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Worksheet Grade 6 English Language Arts

Sorting Comments on Stonefield Dam: A Grade 6 Evidence Worksheet

Grade 6 students sort six public comment cards about a fictional dam into claims, reasons, and evidence, then build one claim of their own from the cards.

Objectives

  1. Students will distinguish a claim, a reason, and a piece of evidence in short public comments.
  2. Students will explain why a counted figure is stronger support than a personal memory.
  3. Students will write a claim and attach two pieces of evidence drawn from a source set.

Vocabulary

Spillway
A dam's overflow channel, giving extra water a safe path around or over the dam when the reservoir gets too full. It protects the dam from being damaged in floods.

Also: claim, reason, evidence, public comment

Teacher overview

Public comment is one of the few places where students can watch ordinary people argue in writing, and the comments rarely sort themselves neatly. This worksheet uses six comment cards sent to the council of the fictional town of Stonefield, which must decide whether to repair or remove an old dam on the Nightjar River. Students answer questions that separate the claims, reasons, and evidence on the cards, then build a claim of their own supported by two cards. The teaching note worth naming in advance is that many students treat any confident sentence as evidence, so the worksheet deliberately includes a strongly worded opinion that offers a reason but no evidence.

Sorting Comments on Stonefield Dam: A Grade 6 Evidence Worksheet — Grade 6 English Language Arts
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

The fictional town of Stonefield must decide what to do about the Stonefield Dam on the Nightjar River. The dam is old. It holds back a small lake, and it makes some electric power. Repairing it would cost money. Removing it would also cost money. The council asked residents to send comment cards. Six of those cards are below.

Card A. "The dam should stay. It gives our town power we would otherwise have to buy."

Card B. "Last spring the town's fish count found 42 fish above the dam and 610 fish below it."

Card C. "Taking the dam out would cost money this town does not have. That settles it."

Card D. "The Stonefield town engineer's report last year rated the dam's spillway as poor."

Card E. "I have lived here thirty years. The lake behind the dam is where my family swims every July, and I want it kept."

Card F. "The town's power report says the dam makes enough electricity for about 300 homes."

  1. In your own words, write the claim that Card A makes.
  2. Which card reports a count that someone actually made? Write the letter.
  3. Is Card D a claim or a piece of evidence? Explain your choice in one sentence.
  4. What does the writer of Card E want the council to do?
  5. Card C gives a reason but no evidence. Write one question you would ask that writer.
  6. Which two cards give support for keeping the dam that a council member could check? Write the two letters.
  7. Which card would be the strongest support in a report arguing that the dam is hard on fish? Write the letter.
  8. Explain why a count made by the town is stronger support than a memory of swimming in the lake.
  9. Write one claim of your own about the Stonefield Dam. Use a single sentence.
  10. Write two pieces of evidence from the cards that support your claim in item 9. Name the card letter beside each one.

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: The dam should be kept.
    Accept any restatement of Card A's position, such as "Stonefield should keep the dam." The reason attached to it is the power the town would otherwise buy.
  2. Answer: Card B.
    It reports the results of a fish count, with 42 fish above the dam and 610 below it.
  3. Answer: Evidence.
    Card D reports a finding from a named report rather than stating what the writer wants, so it supports a position instead of being one.
  4. Answer: Keep the dam and the lake behind it.
    The writer says the lake is where the family swims every July and states plainly that it should be kept.
  5. Answer: Accept any question that asks for support, such as "How much would removal cost?" or "What has the town already set aside for the dam?"
  6. Answer: Cards A and F.
    Card A names the power the town would otherwise buy, and Card F reports how many homes that power serves. Card E also argues for keeping the dam, yet it offers a memory rather than support a council member could check.
  7. Answer: Card B.
    The fish count shows far fewer fish above the dam than below it, which points to the dam blocking fish from moving upstream.
  8. Answer: A count can be checked and repeated by someone else, while a memory belongs to one person and cannot be checked.
    Students may also note that the count reports the whole river reach, not one family's experience.
  9. Answer: Accept any single-sentence claim that takes a position on the dam, such as "Stonefield should remove the dam" or "Stonefield should repair the dam and add a fish ladder."
  10. Answer: Accept any two cards that genuinely support the student's claim, each labeled with its letter.
    A claim to remove the dam is best supported by Cards B and D. A claim to keep it is best supported by Cards A and F. Card C and Card E do not report checkable support.

Differentiation

Support

Give these students three cards rather than six (A, B, and C), assign items 1, 2, 5, and 7, which use only those cards, and provide a labeled example showing one claim, one reason, and one piece of evidence taken from a different topic, so the sorting task begins from a model they can copy.

Extension

Ask students to rewrite Card C so that it keeps the same position but adds support a council member could check, then explain in one sentence what makes the revised card stronger.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "claim," "reason," "evidence," and "spillway" with a short definition and a one-line example for each. Allow students to answer items 1 through 7 in phrases, and provide the frame "My claim is ___ because Card ___ shows ___." for items 9 and 10.

Extensions

Hold a five-minute council meeting in which four students read cards aloud in the roles of their writers and the rest of the class votes, then ask every student to name the one card that most affected the vote.