Worksheet Grade 6 English Language Arts
The Whinmoor Pump Failure in a Log and a Letter: Grade 6 Worksheet
Students compare a fictional pump station operator's log with a resident's letter to the editor, citing evidence and separating direct observation from inference.
Objectives
- Students will cite specific evidence from two documents that describe the same event.
- Students will distinguish an observation recorded at the scene from an inference drawn later.
- Students will explain what each type of document can and cannot tell a reader.
Vocabulary
Key words: log, observation, inference, purpose, audience, pressure
Teacher overview
Two people can describe the same evening accurately and still produce documents that disagree in tone, detail, and purpose. This worksheet pairs a night's entries from a fictional pump station log with a letter a resident sent to a local paper about the same hours, and asks students to read each document against the other. The misconception this targets is the belief that when two sources differ, one of them must be wrong; sixth graders often try to pick a winner instead of asking what each source was in a position to know. The log records instrument readings and the times they were taken, yet it says nothing about what happened at anyone's tap, while the letter reports what happened at a kitchen sink without any view of the pumps or the valve.
Student Worksheet
Whinmoor is a fictional town whose water is pushed uphill to the Selbrook Lane neighborhood by two pumps at the Hilltop pump station. When both pumps run, the pressure in that zone stays in the normal range. Read both documents, then answer the questions.
Document A: Hilltop Pump Station Operator Log, Tuesday
- 8:52 p.m. Alarm received. Pump 2 shut down on high temperature.
- 9:04 p.m. Operator on site. Pump 2 will not restart. Pump 1 running alone.
- 9:15 p.m. Pressure gauge at Selbrook Lane reads 18 psi. Normal evening reading in this zone is about 55 psi.
- 9:20 p.m. Called the supervisor. Opened the valve from the Marrow Hill tank to feed the zone by gravity.
- 9:48 p.m. Selbrook Lane gauge reads 52 psi. Zone restored.
- 10:30 p.m. Notice posted on the department website. Pump 2 tagged for repair.
Document B: Letter to the Whinmoor Weekly
To the editor: On Tuesday evening the water on Selbrook Lane slowed to a trickle. I was rinsing dishes at about half past nine when the tap gave out on me. I called the water department twice and got a recording both times. Nobody told us anything until a notice went up online near bedtime, and by then the water was already back. Our pipes on this street are old, and I do not believe the department is keeping up with them. Ruth Ellery, Selbrook Lane.
- According to Document A, what time did Pump 2 shut down, and what caused the shutdown?
- Ms. Ellery says the tap gave out at about half past nine. Copy the log entry closest to that time that records a gauge reading, and explain in one sentence whether it supports her account.
- One of these statements is an observation and one is an inference. Label each: "Selbrook Lane gauge reads 52 psi" and "I do not believe the department is keeping up with them."
- Find one thing both documents agree on. Copy the words from each document that show the agreement.
- Name one thing Document A tells you that Document B could not tell you.
- Name one thing Document B tells you that Document A could not tell you.
- Who is each document written for? Answer in one sentence for each document.
- In the 9:48 p.m. entry, what does the word "restored" mean as it is used there?
- Ms. Ellery writes that nobody told residents anything until a notice went up online. Copy one line from Document A that supports part of this claim, and explain in one sentence what her letter leaves out.
- Write an explanatory paragraph of three to five sentences answering this question: what happened to the water pressure on Selbrook Lane on Tuesday evening, and how do you know? Use at least one detail from each document.
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: 8:52 p.m., because of high temperature. The first log entry records the alarm and names the cause, and the 9:04 p.m. entry adds that the pump would not restart.
- Answer: The 9:15 p.m. entry, which records 18 psi at the Selbrook Lane gauge against a normal evening reading of about 55 psi. It supports her account, because a reading that far below normal matches a tap that slows to a trickle.
- Answer: "Selbrook Lane gauge reads 52 psi" is an observation and "I do not believe the department is keeping up with them" is an inference. The first reports a number read off an instrument, while the second is a judgment Ms. Ellery formed from her own experience.
- Answer: Both agree the water came back before the online notice appeared. Document A shows the zone restored at 9:48 p.m. and the notice posted at 10:30 p.m., and Document B says the notice went up "near bedtime" when "the water was already back." Accept the timing of the low water on Tuesday evening as an alternative, cited from both.
- Answer: Document A gives the cause and the exact times, such as the high-temperature shutdown at 8:52 p.m. and the valve opening at 9:20 p.m. A resident standing at a sink has no way to know any of that. Accept any specific instrument reading or action from the log.
- Answer: Document B gives the effect inside a house and the experience of trying to reach the department, such as the tap giving out during dishes and two calls that reached a recording. The log records equipment, not customers. Accept any specific detail of that kind.
- Answer: Document A is written for the department's own staff, including the supervisor and the repair crew who need the record. Document B is written for the newspaper's readers, meaning other residents of Whinmoor and, indirectly, the department itself.
- Answer: Brought back to its normal condition. In that entry it means the pressure in the Selbrook Lane zone had returned to its usual range after the valve was opened, not that the pump was fixed.
- Answer: The 10:30 p.m. entry, "Notice posted on the department website," supports her point that the only notice came late and came online. Her letter leaves out the actions taken between 9:04 and 9:48 p.m., including the call to the supervisor and the valve that brought the water back before the notice appeared.
- Answer: Accept any paragraph of three to five sentences that is accurate and uses at least one detail from each document. A full-credit response explains that Pump 2 shut down at 8:52 p.m., that Pump 1 alone could not hold the pressure and the Selbrook Lane gauge fell to 18 psi by 9:15 p.m., that Ms. Ellery's tap gave out at about the same time, and that the operator opened the Marrow Hill tank valve so the reading recovered to 52 psi by 9:48 p.m. Deduct for claims neither document supports, such as a broken pipe on the street.
Differentiation
Support
Give these students a two-column note sheet with the headings "What the log knows" and "What the letter knows," and have them fill it in before answering any item. Highlight the two log entries that carry gauge readings so item 2 becomes a matching task rather than a search. For item 10, provide a paragraph frame that opens with "On Tuesday evening the water pressure on Selbrook Lane dropped because" and includes two sentence starters for evidence.
Extension
Ask these students to write the department's short public notice for the website, using only information the log supports, in no more than sixty words. Then have them write two sentences explaining which detail from Ms. Ellery's letter they would want to address in that notice even though the log does not mention it. A second option is to write the log entry an operator would have made if the Marrow Hill valve had failed to hold the pressure.
ELL supports
Pre-teach "log," "gauge," "shutdown," "valve," and "restored" with a simple diagram showing two pumps, a tank on a hill, and a house at the end of the line. Provide the log as a table with a "time" column and a "what happened" column in plain language beside the original wording. Offer the sentence frames "The log says ___" and "The letter says ___" for items 4 through 6, and allow students to answer item 3 by circling the correct label.
Extensions
Have students find the customer service or outage page of a real water utility and note how the utility reports an unplanned interruption, including what information it gives and what it leaves out. Students can then compare that page with Document A and write a short paragraph about who each document serves.