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Quiz & test questions Grade 5 English Language Arts

Moss Glen's Boil Water Notice: A Grade 5 Reading Quiz

A 25-point grade 5 quiz built on a fictional water district's boil notice, mixing multiple choice, short answer, and an explanatory paragraph for a younger reader.

Objectives

  1. Students will locate stated facts in a public notice and quote them accurately.
  2. Students will explain why clear-looking water can still be under a boil notice.
  3. Students will write an explanatory paragraph about the notice for a younger reader.

Vocabulary

Key words: notice, pressure, sample, laboratory, rolling boil

Teacher overview

This 25-point quiz uses a boil water notice from the fictional Moss Glen Water District as its only source text, so every item can be settled by returning to the notice. The ten items include two multiple-choice questions, six short-answer questions, one exact-quotation item, and a four-point explanatory paragraph written for a younger reader. A misconception the quiz measures directly in item 7 is the belief that water which looks clear must be safe; the notice was issued because low pressure could have pulled material into the pipe, and only laboratory results can settle the question.

Moss Glen's Boil Water Notice: A Grade 5 Reading Quiz — Grade 5 English Language Arts
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Assessment

Notice to customers from the Moss Glen Water District

A water main broke on Larch Street early Sunday morning. Crews shut the line and started the repair at once. While the broken line was open, water pressure on the north side of town dropped very low. When pressure drops that low, dirt and germs can be pulled into the pipe through small cracks.

Until we are sure the water is safe, please follow these steps:

  • Bring water to a rolling boil for one minute before drinking it, cooking with it, or making ice. Let it cool before you use it.
  • Use boiled or bottled water for brushing teeth and for washing fruits and vegetables.
  • You may still use tap water for showers, laundry, and flushing. Do not swallow water while you shower.
  • Fill pet water bowls with boiled water as well.

We have flushed the line and collected samples. The laboratory needs two clean results taken a day apart. We expect to lift this notice Wednesday evening. We will post an update on the district website and call every customer on our list. Questions may be brought to the district office on Third Street.

Answer every item using the notice.

  1. (2 points) What caused the low water pressure on the north side of Moss Glen?
    A. A pump at the treatment plant stopped working.
    B. A water main broke on Larch Street.
    C. Too many people watered lawns at the same time.
    D. The laboratory found germs in a sample.
  2. (2 points) According to the notice, how can dirt and germs get into a pipe when pressure drops very low?
  3. (2 points) How long must water be held at a rolling boil before it is used for drinking?
  4. (2 points) Which one of these does the notice say tap water may still be used for?
    A. Making ice
    B. Brushing teeth
    C. Doing laundry
    D. Washing fruits and vegetables
  5. (2 points) Copy the exact sentence that tells how many clean laboratory results are needed. Put it in quotation marks.
  6. (2 points) Name the two ways the district says it will let customers know when the notice is lifted.
  7. (3 points) A customer says, "The water from my tap looks clear, so the notice must be over." Use the notice to explain why that reasoning is wrong.
  8. (3 points) Why do you think the notice asks families to fill pet water bowls with boiled water? Use the notice to support your answer.
  9. (3 points) The notice says the district expects to lift the notice Wednesday evening, but it does not promise that date. Explain why the district wrote it that way, using a detail from the notice.
  10. (4 points) Write a paragraph for a second grader explaining what a boil water notice is and what their family should do this week. Use at least three details from the notice.

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: B.
    The notice opens by stating that a water main broke on Larch Street early Sunday morning, and that the pressure drop followed while the line was open. Choice A names equipment the notice never mentions, and choices C and D describe events the notice does not report.
  2. Answer: they can be pulled in through small cracks.
    The notice states that very low pressure allows dirt and germs to enter the pipe through small cracks.
  3. Answer: one minute.
    The notice specifies a rolling boil for one minute, followed by cooling before use.
  4. Answer: C.
    The notice lists showers, laundry, and flushing as uses that do not need boiled water. Making ice, brushing teeth, and washing produce all appear on the boiled-water side of the list.
  5. Answer: "The laboratory needs two clean results taken a day apart."
    Accept the sentence copied exactly, with quotation marks and the period inside them.
  6. Answer: posting an update on the district website and calling every customer on the list.
    Both appear in the final paragraph of the notice.
  7. Answer: because clear water can still carry germs.
    Credit answers explaining that the notice is based on what low pressure could have pulled into the pipe, and that the district is waiting on two clean laboratory results a day apart rather than on how the water looks.
  8. Answer: because pets drink the same tap water people do.
    Credit answers reasoning that the notice covers drinking water, that a pet drinking from a bowl is drinking unboiled tap water, and that the notice therefore extends the same rule to pet bowls.
  9. Answer: because the results are not back yet.
    Credit answers pointing to the two clean laboratory results taken a day apart, which means the district cannot know the exact day in advance and can only give an expected date.
  10. Answer: accept any clear paragraph that uses at least three details from the notice.
    A full-credit response tells the younger reader that a pipe broke and the water might not be safe, that water must be boiled for one minute and cooled before drinking, cooking, or making ice, and that showers and laundry are still fine. Award partial credit for fewer than three details or for details stated inaccurately.

Differentiation

Support

Allow students to keep the notice in front of them with the four bulleted steps highlighted, and let items 2, 3, and 6 be answered with short phrases. For item 10, provide a three-sentence frame beginning "A boil water notice means ___."

Extension

Ask students to write the follow-up notice the district would send Wednesday evening once both laboratory results come back clean, keeping it under six sentences and stating clearly which of the earlier steps families can stop following.

ELL supports

Preteach "notice," "pressure," and "rolling boil" with a short teacher-run demonstration of a pot reaching a full boil and a picture of a broken pipe. Allow items 7 through 9 to be answered orally to a teacher or aide who scribes, and provide a word bank for item 10 containing boil, minute, safe, pipe, and cool.

Extensions

Have students compare the Moss Glen notice with a school announcement they have received, such as a snow day message, and write a short paragraph naming one thing both documents do to make sure readers act correctly.