Writing prompt Grade 6 English Language Arts
Should Redwood Middle School Install a Water-Bottle Filling Station?
A grade 6 argument prompt on replacing vending-machine bottled water with a filling station, using real federal tap-water safety standards as evidence.
Objectives
- Students will write an argument essay that states a claim and supports it with clear reasons and evidence.
- Students will use real federal drinking-water standards as evidence for a claim about a school water-bottle filling station.
Vocabulary
- Filtration
- Filtration is the step where water passes through layers of sand, gravel, or other materials that trap the small particles still left in it. It works like a very fine strainer.
Teacher overview
Redwood Middle School (a fictional school used for this prompt) currently sells bottled water in its cafeteria vending machines, and the student council is deciding whether to ask the district to install a free water-bottle filling station connected to the town's regular tap water instead. This prompt asks students to take a position on that question, using real federal rules about tap-water safety as their evidence rather than only personal opinion.
Prompt
Background: Public water systems in the United States must follow federal rules. Those rules limit how much of certain substances the water may contain, both at the treatment plant and in the pipes that carry it to homes and schools.
Chlorine is one of those substances, and water systems add it to kill germs. No system may let the chlorine level rise above 4.0 mg/L. Most systems keep it far below that limit. By the time the water reaches homes and schools, the level is usually between about 0.2 and 2.0 mg/L.
Lead works differently. It should not be in drinking water at all, and it does not come from the treatment plant. Lead gets into the water from old pipes along the way. Today a water system must act when a lead test comes back above 15 parts per billion (ppb). In 2027 that action level drops to 10 ppb. The federal rule that makes this change is called the Lead and Copper Rule Improvements, and it also requires most old lead pipes in the country to be replaced within 10 years.
A water-bottle filling station uses the same tap water that is already piped through a school building. Some stations also have a filter built into the station itself.
Writing task: The student council at Redwood Middle School must decide what to recommend. Should the district install a water-bottle filling station in the cafeteria instead of stocking bottled water in the vending machines? Write an argument essay that states a clear claim about what the school should do. Support that claim with at least two reasons, and back up each reason with evidence from the background material above.
Planning Organizer
| Category | Your notes |
|---|---|
| Claim (should the school install the filling station?) | |
| Reason 1 + evidence from the background material | |
| Reason 2 + evidence from the background material | |
| A question or concern you still have | |
| Concluding statement |
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Exemplar & Rubric
Exemplar response:
Redwood Middle School should install a water-bottle filling station in the cafeteria, because the tap water already running through the building is held to strict federal safety rules, and a filling station would let students refill bottles instead of buying a new one every day. Public water systems are not allowed to let chlorine levels rise above 4.0 mg/L, and most systems actually keep chlorine much lower than that once it reaches a building, between about 0.2 and 2.0 mg/L. That means the water already meets a safety standard before it even reaches the cafeteria, which is a strong reason to trust it in a filling station.
A second reason is that federal rules on lead are getting stricter. Water systems must already act once lead reaches 15 ppb, and that action level drops to 10 ppb in 2027, under a rule that also requires most old lead pipes nationwide to be replaced within ten years. A filling station can also include its own filter, adding an extra layer of protection beyond what the rules already require. That means the tap water feeding the station is held to a lead standard that is getting tougher, not weaker.
Redwood's student council should recommend the filling station. The water already meets strict chlorine limits, the lead rules are getting stricter, and a station with its own filter gives students one more reason to trust their tap over a vending machine.
Rubric:
| Criterion | Emerging | Developing | Proficient | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claim | No clear position is stated | States a position but it shifts or is unclear | States one clear, consistent position | States a clear position and previews the reasons that will follow |
| Evidence & reasoning | No evidence from the background material is used | Restates one fact without explaining how it supports the claim | Uses at least one specific figure from the background material and explains how it supports the claim | Uses two or more specific figures and explains how each one supports the claim |
| Organization | Ideas appear in no clear order | Reasons are present but not clearly separated into paragraphs | Claim, reasons, and a conclusion appear in a clear order | Ideas are clearly ordered, with transitions connecting each reason to the claim |
| Conventions | Frequent errors interfere with meaning | Some errors are noticeable but do not block meaning | Sentences are complete and mostly free of errors | Sentences are varied, complete, and virtually error-free |
Differentiation
Support (below grade level)
Provide sentence starters for each Planning Organizer row ("One reason the school should/should not install the station is ___, because the background material says ___.") and allow students to write two shorter paragraphs instead of three.
Extension (above grade level)
Ask students to add a counterclaim paragraph addressing what a classmate who prefers bottled water might argue, and to write one sentence responding to that view before the conclusion, a structure most students will use more fully starting in grade 7.
ELL supports
Pre-teach chlorine, lead, and filtration with simple definitions and a labeled diagram showing water traveling from a treatment plant, through pipes, to a school tap. Allow the Planning Organizer to be completed with short phrases rather than full sentences before drafting begins.