Project Grade 5 English Language Arts
The Slate Harbor Water Museum: Grade 5 Exhibit Panels
A five-session grade 5 ELA project where teams research one part of a town water system and write a hallway exhibit panel for fourth-grade visitors.
Objectives
- Students will write a 90 to 120 word explanation of one part of a town water system.
- Students will name the source beside every fact they use on the panel.
- Students will label a diagram and write a caption of 25 words or fewer.
Vocabulary
Key words: exhibit, panel, caption, source, glossary
Teacher overview
Five teams each build one panel of a hallway exhibit about the water system of Slate Harbor, a fictional coastal town, and the finished five panels are toured by visiting fourth-grade classes. The driving question is how a class can explain a whole town water system to younger readers in five panels and no more. The word limits, the required source line, and the fourth-grade audience are what make a team choose among the facts in its folder rather than copy all of them.
Teaching note: expect the fourth panel to surface a durable misconception. Many fifth graders believe the storm drain at the curb carries water to the treatment plant. In most towns the storm drain runs straight to a creek or a bay with no treatment at all, while the drain in the kitchen sink goes to the plant. Teams writing the used-water panel should be asked directly which pipe they are describing, since a panel that blurs the two will teach the misconception to a hundred younger students.
Project Brief
Driving question. How can our class explain the Slate Harbor water system to fourth graders using five panels and nothing else?
The client. The fictional Slate Harbor town office has asked our class to build a small museum in the school hallway. Fourth-grade classes will tour it. Younger readers need short sentences and clear labels.
Your team's topic. Each team takes one panel. Panel 1 is where the town's water starts. Panel 2 is how the water is cleaned. Panel 3 is how the water reaches a tap. Panel 4 is where used water goes. Panel 5 is who keeps the system running.
What every panel must have.
- A title of 8 words or fewer.
- One explanation of 90 to 120 words. Count the words and write the count at the bottom.
- One labeled diagram with a caption of 25 words or fewer.
- A "Words to know" box with exactly 2 words and a short meaning for each.
- One sentence quoted word for word from a source, with the source named beside it.
- The panel must fit on one sheet of poster paper, no larger than 18 by 24 inches.
What your team turns in. The mounted panel, the notes page from Milestone 1, and a two-minute spoken introduction for the tour.
Your sources. Your teacher will hand your team a folder with three short sources. They may include a page from a town water report, a printed interview with a plant worker, and a labeled handout from a water utility. Use only the folder. Write the source name beside every fact you take.
Milestones
- Session 1, read and take notes. Read all three sources in your folder. Fill a two-column note page. Put the fact on the left and the source name on the right. Output: a notes page with at least 6 facts, each with its source named.
- Session 2, draft the explanation. Write a first draft of the panel explanation. Group it in three parts: what this part of the system does, how it works, and why it matters to a fourth grader. Output: a first draft with the word count written at the bottom.
- Session 3, build the diagram and the box. Draw the labeled diagram and write its caption. Choose the 2 words for the "Words to know" box and write a short meaning for each. Output: a diagram sheet and a finished box.
- Session 4, revise and check. Cut or add words until the explanation lands between 90 and 120. Check your quoted sentence against the source, word for word. Write the title in 8 words or fewer. Trade panels with another team and mark anything a fourth grader would not understand. Output: a final draft plus a peer check page signed by the other team.
- Session 5, mount and guide the tour. Glue every part onto the poster sheet. Stand at your panel during the tour. Give your two-minute introduction and answer three questions from visitors. Output: the mounted panel and the spoken introduction.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Rubric
| Criterion | Emerging | Developing | Proficient | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Use of sources | Facts appear with no source named | Some facts carry a source name; the quoted sentence does not match the source word for word | Every fact carries a source name and the quoted sentence matches the source exactly | Every fact carries a source name, the quotation matches exactly, and the team explains on the notes page why it chose that sentence |
| Required parts and limits | Two or more required parts are missing or outside their limits | All parts are present but the explanation or caption is outside its word limit | Every required part is present and within its limit, with the word count shown | Every part is present and within its limit, and the team can name a sentence it cut to meet the limit |
| Writing for the audience | Sentences are copied from the sources and are too dense for a fourth grader | Some sentences are rewritten, others still read like the source | The explanation is grouped in three clear parts and written in the team's own short sentences | The explanation is grouped and rewritten, and it defines the two glossary words the first time they appear |
| Diagram and caption | No diagram, or a diagram with no labels | A diagram with a few labels and a caption that repeats the explanation | A labeled diagram with a caption of 25 words or fewer that adds information | A labeled diagram whose caption adds information the explanation does not carry and points to a specific part of the drawing |
| Tour presentation | The team cannot introduce the panel | The introduction covers part of the panel and runs over or under time | A two-minute introduction covers the panel and answers three visitor questions | The introduction covers the panel, answers three questions, and sends visitors to the panel that comes next |
Differentiation
Support
Give these teams a folder with two sources instead of three and a notes page with four fact lines already ruled and labeled. Provide a sentence frame set for the three parts of the explanation, and lower the explanation limit to 70 to 90 words while keeping every other requirement in place.
Extension
Ask these teams to add a sixth panel that answers the question visiting fourth graders asked most often during the tour, using only the sources already in the folders and naming any question the folders cannot answer. Have them also write the one-sentence sign that tells visitors which panel to read first and why.
ELL supports
Provide each folder with a picture glossary of the eight terms the sources use most, and allow the notes page to be filled in a first language before the draft. Let the two-minute introduction be delivered with a written script, and accept a labeled diagram with short phrase labels in place of two of the six required facts.
Extensions
After the tour, have teams write a short letter to the fictional Slate Harbor town office recommending one panel the museum still needs and naming the source the office would have to provide. Recommending a panel forces students back through the whole exhibit as readers rather than as authors, and the letters make a useful record of what the class learned to ask for.