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Lesson plan Grade 8 English Language Arts

Reading Alderbrook's Yearly Water Quality Report for Evidence

A 50-minute grade 8 close-reading lesson where students cite the strongest evidence in a fictional town's yearly water quality report.

Objectives

  1. Students will cite the strongest textual evidence to support claims about a water quality report.
  2. Students will explain how chlorine and lead each relate to the water, using the report.

Vocabulary

Turbidity
Turbidity is a measure of how cloudy or murky water looks because of tiny particles floating in it. Clear water has low turbidity, and muddy water has high turbidity.
pH
pH is a number that tells whether water is acidic, like lemon juice, or basic, like baking soda mixed in water. Pure water sits in the middle of the scale at a pH of 7.

Also: chlorine, evidence, water quality report

Teacher overview

Water utilities send every customer a yearly water quality report, a document many readers set aside without a close look. This lesson turns it into a close-reading exercise, built on an original report written for a fictional district. Students practice the grade 8 move of citing the single strongest piece of evidence, not just any related sentence, to support a claim about the water. The lesson connects a real civic document to a reading skill, and it needs only the printed handout.

Procedure

Hook (5 min): Ask how many students have seen a paper from the water company listing what is in their tap water. Show the handout's report and ask what the numbers might mean before reading.

Direct instruction (12 min): Explain what a yearly water quality report does: it lists what the district tested for, the legal limit, and the actual result. Walk through the four terms in the fictional Alderbrook report (turbidity, chlorine, pH, and lead). Point out that the pH range is a federal guideline for taste and pipe care rather than an enforceable limit, and that the lead figure is an action level that requires the utility to act, not a safe level; EPA's health goal for lead is zero, and the action level drops to 10 ppb in 2027. Define "strongest evidence" as the quote or figure that supports a claim most directly, and contrast it with a sentence that is merely related to the topic.

Model (10 min): Take one question aloud, such as whether the water met its standards, and show two possible supporting quotes. Think aloud about which quote is stronger and why, so students see that citing evidence means choosing the best of several possible quotes.

Guided practice (12 min): In pairs, students answer questions 1 through 3 on the handout, underlining the exact words they cite. Circulate and press pairs to defend why their quote is the strongest available.

Independent practice (8 min): Students answer questions 4 through 6 on their own.

Closure and formative check (3 min): Ask students to point to the single sentence they would cite to prove the water met its standards this year. A quick scan of their choices shows whether they can locate the strongest evidence.

Reading Alderbrook's Yearly Water Quality Report for Evidence — Grade 8 English Language Arts
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

Read the report below. It is a fictional report written for this lesson, for the town of Alderbrook.

Alderbrook Water District: Yearly Water Quality Report

Every year, water systems must tell customers what is in their water. This report shows what Alderbrook tested for this year, the legal limit for each item, and our result. A result below the limit means the water met the standard for that item.

Turbidity means how cloudy the water is. Cloudy water can hide germs, so the limit is kept low. Chlorine is added on purpose to kill germs, yet too much is not allowed, so there is a top limit. The pH tells whether water is acid or base; water that is too acid can wear at pipes. Lead is never added to water. It can enter from old pipes, so we test the homes most likely to have it.

Item Legal limit Alderbrook result this year
Turbidity (cloudiness) 0.3 NTU or less 0.08 NTU
Chlorine up to 4.0 mg/L (0.2 to 2.0 mg/L is typical in pipes) 0.9 mg/L
pH (acid or base) 6.5 to 8.5 7.6
Lead action level 15 ppb 3 ppb at the highest home tested

This year, every result was within its limit. Turbidity and lead were far below their limits. Chlorine was kept in the middle of its safe range, low enough to be comfortable and high enough to protect the water on its way to homes. If you would like your own home tested, call the district office.

  1. What is the purpose of this yearly report, according to its opening? Quote the sentence that states it.
  2. The report says turbidity has a low limit. Find the sentence that most strongly explains why a low turbidity limit matters, and quote it.
  3. Lead and chlorine reach the water in different ways. Using the report, explain one way they are different.
  4. The report says chlorine "was kept in the middle of its safe range." Using the report, explain why the district would not want chlorine either too low or too high.
  5. A customer reads the report and says, "The district adds lead to kill germs." Use evidence from the report to correct this statement.
  6. Based on the whole report, did Alderbrook's water meet its standards this year? Cite the single strongest piece of evidence for your answer.

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 purpose is to tell customers what is in their water. The stated sentence is: "Every year, water systems must tell customers what is in their water." Also accept the second sentence, "This report shows what Alderbrook tested for this year, the legal limit for each item, and our result," if the student explains it as the purpose.
  2. Answer: Because cloudy water can hide germs. The strongest supporting sentence is: "Cloudy water can hide germs, so the limit is kept low."
  3. Answer: Chlorine is added to the water on purpose to kill germs, while lead is never added and instead enters from old pipes. The report contrasts these directly in its explanations of the two terms.
  4. Answer: Too little chlorine would not protect the water on its way to homes, and too much is not allowed because there is a top limit. The middle of the range keeps the water both safe and comfortable, as the report states.
  5. Answer: The statement is wrong. The report says lead is never added and can enter from old pipes, and that chlorine, not lead, is the substance added to kill germs.
  6. Answer: Yes. The single strongest evidence is the sentence "This year, every result was within its limit," which covers all four tested items at once.

Differentiation

Support

Give students a copy of the report with the four term explanations numbered, so they can match each question to the paragraph it draws on before they choose a quote to cite.

Extension

Ask students to write a short paragraph advising a neighbor who is worried about lead, using at least two pieces of evidence from the report and explaining why that evidence should ease or not fully ease the worry.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "turbidity," "chlorine," "pH," and "report" with simple visuals: cloudy versus clear water, and a chart with a limit line. Allow students to answer questions 1 and 2 by underlining and copying the sentence rather than paraphrasing it.