basin" and "Next" (Card 3), "After the filter" (Card 6), and "After the water is disinfected" and "last stop" (Card 8). Cards 2 and 5 describe people who work at the plant, so they are not stops on the water's path.

Differentiation

Support

Reduce the hunt to four clue cards, Cards 1, 3, 4 and 6, and give each pair a highlighter so partners can mark the sentence that answers each question before they write. Pairs may write only the card's key words, such as "kill germs," in the answer column.

Extension

Ask pairs who finish early to write a ninth clue card, in the same format of two or three sentences plus one question, about a treatment-plant job or step not already covered, such as a maintenance mechanic who repairs the pumps. The card should include an order word or a sentence that shows where it fits.

ELL supports

Add a small picture to each clue card: a lake for the reservoir, a strainer for the intake screen, a tank with dirt at the bottom for the settling basin, sand and pebbles for the filter, a drop with a germ crossed out for disinfection, a tower on a hill for the storage tank, a person with a clipboard for the operator, and a test tube for the lab analyst. Pair an English learner with a partner who reads the clue aloud, and post the four vocabulary words with their pictures near the recording sheets.

Extensions

Follow the hunt with a class discussion about why a town needs people to do these treatment-plant jobs every day, connecting the vocabulary from the cards to the operator and lab analyst careers. Classes that enjoy the format could write four new clue cards about a different set of water jobs, such as a well driller or a stormwater inspector, and trade cards with another class for a second round of the hunt.