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Lesson plan Grade 6 English Language Arts

Two Documents on Hallowford's PFAS Plan: A Grade 6 Lesson

A grade 6 ELA lesson comparing a fictional town's PFAS fact sheet with a resident's letter, so students see how purpose shapes the evidence a writer includes.

Objectives

  1. Students will identify the purpose and intended audience of two documents written about the same water problem.
  2. Students will quote the evidence each writer chose and explain how that choice fits the writer's purpose.
  3. Students will write a claim about the town's next step supported by two reasons drawn from both documents.

Vocabulary

PFAS
A large family of human-made chemicals used in things like nonstick pans, waterproof fabric, and firefighting foam. They are called forever chemicals because they take a very long time to break down.

Also: purpose, audience, claim, evidence, treatment

Teacher overview

Two people can write about the same water test result and produce documents that feel entirely different, because each one is written for a different reader and a different purpose. This lesson pairs a fact sheet from the fictional Hallowford Water Department with a letter to the editor from a Hallowford resident, both about the same PFAS results, and asks students to name each writer's purpose before judging the evidence. The misconception to address is the belief that an official document contains facts while a letter contains only opinions. Both documents here carry evidence and both carry a purpose, and students need to read each one for the choices its writer made.

Procedure

Hook (5 min): Ask students how a text message to a friend about a canceled practice would differ from an announcement about the same cancellation posted by the coach. Collect two or three answers and name the pattern aloud: the writer's purpose and reader change what gets included.

First reading (12 min): Distribute the handout. Students read Document A and Document B once each without marking. Then they reread, highlighting in one color every sentence that states a fact or a number, and in a second color every sentence that asks the reader to do or believe something.

Modeling purpose (8 min): Build a two-column chart on the board labeled Document A and Document B, with rows for purpose, audience, and strongest evidence. Fill in Document A with the class, thinking aloud about why a department writing to every household explains what PFAS is before it names a plan. Leave Document B blank for the pairs to complete.

Guided practice (8 min): In pairs, students copy the board chart, complete its Document B column, and answer items 1 through 5. Circulate and press pairs to point at the sentence behind each answer rather than summarizing the document from memory.

Formative check (3 min): Ask each pair to hold up the handout with one finger on the sentence that best shows Document B's purpose. Scan the room. If more than a third of the pairs are pointing at a sentence that only reports a number, model the difference once more using Document A's final line before students write.

Independent writing (5 min): Students draft the claim and two reasons required in item 6, using evidence from both documents rather than from one.

Closure (4 min): Ask three students to read their claim sentence aloud. After each, the class names which document supplied the stronger support and why.

Two Documents on Hallowford's PFAS Plan: A Grade 6 Lesson — Grade 6 English Language Arts
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

Document A: A fact sheet from the fictional Hallowford Water Department

Hallowford tests its drinking water for a group of chemicals called PFAS. These chemicals were used for decades in nonstick coatings, stain-resistant fabric, and firefighting foam. They break down very slowly, which is why they are still found in water long after their use ends.

The federal limit for two common types, PFOA and PFOS, is 4 parts per trillion each. Our most recent sample from the Cranmoor Well came back at 12 parts per trillion of PFOA, which is above that limit. This result is from our own fictional testing in Hallowford.

We have taken the Cranmoor Well offline and are drawing from our two other wells while we plan. The long-term fix is a granular activated carbon filter, which pulls PFAS out of the water as it passes through. Designing, funding, and building that filter takes time. EPA set a compliance deadline of April 2029. In May 2026, EPA proposed letting water systems that qualify apply for two more years, until April 2031. The limit would stay at 4 parts per trillion, and the proposal is not final yet, so the rule is still in motion. Hallowford residents will be notified again when the design is complete.

Document B: A letter to the editor from Dana Corliss, a Hallowford resident

I read the water department fact sheet twice, and I still have the same question: what happens between now and the day that filter is built?

The department is right that the Cranmoor Well is offline. It is also right that the sample came back at 12 parts per trillion, three times the federal limit of 4. What the fact sheet does not say is that our two remaining wells were built in the same decade and sit within a mile of the same old fire training ground. If PFAS reached one well, the town should test the other two every month, not once a year.

The fact sheet mentions that the town may be able to apply to move its deadline from 2029 to 2031. A later deadline is convenient for a budget, and it does nothing for a family drinking the water in the meantime. Hallowford should publish a monthly test result for every well, and it should apply for state money for the filter this year rather than next.

Answer the questions below using only these two documents.

  1. Who is the intended reader of Document A, and who is the intended reader of Document B?
  2. In one sentence, state the purpose of Document A. Quote the sentence from Document A that best shows that purpose.
  3. In one sentence, state the purpose of Document B. Quote the sentence from Document B that best shows that purpose.
  4. Both documents use the same test result. Write that result and explain why each writer includes it.
  5. Document B includes one fact that Document A leaves out. Name it, and explain why a writer with Document B's purpose would want it in the letter.
  6. Write a claim stating what Hallowford should do next about its wells. Support the claim with two reasons, and back each reason with evidence from a document. Name which document each piece of evidence came from.

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: Document A is written for Hallowford households on the water system, and Document B is written for newspaper readers in the town, including the council members who make decisions. Document A explains what PFAS is, which a writer only does for a general audience.
  2. Answer: To inform residents of the test result and the department's plan. Accept a quotation of the sentence naming the result at the Cranmoor Well or the sentence about taking the well offline and planning a carbon filter.
  3. Answer: To persuade the town to test more often and to apply for filter money sooner. Accept a quotation of the closing sentence calling for monthly results and a state funding application this year.
  4. Answer: 12 parts per trillion of PFOA at the Cranmoor Well. Document A includes it because a fact sheet must report what the testing found, while Document B includes it as support for the argument that the town should act faster, which is why the letter also compares it with the limit of 4.
  5. Answer: The letter adds that the other two wells were built in the same decade and sit within a mile of the same old fire training ground. A writer arguing for more testing needs a reason to doubt the remaining wells, so that detail carries the argument.
  6. Answer: Answers will vary. A proficient response states one clear claim, such as testing all three wells monthly until the filter is built, and attaches two reasons, each tied to a named document, such as the 12 parts per trillion result from Document A and the shared location of the wells from Document B.

Differentiation

Support

Provide the purpose and audience rows of the chart already filled in for Document A, so these students complete only Document B. Give item 6 the frame: "Hallowford should ___. One reason is ___, because Document ___ says ___."

Extension

Ask students to write the three sentences the water department could add to Document A that would answer Dana Corliss without abandoning the fact sheet's purpose, then explain in one sentence why each addition still fits a document written to inform.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "purpose," "audience," "fact sheet," and "letter to the editor" using two familiar school documents, such as a lunch menu and a note asking families to join a fundraiser. Allow students to answer items 1 through 3 with a short phrase plus a highlighted sentence rather than a full sentence.