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Lesson plan Grade 7 English Language Arts

Fennimore's Lead Line Inventory: A Citing-Evidence Lesson

A 45-minute grade 7 lesson pairing a short passage about a fictional town's lead service line inventory with guided citing-evidence practice tied to RI.7.1.

Objectives

  1. Students will cite specific textual evidence to answer literal comprehension questions.
  2. Students will make an inference supported by textual evidence and outside reasoning.
  3. Students will connect a local scenario to a national pattern using cited evidence.

Vocabulary

Service line
A service line is the small pipe that connects the water main under the street to the plumbing inside one home or building. It is the last leg of the trip water makes to your tap.
Action level
A trigger number in lead and copper testing. If too many homes test above this level, the utility must take steps like improving treatment and telling the public.

Also: inventory, curb box

Teacher overview

Fennimore is a fictional town whose water department, like real water systems across the country, recently completed a lead service line inventory. This lesson pairs a short passage about that inventory with guided practice citing specific textual evidence, the skill RI.7.1 asks seventh graders to build. A point worth making before students read: finding a lead line does not by itself show how much lead is in a home's water, which is why the water department in the passage offers free tests and filter guidance while it plans to replace the lines.

Procedure

Hook (5 min): Ask students: "If you learned the pipe carrying water into your house might be made of lead, what would you want to know first?" Collect two or three responses on the board without confirming or correcting them yet.

Direct instruction (8 min): Explain that citing evidence means pointing to the exact words in a text that support an answer, not just a general idea of what the text says. Briefly give the real national context: EPA estimates that about 4 million lead service lines remain in water systems across the country, disproportionately in lower-income communities, and the lead action level is set to drop from 15 to 10 parts per billion in 2027 under updated federal rules. The 4 million figure is EPA's November 2025 update, built from the inventories utilities reported that year, and it replaced an older estimate of about 9 million that students may still see in other sources.

Shared reading (10 min): Read the passage aloud as a class while students follow along on a printed or projected copy.

Fennimore's water department began a lead service line inventory last year, following a federal rule that requires every water system in the country to identify which pipes connecting homes to the water main are made of lead. Crews checked old pipe records and dug test holes, then used a magnet test at the curb box outside older homes, since lead pipes do not attract a magnet the way iron pipes do.

By spring, the inventory found that roughly 400 homes on Fennimore's east side, most built before 1960, were still connected by lead service lines. Nationwide, EPA estimates that about 4 million lead service lines remain in water systems, concentrated disproportionately in lower-income communities, and federal rules are tightening as the lead action level moves from 15 toward 10 parts per billion.

The water department mailed a letter to every affected household, explained how to use a filter certified for lead removal, and began scheduling free water tests for anyone who asked. Full replacement of Fennimore's lead lines is expected to take several years and will be paid for partly through a state grant.

Guided practice (12 min): In pairs, students answer four questions, citing the exact sentence that supports each answer:

  1. What three methods did Fennimore's crews use to identify lead pipes?
  2. Cite the sentence that explains why crews used a magnet test at the curb box.
  3. Based on the passage, why might federal rules require every water system to complete this kind of inventory?
  4. What two things did the water department do for affected households, according to the passage?

Independent practice (5 min): Students answer independently: make an inference about why full replacement might take several years instead of happening all at once, using evidence from the text and their own reasoning about large projects.

Closure / exit ticket (5 min): In one sentence, students cite the specific evidence from the passage that shows Fennimore's situation connects to a national pattern, not just a local one. Collect and scan for a direct citation before dismissal.

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. Model answer: Crews checked old pipe records and dug test holes, then used a magnet test at the curb box outside older homes.
  2. Model answer: "since lead pipes do not attract a magnet the way iron pipes do" is the sentence explaining why the magnet test works.
  3. Model answer: Answers may vary but should note that lead risk exists in communities nationwide, so a required inventory in every system is the only way to find every affected home, not just the ones already suspected.
  4. Model answer: The department mailed a letter to every affected household and began scheduling free water tests for anyone who asked; noting the lead-removal filter guidance is also acceptable.
  5. Independent practice model answer: Answers will vary but should infer that replacing every lead line means digging up pipe under many separate streets and yards across Fennimore, work that crews cannot do everywhere at once, and that the pace also depends on how quickly the state grant money becomes available.
  6. Exit-ticket model answer: The sentence noting that EPA estimates about 4 million lead service lines remain in water systems nationwide is the evidence connecting Fennimore's local finding to a national pattern.

Differentiation

Support (below grade level)

Provide a copy of the passage with the answer to question 1 already highlighted as a model, and let students work in the same pairs for the independent inference question instead of completing it alone.

Extension (above grade level)

Ask students to write one additional question about the passage that requires citing two separate sentences to answer fully, then trade questions with a partner and answer each other's.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "service line," "inventory," "action level," and "curb box" with a labeled diagram of a pipe running from the street to a house. Allow students to answer questions 1 and 4 with short phrases rather than full sentences.