Classroom activity Grade 5 English Language Arts
The Arrowood Water Works Press Conference: A Grade 5 Activity
Four students hold source cards about a fictional utility's planned six-hour shutdown while the rest of the class interviews them and writes a short news brief.
Objectives
- Students will gather notes from four sources and label each note with the source it came from.
- Students will write a short news brief that uses information from at least three sources.
- Students will copy one sentence from a source exactly and place it in quotation marks.
Vocabulary
Key words: source, notes, quotation, shutdown, brief
Teacher overview
Arrowood is a fictional town whose water works has announced a planned six-hour shutdown on one street while a worn valve is replaced. In this role-play, four students hold source cards written in the voice of four utility staff members, and the rest of the class works in reporter pairs, interviewing each source in turn before writing a short news brief. The cards are written so that no single one answers every question a reporter needs to ask, which means the brief has to draw on several of them. A misconception to correct during the debrief is the belief that a single official statement settles a story; each of the four cards is accurate, and each is incomplete on its own.
Activity Directions
Setup (5 min): Choose four students to be sources and give each one card, A through D, from the Student Handout. Seat them at four spread-out desks with the card face down. Pair the remaining students as reporters and give each pair a note sheet with four labeled boxes, A through D.
Source preparation (8 min): The four source students read their cards silently twice and practice answering in their own words without reading the card aloud word for word. Meanwhile, reporter pairs write two questions they hope to have answered, such as how long the water will be off and who has to plan around it. Circulate and remind reporters that a question beginning with "why" usually gets a longer answer than one beginning with "is."
Interview rounds (16 min): Run four rounds of four minutes each. In each round, every reporter pair sits with one source, asks questions, and records notes in that source's box. Call time and rotate so each pair has met all four sources by the end. Sources may reread their cards between rounds but not during an interview.
Drafting the brief (12 min): Each reporter pair writes a news brief of four sentences about the Maple Row shutdown. The brief must use information from at least three of the four sources, name each source used, and include one sentence copied exactly from a card inside quotation marks. Pairs then answer handout items 1 through 5.
Debrief (4 min): Ask two pairs to read their brief aloud, then ask the class one question: which single card, standing alone, would have left readers most confused, and why. Look for answers that name a card and the question it leaves unanswered. If most pairs used only two sources, note that gap and reteach the note sheet before the next research task.
Student Handout
Card A. Reuben Okonkwo, plant operator
"The treatment plant keeps running all day Tuesday. The shutdown is on one street, not at the plant. We will fill the storage tank higher than usual on Monday night. That way the rest of Arrowood keeps its normal water pressure while Maple Row is off. People across town should not notice anything at all."
Card B. Marta Ilves, distribution crew lead
"We close a valve at each end of Maple Row first. Then we cut out the worn valve in the middle and set a new one in its place. Six hours is our estimate, and we plan for it to take longer. Before we turn the street back on, we flush the line through a hydrant. The first water out of a kitchen tap may look cloudy for a few minutes, and that is air and loosened material, not a sign of trouble."
Card C. Trevor Bass, customer service clerk
"We mailed a notice to all 38 homes on Maple Row two weeks ago, and we hung a tag on every front door on Friday. We ask people to fill a few jugs Monday night for drinking and cooking. The community center on Bell Street keeps its restrooms open all day Tuesday for anyone who needs them. Our phone line opens at seven in the morning."
Card D. Priya Raman, town engineer
"That valve is 60 years old and no longer closes all the way. A valve that will not close is a problem, because it takes away our ability to shut off a small section during an emergency. If we wait for it to fail on its own, the shutdown happens with no warning and probably lasts longer than six hours. Choosing the day ourselves is the safer and cheaper way to do this."
Items
- Which card explains why the water works is doing this now instead of waiting for the valve to fail?
- According to Card B, why might the first water out of a tap look cloudy?
- According to Card C, what does the water works ask Maple Row residents to do on Monday night?
- Cards A and B both describe what happens to water in the pipes. Name one thing Card B tells you that Card A does not.
- A reporter writes, "The water will be off all over Arrowood for six hours." Which card shows that this sentence is wrong, and what does that card say?
Writing task: Write a news brief of four sentences about the Maple Row shutdown. Use information from at least three of the four sources. Name each source you use. Include one sentence copied exactly from a card inside quotation marks.
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: Card D.
Priya Raman explains that the valve no longer closes all the way, and that an unplanned failure would come with no warning and probably last longer. - Answer: air and loosened material from flushing the line.
Card B states that the crew flushes the line through a hydrant before the street is turned back on, and that cloudy water for a few minutes is not a sign of trouble. - Answer: fill a few jugs for drinking and cooking.
Card C also notes that the community center restrooms on Bell Street stay open all day Tuesday. - Answer: answers will vary.
Accept any detail found only on Card B, such as closing a valve at each end of the street, cutting out the worn valve, flushing through a hydrant, or the six-hour estimate that the crew expects may run longer. - Answer: Card A.
Reuben Okonkwo says the shutdown is on one street rather than at the plant, and that the tank will be filled higher Monday night so the rest of Arrowood keeps normal pressure.
Differentiation
Support
Give reporter pairs a note sheet with one starter question already written in each source box, and let a support student serve as a second reader for a source card so the speaking load is shared. Allow the brief to be three sentences using two sources, with the exact quotation still required.
Extension
Ask a pair to write a headline of no more than eight words for their brief, then write two sentences explaining which source card their headline leans on most and what a reader would misunderstand if they read only the headline.
ELL supports
Preteach "shutdown," "source," and "quotation" with a simple picture sequence of a closed valve, a person speaking, and a sentence inside quotation marks. Give source students a highlighted version of their card with the three most important sentences marked, and provide reporters with question frames such as "Why does ___ have to happen?" and "What should people on Maple Row do?"
Extensions
Have students turn their news brief into a door tag of forty words or fewer for the 38 homes on Maple Row, then compare tags with another pair and mark which sentence each pair kept and which each pair cut.