Water for Schools
Menu

Worksheet Grade 7 English Language Arts

Buffer Strips on Cattail Bend Creek: Claim and Counterclaim

A grade 7 worksheet pairing two opinion letters about mandatory buffer strips on a fictional creek, asking students to identify claims, evidence, and counterclaims.

Objectives

  1. Students will identify the claim and supporting evidence in two opinion letters about the same issue.
  2. Students will identify a counterclaim and explain how it challenges an opposing claim.
  3. Students will draft a sentence that acknowledges an opposing claim in argument writing.

Vocabulary

Key words: claim, counterclaim, evidence, buffer strip

Teacher overview

Cattail Bend Creek is a fictional stream that runs behind three family farms before it reaches a town swimming hole. This worksheet pairs two short opinion letters written for the town council: one favors requiring buffer strips along the creek, and one opposes a mandatory requirement. A common misconception this worksheet corrects directly: students often assume the "winning" argument is the one stated most forcefully, when a stronger argument is one that anticipates and responds to the other side's strongest point.

Buffer Strips on Cattail Bend Creek: Claim and Counterclaim — Grade 7 English Language Arts
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Read both letters, then answer the questions that follow.

Letter 1: Voice for Cattail Bend

Cattail Bend Creek runs behind three family farms before it reaches the town's swimming hole. Every spring, rain washes fertilizer from those fields directly into the creek. The fictional Cattail Bend Watershed Council found nitrate levels rising during planting season, and nutrient pollution like this reduces the oxygen fish need to survive. The town council should require every farm within a half mile of the creek to plant a 30-foot buffer strip of grass and shrubs along the water's edge. Buffer strips slow down runoff and let plants absorb nutrients before they reach the creek. Farmers in nearby towns who already use buffer strips have seen cleaner water within a few years. Protecting the swimming hole today means protecting it for the students who will use it for years to come.

Letter 2: A Farmer's Response

I have farmed along Cattail Bend Creek for twenty years, and I care about this water as much as anyone. A mandatory 30-foot buffer strip would take productive land out of every farm near the creek, land many families depend on for their income. Instead of a government requirement, the town should offer a cost-share program that pays farmers to plant buffer strips voluntarily. Several farmers, myself included, would likely take part if the cost of the lost land were shared rather than placed on farmers alone. A voluntary program can protect the creek without asking any one group to carry the full cost.

  1. What is the claim in Letter 1? State it in one sentence.
  2. Cite two pieces of evidence Letter 1 uses to support its claim.
  3. What is the claim in Letter 2? State it in one sentence.
  4. Cite one piece of evidence Letter 2 uses to support its claim.
  5. A counterclaim is a reason someone might disagree with a claim. What counterclaim does Letter 2 raise against requiring buffer strips?
  6. Does Letter 1 address the concern about farmers losing productive land? Explain your answer using the text.
  7. Which piece of evidence, from either letter, do you find most convincing, and why? Support your answer with reasoning.
  8. Write one sentence that could be added to Letter 1 to acknowledge the farmer's concern about lost land, in the style of a counterclaim response.
  9. In two to three sentences, explain why understanding both letters' claims and evidence is useful before the town council makes a decision about Cattail Bend Creek.

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 town council should require every farm within a half mile of the creek to plant a 30-foot buffer strip along the water.
  2. Answer: Any two of the following: the fictional Watershed Council found rising nitrate levels during planting season; nutrient pollution reduces the oxygen fish need to survive; farmers in nearby towns who use buffer strips have seen cleaner water within a few years.
  3. Answer: The town should offer a voluntary, cost-share program instead of requiring buffer strips by law.
  4. Answer: A mandatory buffer strip would take productive land out of every farm near the creek, land families depend on for income.
  5. Answer: The counterclaim is that requiring buffer strips by law would unfairly cost farmers productive land and income without sharing that cost across the community.
  6. Answer: No, Letter 1 does not address the concern about lost farmland; it focuses only on the environmental and community benefits of buffer strips.
  7. Answer: Answers will vary and should name a specific piece of evidence from either letter along with a reason it is convincing, such as the connection between nutrients and fish oxygen levels, or the fairness argument about shared cost.
  8. Answer: Wording will vary; an acceptable sentence acknowledges the farmer's concern, such as: "We recognize that a required buffer strip asks farmers to give up land they depend on, which is why a cost-share option should be part of any plan."
  9. Answer: Understanding both claims and their evidence helps the council weigh the creek's health against farmers' livelihoods fairly, instead of deciding based on only one side's reasoning.

Differentiation

Support (below grade level)

Provide a two-column graphic organizer labeled "Claim" and "Evidence" for each letter, and let students fill it in before attempting items 1 through 4, so the counterclaim questions build on work they have already completed.

Extension (above grade level)

Ask students to write a short third letter, no more than five sentences, from a town council member who proposes a compromise between the two positions, citing at least one piece of evidence from each original letter.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "claim," "counterclaim," "evidence," and "buffer strip" with simple definitions and a labeled sketch of a creek with a grassy strip beside a farm field. Allow students to answer items 1, 3, and 5 with short phrases rather than full sentences.