Worksheet Grade 5 English Language Arts
Mapping Marrow Creek's Watershed: A Grade 5 Vocabulary Worksheet
A grade 5 worksheet where students read about the land draining into a fictional creek, then define watershed vocabulary and reason about cause and effect.
Objectives
- Students will define watershed and tributary using context from a descriptive passage.
- Students will identify which types of land drain toward a named creek.
- Students will cite specific details from the passage to explain cause-and-effect relationships in runoff.
Vocabulary
- Watershed
- A watershed is all the land where rain that falls will drain to the same stream, river, or lake. Everyone lives in a watershed, no matter how far from the water they live.
- Tributary
- A tributary is a smaller stream or river that flows into a bigger one. Many small tributaries join together to build a large river.
Also: runoff
Teacher overview
Marrow Creek collects rainwater from forested hills, farmland, and a small town before it flows into the Lindell River. That pattern, land higher than the creek draining toward it, is what defines a watershed. This worksheet gives students a short description of the land around Marrow Creek and asks them to define watershed vocabulary, reason about which areas drain toward the creek, and apply the concept to a watershed of their own. A common misconception worth naming before students begin: some students think only the land right beside a creek belongs to its watershed; the description below shows forest, farmland, and town land all draining toward the creek, and item 7 asks students to use that evidence.
Student Worksheet
Read the description of Marrow Creek's watershed, then answer the questions.
Marrow Creek sits in a valley. Higher ground surrounds it on three sides. To the north, forested hills slope down toward the creek. Rain that falls there soaks into the soil. Some of it trickles downhill in small streams. To the east, farmland slopes gently toward the creek. Rain on the fields either soaks in or runs off across the surface. Runoff can carry loose soil with it. To the west sits the town of Marrow Creek. The town has paved streets and rooftops. Rain runs off the pavement quickly, because pavement does not soak up water the way soil does. All three kinds of land are part of Marrow Creek's watershed. Rain falling anywhere on this land eventually reaches the creek. A smaller stream called Otter Run flows down from the forested hills. It joins Marrow Creek partway through the valley. A stream that flows into a larger stream or river is called a tributary.
- Define "watershed" in your own words, using Marrow Creek's valley as your example.
- Name the three types of land described as part of Marrow Creek's watershed.
- What is a tributary, and which stream in the passage is described as one?
- Explain why rain falling on the paved streets in town reaches the creek faster than rain falling on the forested hills.
- Why does farmland runoff sometimes carry loose soil with it, based on the description?
- Find the sentence that explains why all three types of land count as part of the watershed. Write the sentence.
- A student says, "Only the hills right next to the creek can be part of its watershed." Using details from the passage, explain why this student is mistaken.
- Imagine a new housing development is built on the forested hills north of Marrow Creek, replacing trees and soil with roofs and driveways. Based on the passage, would you expect runoff into the creek to increase or decrease? Explain your reasoning.
- Think of a river, lake, or creek near where you live, or one you have read about. Name one type of land (forest, farmland, town, or another kind) that is probably part of its watershed, and explain why.
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: all the land where rainwater eventually drains into the creek. The passage describes forest, farmland, and town land all draining toward Marrow Creek, which is what makes them part of its watershed.
- Answer: forested hills, farmland, and town (paved streets and rooftops). The passage names these three types of land as sloping or draining toward the creek.
- Answer: a stream that flows into a larger stream or river. Otter Run is named as the tributary that joins Marrow Creek.
- Answer: because pavement does not soak up water the way soil does, so rain runs off the streets and rooftops quickly instead of soaking in first.
- Answer: because as rain runs off across the surface of the fields instead of soaking in, it can carry loose soil along with it.
- Answer: "Rain falling anywhere on this land eventually reaches the creek." Following the sentence "All three kinds of land are part of Marrow Creek's watershed," this is the sentence that explains why all three count.
- Answer: The passage states that rain falling anywhere on this land, including the farmland and the town and not only the hills, eventually reaches the creek, so land does not have to be a hill right next to the creek to be part of its watershed.
- Answer: Runoff would likely increase, because the passage describes paved surfaces as letting rain run off quickly rather than soaking in the way forested soil does.
- Answer: Answers will vary; accept any reasonable local example that names a type of land and explains, using the passage's reasoning, why rain falling there would drain toward the named water body.
Differentiation
Support
Provide a simple three-part diagram of the valley (hills, fields, town) with arrows already drawn showing water flowing toward the creek, and let students label each part using words from a word bank before answering the questions.
Extension
Ask students to write two additional sentences describing what might happen to Marrow Creek if the farmland were replaced with a paved parking lot, using reasoning similar to item 8.
ELL supports
Preteach "watershed," "tributary," and "runoff" using a simple tabletop model (a tilted tray with a low point) or a drawn diagram before students read the passage. Allow items 1, 3, and 9 to be answered with a labeled sketch instead of full sentences.