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Worksheet Grade 7 English Language Arts

Dunbriar's Drought Stage Sign: Evidence and Inference

A grade 7 ELA worksheet where students read a fictional town's drought stage table and FAQ, cite evidence, draw inferences, and write a short claim with a counterclaim.

Objectives

  1. Students will read a staged rules table and answer questions that require locating a specific cell.
  2. Students will cite the sentence in a text that supports or contradicts a given statement.
  3. Students will write a short argument that names and answers an opposing claim.

Vocabulary

Reservoir
A human-made lake, usually created by a dam, that stores water for later. Reservoirs supply cities and farms and help control floods.

Also: drought stage, trigger, inference, counterclaim, restriction

Teacher overview

Many towns that depend on a single reservoir publish a staged drought plan, so that residents know in advance which rules take effect and what triggers them. This worksheet uses the plan of the fictional town of Dunbriar, which posts its current stage on a sign at the edge of town and answers common questions in a short FAQ. Students practice reading a rules table for a specific cell, citing the sentence that settles a dispute, and drawing an inference the text supports without stating. The last item asks for a short argument with a counterclaim, which is the writing move grade 7 adds.

Dunbriar's Drought Stage Sign: Evidence and Inference — Grade 7 English Language Arts
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Read the sign, the table, and the FAQ. All three come from the fictional town of Dunbriar. Then answer the items that follow.

The sign at the edge of town

DUNBRIAR WATER SUPPLY. CURRENT STAGE: 2. OUTDOOR WATERING ON ODD-NUMBERED DAYS ONLY.

The drought stage table

Stage Trigger: reservoir level Outdoor watering Other rules
1 Watch Below 80 percent full Any day, morning or evening Voluntary. The town asks residents to use less indoors.
2 Warning Below 65 percent full Odd-numbered calendar days only Car washing at home is allowed with a shutoff nozzle.
3 Restriction Below 50 percent full Hand watering of garden beds only No car washing at home. No filling of pools.
4 Emergency Below 35 percent full Not allowed Indoor use only. The council sets fines.

Questions and answers from the town (FAQ)

Why does the town measure the reservoir instead of the rain? The reservoir is what we actually draw from. Rain that falls outside our watershed does not refill it. A wet week can leave the reservoir exactly where it was.

Do farms have to follow these rules? The stages apply to customers on the town water system. Most farms near Dunbriar pump from their own wells, and those wells fall under a separate county rule. The town cannot set rules for water it does not sell.

Why post a sign when the stage is on the website? Not every household reads the website, and the stage can change in the middle of a billing period. Drivers pass the sign every day.

How long will this last? The council expects the stages to stay in place through at least the next two dry seasons. Our reservoir refills slowly in this valley. The council has also ordered a study of a new well.

Items

  1. According to the table, what outdoor watering does Stage 2 allow?
  2. Which stage is the first to ban washing a car at home?
  3. The sign says the town is in Stage 2. Using the trigger column, what can you tell about the reservoir level right now? Give both the upper and lower bound.
  4. The FAQ says the town measures the reservoir rather than the rain. Copy the sentence that best explains why, and then explain it in your own words.
  5. In Stage 1, the town asks residents to use less water. In Stage 4, it sets fines. What does that difference suggest about how the stages are designed?
  6. A resident says the rules are pointless because farms use more water than lawns. Copy the sentence from the FAQ that responds to that complaint.
  7. Ms. Vance wants to water her garden on the 14th of the month. The town is in Stage 2. May she? Explain your answer using the table.
  8. Based on the FAQ, give one reason the town posts the stage on a roadside sign instead of only on its website.
  9. Cite two details from the FAQ that suggest the town expects this drought to last longer than a few weeks.
  10. Write three to five sentences answering this question: should Dunbriar move to Stage 3 now, before the reservoir drops further? State a claim, give one reason drawn from the texts, name one opposing claim, and answer it.

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: Outdoor watering on odd-numbered calendar days only. The Stage 2 row of the table states this, and the roadside sign repeats it.
  2. Answer: Stage 3. The Stage 3 row states "No car washing at home," while the Stage 2 row still allows it with a shutoff nozzle.
  3. Answer: Below 65 percent full but at or above 50 percent full. Stage 2 begins below 65 percent, and the town would move to Stage 3 once the level fell below 50 percent.
  4. Answer: "Rain that falls outside our watershed does not refill it." Accept the neighboring sentence about the reservoir being what the town draws from. A workable restatement notes that rainfall in the wrong place does not add water to the supply the town actually uses.
  5. Answer: The stages are designed to grow stricter as the shortage deepens, moving from a request to a rule with a penalty. Accept any answer naming that escalation.
  6. Answer: "The town cannot set rules for water it does not sell." Accept the neighboring sentences explaining that most nearby farms pump from their own wells under a separate county rule.
  7. Answer: No. The 14th is an even-numbered day, and Stage 2 allows outdoor watering only on odd-numbered calendar days.
  8. Answer: Because not every household reads the website, and the stage can change in the middle of a billing period. Accept the point that drivers pass the sign every day.
  9. Answer: Any two of the following: the council expects the stages to stay in place through at least the next two dry seasons; the reservoir refills slowly in this valley; the council has ordered a study of a new well. Each detail points to planning beyond a short dry spell.
  10. Answer: Accept either position when all four parts appear. A proficient response states a claim, supports it with a reason from the texts, such as the reservoir refilling slowly or the expectation of two more dry seasons, names an opposing claim, such as the burden Stage 3 places on gardeners or car owners, and then answers that claim with a reason rather than a repeat of the original position.

Differentiation

Support

Give these students the table with the Stage 2 row outlined, and provide a highlighted copy of the FAQ so that the answer sentences for items 4, 6, and 9 are easier to locate. For item 10, supply the frame "Dunbriar should ___ because ___. Some residents would say ___, but ___."

Extension

Ask students to draft a fifth stage for the table, deciding its trigger, its watering rule, and one other rule, then write a paragraph defending why that stage is needed and where the trigger belongs. The paragraph must acknowledge one cost of the new stage.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "drought," "stage," "trigger," "reservoir," and "restriction" with a simple drawing of a lake at four levels, each labeled with its stage. Allow items 1 through 3 to be answered by pointing to and copying the cell in the table, and provide the sentence frame "The text says ___, so I can tell that ___" for the inference items.