Worksheet Grade 8 English Language Arts
Sorrel Heights Lawn-Watering Limits: A Grade 8 Op-Ed Analysis
A grade 8 worksheet on a fictional town's op-ed about summer lawn-watering rules, where students find the claim, evidence, and counterclaim in the argument.
Objectives
- Students will identify a claim, its evidence, and the counterclaim in an op-ed.
- Students will cite the strongest single piece of support for the writer's position.
Vocabulary
Key words: claim, counterclaim, rebuttal, evidence
Teacher overview
Before students write their own arguments, it helps to take a short one apart. This worksheet gives students an original op-ed from a fictional town, built to contain a clear claim, real evidence, a counterclaim, and a rebuttal. Students locate each part and then judge which support is strongest, which is the harder and more valuable move. The worksheet prepares students for argument writing and works in either an ELA or a civics setting.
Student Worksheet
Read the opinion piece below. It was written for this lesson and comes from a fictional town.
Opinion: Sorrel Heights Should Keep Its Summer Watering Rule
Every July, Sorrel Heights limits lawn watering to two mornings a week. Some neighbors want the rule dropped. I think the town should keep it.
Water is not endless, even in a rainy state. The average American household already uses about 300 gallons of water each day, and outdoor watering pushes that number higher in summer. When a whole town waters its lawns at once on a hot afternoon, the demand can strain the pipes and lower the pressure for everyone. A watering rule spreads that demand out and protects the supply for cooking, cleaning, and firefighting.
Some residents argue that a green lawn is their own business and that the town should not tell them when to water. That view is fair. People pay for their water and should be free to use it. But water is shared. One home's heavy watering during a dry spell can leave a neighbor with weak pressure. A rule that asks everyone to water at cooler hours, when less water is lost to the heat, is a small trade for a supply people can count on.
The rule still lets gardeners water twice a week, and keeping it makes sure the water is there when the whole town needs it most.
Answer each item in complete sentences.
- What is the writer's main claim? State it in one sentence of your own.
- Quote the sentence that states the writer's position most directly.
- The writer gives a reason about water demand on hot afternoons. Explain that reason in your own words.
- Find one piece of evidence the writer uses to support the claim, and quote it.
- The writer includes a counterclaim, which is the opposing view. What is it? Quote the sentence that states it.
- How does the writer answer that counterclaim? Explain the rebuttal.
- The writer says of the opposing view, "That view is fair." Why might a writer agree with the other side for a moment, and what does that do for the argument?
- Which single sentence is the writer's strongest support for the claim? Quote it, then explain why it is stronger than another sentence in the piece.
- Is this op-ed mostly an argument, an explanation, or a story? Point to one feature of the text to support your choice.
- Write one sentence a resident on the opposite side could add to strengthen the counterclaim, without repeating a point the op-ed already made.
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: The writer's claim is that Sorrel Heights should keep its summer lawn-watering rule. Any accurate paraphrase of that position earns credit.
- Answer: "I think the town should keep it." This sentence states the writer's position most directly.
- Answer: When many homes water at the same time on a hot afternoon, the combined demand can strain the pipes and drop the water pressure for the whole town, so a rule spreads the demand out.
- Answer: Any one of: "The average American household already uses about 300 gallons of water each day," or the point that heavy watering during a dry spell can leave a neighbor with weak pressure. Students must quote the evidence they choose.
- Answer: The counterclaim is that a green lawn is a resident's own business and the town should not tell people when to water. The stated sentence is: "Some residents argue that a green lawn is their own business and that the town should not tell them when to water."
- Answer: The writer answers that water is shared, so one home's heavy watering during a dry spell can lower a neighbor's pressure, which makes the timing rule a small and fair trade for a reliable supply.
- Answer: Agreeing for a moment shows the writer understands the other side and treats it fairly. This makes the writer seem reasonable and makes the rebuttal that follows more convincing.
- Answer: Answers will vary. A strong choice is the sentence about one home's watering lowering a neighbor's pressure, because it shows a direct harm to others, which supports a town-wide rule better than a general statement about water use. Students must justify their choice by comparing two sentences.
- Answer: It is mostly an argument. Supporting features include the stated claim, the counterclaim, and the rebuttal, which are parts of an argument rather than a plain explanation or a story.
- Answer: Answers will vary but should add a new opposing point, such as noting that residents who install their own rain barrels are already saving water and should be allowed to water when they choose.
Differentiation
Support
Give students a labeled organizer with four boxes: claim, evidence, counterclaim, and rebuttal. Having them drop each quotation into the right box before answering the analysis questions keeps the parts of the argument separate in their minds.
Extension
Ask students to write a two-paragraph response op-ed that states the opposite claim, includes one piece of evidence, and answers the strongest point the original writer made.
ELL supports
Pre-teach "claim," "counterclaim," "rebuttal," and "evidence" with a simple two-sided picture: one speaker making a point and another answering it. Allow students to answer items 2, 4, and 5 by underlining and copying the sentence rather than paraphrasing it.