Water for Schools
Menu

Graphic organizer Grade 3 Engineering & Design

Longmoor Dry Summer Water Plan: A Grade 3 Design Organizer

A grade 3 decision organizer where students chart three water-saving fixes for a fictional school against a weekly saving goal and three stated limits.

Objectives

  1. Students will record a water-saving goal and three limits for a school plan.
  2. Students will chart what each of three fixes saves and what each one costs in weeks.
  3. Students will pick one pair of fixes and give a reason built on the chart.

Vocabulary

Rain barrel
A rain barrel is a container that catches rainwater from a roof downspout so it can be used later to water plants. It saves drinking water and keeps some runoff out of the storm drains.

Also: reuse, goal, limit

Teacher overview

This organizer is a decision chart in four parts: a goal and limits frame, a table that scores three water-saving fixes side by side, a short pairing table that shows what happens when two fixes run together, and a box for the final pick. The chart is built around the idea that a design choice is settled by measuring every option against the same stated goal and the same stated limits, rather than by picking the option that sounds best. Students at this grade often treat the biggest saver as the automatic winner and drop the limits once the numbers appear, so the pairing table is where that habit gets tested, because the largest single saver in this scenario breaks two limits on its own. Teachers should hold students to writing the limits first and referring back to them by name.

Longmoor Dry Summer Water Plan: A Grade 3 Design Organizer — Grade 3 Engineering & Design
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Organizer

The town of Longmoor is having a dry summer. Longmoor School must use less water. Read the scenario card, then fill in every box.

Scenario card. Longmoor School must save at least 500 liters of water each week. The school can buy only one new item. The fix must be working within three weeks. No one may be asked to drink less water. Three fixes are on the table. Fixing the drippy kitchen tap saves 200 liters a week, needs no new item, and is ready in one week. A rain barrel under the gym roof saves 300 liters a week, needs one new item, and is ready in two weeks. A pipe that carries rinse water from the art room sink out to the ball field saves 400 liters a week, needs two new items, and is ready in five weeks.

Part 1. The goal and the limits

Box What we write here Your answer
Our goal How much water must we save each week?
Limit 1 How many new items may we buy?
Limit 2 How many weeks do we have?
Limit 3 What are we never allowed to do?

Part 2. Score each fix

Fix What it does Liters saved each week New items needed Weeks until it works Meets the goal alone?
A. Fix the drippy tap
B. Rain barrel on the gym roof
C. Rinse water out to the ball field

Part 3. Try two fixes together

Pair Liters saved each week New items needed Weeks until it works Meets the goal and all three limits?
A and B
A and C
B and C

Part 4. Our pick

Box Your answer
We pick
One reason from Part 3
One limit our pick would break if we added Fix C

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Completed Exemplar

Part 1. The goal and the limits

Box What we write here Your answer
Our goal How much water must we save each week? At least 500 liters each week
Limit 1 How many new items may we buy? Only one new item
Limit 2 How many weeks do we have? Three weeks
Limit 3 What are we never allowed to do? Ask anyone to drink less water

Part 2. Score each fix

Fix What it does Liters saved each week New items needed Weeks until it works Meets the goal alone?
A. Fix the drippy tap Stops water dripping in the kitchen 200 0 1 No
B. Rain barrel on the gym roof Catches roof rain for the garden 300 1 2 No
C. Rinse water out to the ball field Sends art room rinse water to the grass 400 2 5 No

Part 3. Try two fixes together

Pair Liters saved each week New items needed Weeks until it works Meets the goal and all three limits?
A and B 500 1 2 Yes
A and C 600 2 5 No, too many new items and too many weeks
B and C 700 3 5 No, too many new items and too many weeks

Part 4. Our pick

Box Your answer
We pick Fix A and Fix B together
One reason from Part 3 The pair saves 500 liters a week, buys one new item, and works in two weeks
One limit our pick would break if we added Fix C Adding Fix C as well would push us to three new items and five weeks, which breaks the one-item limit and the three-week limit

Differentiation

Support

Give these students Part 2 already filled in so the work begins at Part 3, where the pairs are added. Provide counters or a number line for the liter totals, and read the scenario card aloud twice before the first box is written.

Extension

Ask these students to write a fourth fix of their own, place it in the table with a liter figure they can justify, and test it in a pair against the same goal and limits. Have them state which pair they would recommend if the school were given five weeks instead of three.

ELL supports

Pre-teach saved, limit, barrel, and rinse with pictures of a dripping tap, a barrel under a downspout, and a sink. Provide a word bank for the Part 4 reason box containing liters, week, new item, and goal. Allow drawings inside the Part 2 "What it does" cells.

Extensions

Have the class survey the real building for a dripping tap, a downspout with no barrel, and a sink whose rinse water runs straight to the drain. Students can add a fourth row to the table with what they actually found and estimate the weekly saving from a one-week tally.