Worksheet Grade 6 English Language Arts

Sable Ridge Home Water Audit: A Grade 6 Reading Worksheet

A grade 6 ELA worksheet built on a short passage about a fictional family's home water audit, mixing evidence-citing questions with vocabulary in use.

Grade: Grade 6
Subject: English Language Arts
Material: Worksheet
Time: 30 min
Prep: No prep
Materials: None

Standards

RI.6.1 Common Core ELA

Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

How this material aligns: Items 2 through 6 require students to cite the exact passage details about the family's daily use and indoor water shares, the textual evidence citation RI.6.1 requires of grade 6 readers.

All materials for RI.6.1 →

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This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-07-23.

Objectives

Students will cite details from a passage about a home water audit.
Students will use the terms audit and conservation in new sentences.

Vocabulary

Water audit: A careful check of where water goes, either in a home or across a whole water system. Audits find leaks and waste so they can be fixed.

Also: conservation, indoor use, average, showerhead

Teacher overview

This worksheet gives students a short, plain passage about a fictional family's home water audit and then asks them to read closely. The questions mix straight recall, where students point to a stated fact, with short-answer thinking and two items that ask them to use the words "audit" and "conservation" in their own sentences. It pairs well with a lesson on home water use, or it can stand alone as a reading check.

Sable Ridge Home Water Audit: A Grade 6 Reading Worksheet — Grade 6 English Language Arts

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Read the passage. Then answer the questions in complete sentences.

The Okafor family lives in the fictional town of Sable Ridge. This spring, they did a home water audit. A water audit is a careful check of how much water a home uses and where it goes. First, the family read their water bill. It showed they used about 320 gallons a day. That is a little more than the average home, which uses about 300 gallons a day.

Next, the family walked through the house. They found a bathroom faucet that dripped all night. They checked their showerhead. It flowed at the standard rate of 2.5 gallons every minute. In most homes, about 70 percent of the water is used indoors. A 2016 study of single-family homes by the Water Research Foundation found that toilets used about 24 percent of the indoor water. Showers used about 20 percent.

The Okafors made a plan. They fixed the drip first, because a steady drip wastes water day and night. Then they set a timer for showers. They wanted to use less water and lower their bill.

In your own words, what is a water audit?
How much water did the Okafor family use each day?
How does the family's daily use compare to the average home? Use a number from the passage.
What was the first problem the family found in their house?
According to the passage, about what share of a home's water is used indoors?
Which uses more indoor water, toilets or showers? Use the passage to support your answer.
Why might fixing the drip be a smart first step? Use a detail from the passage.
Use the word "conservation" in a sentence about the Okafor family's plan.
The family set a timer for showers. Explain how that could lower their water use.
Name one more step the family could take to save water that the passage does not mention.

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: A water audit is a careful check of how much water a home uses and where that water goes, as the passage defines it.
Answer: About 320 gallons a day, which the passage says the family found on their water bill.
Answer: It is a little more than the average home, which uses about 300 gallons a day, so the Okafors use roughly 20 gallons more than average.
Answer: A bathroom faucet that dripped all night, which they found while walking through the house.
Answer: About 70 percent of a home's water is used indoors, according to the passage.
Answer: Toilets. In the 2016 study the passage describes, toilets used about 24 percent of indoor water, while showers used about 20 percent, so toilets used the larger share.
Answer: Answers will vary but should note that a drip wastes water all day and night, so stopping it saves water constantly, as the passage suggests.
Answer: Answers will vary. A correct sentence uses "conservation" to mean saving water, such as "The Okafors practiced conservation by fixing the drip and shortening showers."
Answer: Answers will vary but should explain that a timer keeps showers shorter, and shorter showers use less water.
Answer: Answers will vary. Reasonable steps include installing a water-saving showerhead, turning off the tap while brushing teeth, or only running full loads of laundry.

Differentiation

Support

Highlight the sentence in the passage that answers each recall question (items 2, 4, and 5) with a matching number, so students practice locating evidence before answering in full sentences.

Extension

Ask students to write a short caption for a home water-audit poster that uses two numbers from the passage and one piece of advice, aimed at families in Sable Ridge.

ELL supports

Provide a picture glossary for "audit," "showerhead," and "drip," and allow students to answer items 2 through 6 with short phrases or by underlining the sentence in the passage that gives the answer.