Worksheet Grade 6 English Language Arts
Granite Hollow Pump Station: A Grade 6 Text-and-Table Worksheet
A grade 6 worksheet pairing a pump station's written stage descriptions with a data table, asking students to integrate text and visual information about water pressure.
Objectives
- Students will integrate a written description of a pump station with a data table showing conditions at each stage.
- Students will explain how the pump raises water pressure by combining information stated only in the text with numbers shown only in the table.
Vocabulary
- Pump station
- A pump station is a building full of powerful pumps that push water through pipes or lift it uphill. Pumps give water the extra push that gravity alone cannot provide.
- Flow rate
- Flow rate measures how much water moves past a point in a certain amount of time, like gallons per minute through a garden hose. Bigger pipes and stronger pushes give bigger flow rates.
Also: intake, discharge, pressure
Teacher overview
Granite Hollow is a fictional water system used for this worksheet. Operators there keep a written log describing each stage of a booster pump station alongside a table recording flow rate and pressure. Sixth graders often assume a technical table simply repeats what a written description already says; this worksheet corrects that by asking students to find one detail that appears only in the table and one that appears only in the text, before combining both sources into a single explanation.
Student Worksheet
Granite Hollow is a fictional water system used for this worksheet. Below is a technician's written description of its booster pump station, followed by a table recording conditions at each of its four stages.
Written description:
"Water enters the station at the intake. A screen there keeps out leaves and debris. Next, the water reaches the pump. The pump pushes the water forward and raises its pressure. Water leaves the pump through the discharge pipe. It then enters the distribution system. This system carries water out to homes and businesses. The added pressure lets the water travel uphill to the storage tank. Operators check the flow rate and pressure at each stage every morning. This makes sure the station is working correctly."
Station log table:
| Stage | Flow rate (gpm) | Pressure (psi) |
|---|---|---|
| Intake | 400 | 5 |
| Pump | 400 | 45 |
| Discharge | 400 | 40 |
| Distribution | 380 | 35 |
- According to the written description, what happens to the water immediately after it passes through the intake screen?
- Look only at the table. Which stage has the highest pressure?
- The written description says the pump "raises its pressure." Look at the table. By how many psi does pressure rise from intake to pump?
- The flow rate stays the same at intake, pump, and discharge. It drops at distribution. Why do you think that happens? Use the text and the table.
- Which single piece of information appears in the table but not in the written description?
- Which single piece of information appears in the written description but not in the table?
- A new operator reads only the table, not the written description. What might that operator misunderstand about why pressure changes?
- Use both the text and the table. Write two or three sentences that explain what happens to water pressure as it moves through Granite Hollow's pump station.
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: The water reaches the pump next, where its pressure is raised so it can travel uphill to the storage tank.
- Answer: The pump stage. The table shows the pump stage recorded at the highest pressure of the four stages.
- Answer: 40 psi.
Subtract the intake stage's pressure from the pump stage's pressure using the table: the pump stage's reading minus the intake stage's reading equals 40 psi. - Answer: The flow rate likely drops at distribution because some water is drawn off to serve homes and businesses along the way, since the written description states that distribution "carries water out to homes and businesses," which the table's lower distribution number then confirms.
- Answer: The specific pressure and flow-rate numbers at each stage. The written description never states any figures; only the table records those numbers.
- Answer: The role of the intake screen in keeping out leaves and debris. The table records numbers only, not what happens at each stage or why. Also accept any other detail stated only in the text, such as the uphill storage tank, the reason the pump raises pressure, or the daily morning checks.
- Answer: That operator might think pressure just naturally rises and falls between stages, without understanding that the pump itself causes the increase, since the table alone does not explain that the pump is the reason pressure changes.
- Answer: Water pressure is lowest at intake, rises sharply once the pump pushes the water uphill, and then gradually decreases as the water travels through discharge and out into the distribution system to reach homes and businesses.
Differentiation
Support (below grade level)
Highlight matching phrases and table cells in two colors so students can see that the phrase "raises its pressure" in the text lines up with the rising pressure numbers in the table. Complete item 2 together as a class before students work independently on the remaining items.
Extension (above grade level)
Ask students to rewrite the station log as a single paragraph that states every number from the table in words rather than in a table, then explain what is gained and what is lost by combining the two formats into one.
ELL supports
Provide a labeled diagram showing a simple left-to-right chain, intake to pump to discharge to distribution, alongside the table so students can point to each stage while reading. Preview "intake," "discharge," and "distribution" with a simple sketch of pipes and a tank before assigning the worksheet.