Lesson plan Grade 4 English Language Arts
The Leak Hunt at Hallview Elementary: A Grade 4 Research Lesson
Students investigate three aspects of water leaks using fact cards from a fictional school's leak hunt, then draft a short research report with three labeled sections.
Objectives
- Students will gather facts about three different aspects of one topic from three separate sources.
- Students will record notes in their own words and label each note with the card it came from.
- Students will draft a short report organized into three sections with a heading for each.
Vocabulary
Key words: leak, conservation, source, notes, repair
Teacher overview
Hallview Elementary, in the fictional town of Marchbank, is the setting for a short research lesson about leaks. Three fact cards give students three genuinely different angles on one topic, which is exactly the investigation move that grade 4 short research asks for, and each card is short enough that a fourth grader can take notes from it without paraphrasing help. The misconception this lesson corrects is that a leak has to be large or noisy to matter; students often assume a slow drip is too small to count, so the second card supplies a household leak figure from federal water-efficiency guidance and the notes routine forces students to write that figure down and reuse it. Teachers should expect the note-taking, not the writing, to be the hard part.
Procedure
Hook (5 min): Ask students to name every place in a school building where water runs. Record the list on the board and circle any spot where a leak would be hard to notice, such as inside a wall or under a sink cabinet.
Setting up the investigation (10 min): Explain that the class is going to research one topic, school water leaks, from three different angles. Show the three fact card titles and state the research question for each: where do leaks hide, how much water do leaks waste, and who finds and fixes them. Model taking one note from card one, saying aloud how you shorten the sentence and how you write the card name next to the note.
Guided note-taking (10 min): Groups of three read card one together. Each student writes two notes in their own words on the handout and labels both notes with the card name. Check two or three groups for notes that copy the card word for word, and coach those students to shorten instead.
Independent research rotation (18 min): Groups read cards two and three and take two notes from each, six notes in all. Students then answer handout questions 1 through 4, which ask them to name the card that supplied the answer.
Drafting (8 min): Students begin handout question 5, a three-section report with one heading per research question and at least two facts under each heading. Most students will finish this draft during the next writing block.
Closure and formative check (4 min): Collect the note-taking handouts and sort them into two piles: notes written in the student's own words with a card label, and notes copied word for word or unlabeled. If more than a third of the class lands in the second pile, reteach shortening with a whole-class card before students continue drafting.
Student Handout
Read all three cards. Take two notes from each card. Then answer questions 1 through 5.
Card 1: Where leaks hide at Hallview Elementary
The custodian at Hallview Elementary is Mr. Dolan. He says most school leaks are quiet ones. A toilet flapper that does not seal lets water slide down the drain all night. A drinking fountain valve can weep a thin trickle behind its panel. An outdoor spigot can drip into the grass, where nobody hears it. Mr. Dolan checks the loud pipes first, then the quiet ones, because the quiet ones run for months.
Card 2: How much water leaks waste
A drip seems small. Federal water-saving guidance says household leaks waste an average of about 180 gallons of water each week, which comes to nearly 9,400 gallons in one year. That is water a family pays for and never uses. A school building has many more sinks, toilets, and fountains than a house, so Mr. Dolan tells the Hallview students that small leaks add up faster than they expect.
Card 3: Who finds and fixes leaks
Two kinds of workers handle leaks. Inside the building, a maintenance technician like Mr. Dolan repairs flappers, washers, and valves. Outside, the Marchbank Water Department sends a crew to check the pipes under the street. Some water departments also employ a conservation specialist. That worker studies water bills, spots months when a building suddenly uses more water than usual, and calls the school to warn it.
- According to card 1, why does Mr. Dolan worry about quiet leaks? Name the card and the detail you used.
- According to card 2, about how much water do household leaks waste in one week? Name the card and the detail you used.
- According to card 3, which worker studies water bills to spot a leak? Name the card and the detail you used.
- Card 1 and card 2 give different kinds of information about leaks. Explain the difference in one or two sentences.
- Write a short report about leaks with three headings: Where leaks hide, How much leaks waste, and Who fixes leaks. Put at least two facts under each heading. Use your own words.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Answer Key
- Answer: Because quiet leaks can run for months before anyone notices, unlike loud ones. Card 1 lists a toilet flapper, a fountain valve, and an outdoor spigot as quiet leaks and says the quiet ones run for months.
- Answer: About 180 gallons each week. Card 2 states that household leaks waste an average of about 180 gallons per week, or nearly 9,400 gallons a year.
- Answer: A conservation specialist at the water department. Card 3 says that worker studies water bills, spots unusual months, and calls the school.
- Answer: Card 1 tells where leaks happen, and card 2 tells how much water leaks waste. Accept any answer that separates a place or a location from an amount.
- Answer: Accept any three-section report with the three required headings and at least two accurate facts under each. A proficient response places toilet flappers and fountain valves under the first heading, the weekly and yearly waste figures under the second, and the maintenance technician plus the water department crew under the third.
Differentiation
Support
Give these students a note-taking handout with the card names already printed beside each blank line and with one note per card already filled in as a model. Allow them to write four notes rather than six, and let them dictate their answer to question 4 before writing it.
Extension
Ask students to write a fourth fact card for the set, titled how a school can stop leaks before they start, using only ideas that follow from the three cards provided. The card must contain at least three sentences and must not add any number that is not already in card 2.
ELL supports
Pre-teach leak, drip, flapper, and repair with a real dripping faucet or a photograph of one, and post the three research questions as sentence starters students can reuse: leaks hide in, leaks waste about, and leaks are fixed by. Allow notes to be written as phrases rather than sentences.