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Worksheet Grade 4 English Language Arts

Testing Fennimore Creek: A Grade 4 Reading and Opinion Worksheet

A grade 4 worksheet pairing a passage about a water-testing technician's morning at a fictional creek with comprehension questions and one short opinion response.

Objectives

  1. Students will describe the ordered steps a water-testing technician follows at a stream.
  2. Students will write a one-sentence opinion supported by a reason from the passage.

Vocabulary

Key words: technician, sample, clarity, downstream, record

Teacher overview

Fennimore Creek is a fictional stream used for this worksheet, and Mr. Delgado, a water-testing technician invented for the same scenario, visits it every month to check whether the water is healthy for the fish and insects living there. This worksheet gives students a short passage describing one of his visits, step by step, then asks comprehension questions about the order and purpose of his work, followed by one short opinion question tied directly to what students just read.

Testing Fennimore Creek: A Grade 4 Reading and Opinion Worksheet — Grade 4 English Language Arts
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Read the passage, then answer the questions below.

Mr. Delgado parks his truck beside Fennimore Creek early in the morning. The sun has not warmed the water yet. First, he walks to the same spot on the bank every time. That way, his results can be fairly compared from month to month. He fills a clean sample bottle with creek water. He is careful not to touch the inside of the bottle. Next, he checks the water's clarity. Clarity means how clear or cloudy the water looks. He lowers a small striped disk into the creek until it disappears from view. He writes down the depth where it vanished. Then he tests the water's temperature with a thermometer. Fish need water within a certain temperature range to stay healthy. Finally, he walks a short distance downstream. He repeats every step at a second spot. That way, he can compare the two locations. Back at his office, Mr. Delgado records all of today's numbers. He puts them in a report the town can read.

  1. Where does Mr. Delgado go first when he arrives at Fennimore Creek?
  2. Why does he always walk to the same spot on the bank?
  3. What is the striped disk used for?
  4. What does Mr. Delgado check with a thermometer? Why does that matter for fish?
  5. Why does he repeat every step at a second spot downstream?
  6. Put these three steps in order: testing temperature, checking clarity, filling the sample bottle.
  7. Find the word "clarity" in the passage. What does it mean?
  8. Would you want a job like Mr. Delgado's? Give one reason from the passage.

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: He goes to the same spot on the bank where he always starts. The passage states he "walks to the same spot on the bank every time."
  2. Answer: So his results can be fairly compared from month to month, which the passage states directly as the reason for returning to the same spot.
  3. Answer: It is used to check the water's clarity, how clear or cloudy the water looks, by seeing how deep it can be lowered before it disappears from view.
  4. Answer: He checks the water's temperature, and the passage explains this matters because fish need water within a certain temperature range to stay healthy.
  5. Answer: So he can compare the two locations, which the passage states directly as the purpose of the second stop downstream.
  6. Answer: Filling the sample bottle, checking clarity, testing temperature. The passage describes the bottle first, the clarity disk second, and the thermometer third.
  7. Answer: Clarity means how clear or cloudy the water looks. The sentence describes it directly right after the word appears.
  8. Answer: Answers will vary, but the sentence must state a clear opinion (want or would not want the job) and give one reason drawn from the passage, such as enjoying the outdoors, being careful and organized, or helping keep the creek healthy for fish.

Differentiation

Support

Read the passage aloud once as a class and number each of Mr. Delgado's four steps together on the board before students answer question 6 independently, and allow question 8 to be answered orally and transcribed by a partner.

Extension

Ask students to write one additional test Mr. Delgado might want to add to his visit, explaining what problem in the creek that new test could help him notice that his clarity and temperature tests do not.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "technician," "sample," and "downstream" with simple sketches (a person in a vest, a small bottle, an arrow pointing along a stream) before reading, and provide a four-box sequence chart for question 6 so students can sort the steps visually before writing the order in words.