Writing prompt Grade 1 Health & Consumer Science
Sprinkler or Shade Tent? Cooling Down at Oxlip Hill Field Day
A grade 1 opinion prompt: students pick the sprinkler or the shade tent for a hot field day cool-down and explain why every child still needs a drink.
Objectives
- Students will state an opinion about which cool-down stop their class should choose on a hot day.
- Students will give one reason, drawn from the read-aloud, for how the chosen stop cools the body.
- Students will explain in one sentence that getting wet does not take the place of drinking water.
Vocabulary
Key words: opinion, reason, sweat, shade, cool down
Teacher overview
On a hot field day at Oxlip Hill School, a made-up school, each class gets one cool-down stop between races: the sprinkler, where children run through the spray and let the water dry on their skin, or the shade tent, where they sit and rest out of direct sun. Both are sound ways to shed heat, so either opinion can earn full marks, and the score depends on the reason the student gives and whether it comes from the read-aloud, in keeping with the reason requirement in W.1.1. The sprinkler reason also introduces a small piece of the water cycle, since water drying off skin is evaporation, the same process that lets sweat cool the body.
The prompt also addresses a misconception some young children hold: that getting soaked by a sprinkler, a splash pad, or a pool counts as drinking, or that a child who is wet cannot be thirsty. Water on the skin does not replace water the body has lost through sweat, so the read-aloud states plainly that a jug of drinking water waits at both stops, and the organizer and rubric each include a water-fact sentence. Read the background aloud twice, keep a simple drawing of the two stops posted while students write, and avoid steering the class toward either choice.
Prompt
Read aloud to the class. Read it two times.
It is field day at Oxlip Hill School. This school is made up. The sun is hot. The kids in Room 4 have run three races. Their faces are red and wet with sweat.
Coach Ferro says it is time to cool down. The class can pick one stop.
Stop One: The Sprinkler. The kids run through the cool spray. Then the water dries on their skin. When water dries, it goes up into the air. It takes some heat from your skin with it. Sweat cools you the same way.
Stop Two: The Shade Tent. The kids sit on a mat under a big tent. The sun does not shine on them there. They rest and catch their breath.
At both stops, there is a big jug of water and a cup for each kid. Wet skin does not put water back inside your body. A drink does that. So each kid gets a drink at both stops. If you feel dizzy or sick in the heat, tell a grown-up right away.
Your job. Which stop should Room 4 pick? Write your opinion. Give one reason. Tell why the kids still need a drink. End with a sentence that sums up your idea. You may draw your stop, too.
Planning Organizer
Fill in each box before you write.
| My plan | What I will write |
|---|---|
| My opinion: which stop should Room 4 pick? | Room 4 should go to the ____. |
| My reason: how does that stop cool you down? | I think this because ____. |
| My water fact: why do the kids still need a drink? | The kids still need a drink because ____. |
| My closing: how do I end my idea? | That is why ____. |
Say each box out loud to a partner. Then write your sentences on your paper.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Exemplar & Rubric
Exemplar response for the sprinkler, written at grade 1 level:
I think Room 4 should go to the sprinkler. The cool water will get on our skin. When it dries, it takes some heat away. Sweat does that too. We will still need a drink from the jug, because wet skin does not put water back in us. That is why the sprinkler is the stop for Room 4.
Exemplar response for the shade tent, written at grade 1 level:
I think Room 4 should go to the shade tent. The sun will not shine on us there, so we will not get hotter. We can sit and rest. We still need a drink from the jug, because getting wet is not the same as drinking. That is why Room 4 should pick the shade tent.
Either exemplar earns a Proficient or Advanced score. A response that picks a stop and gives a reason about fun ("the sprinkler is more fun") states a real opinion, yet the reason does not come from the read-aloud, so it scores Developing on the Reason row.
Rubric
| Criterion | Emerging | Developing | Proficient | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opinion | Names neither stop, or names both without choosing | Names a stop, but the choice is unclear or changes partway through | Clearly states which stop Room 4 should pick | States the choice in the first sentence and names cooling down as the topic |
| Reason | Gives no reason, or repeats the choice as the reason | Gives a reason that does not come from the read-aloud, such as fun or friends | Gives one reason from the read-aloud about how the stop cools the body | Gives one reason from the read-aloud and explains it in a second sentence |
| Water fact | Says nothing about drinking | Says the kids drink water but gives no reason | States that the kids still need a drink because wet skin or getting wet does not replace drinking | States the drink fact and connects it to sweat or to feeling hot |
| Closing and conventions | Writing stops with no ending; letters and words are hard to read | Ends with a drawing or a repeated word; some capital letters and end marks | Ends with a sentence that finishes the idea; capital letters and end marks used most of the time | Ends with a sentence that ties back to the reason; capital letters, spaces, and end marks used throughout |
Differentiation
Support
Give these students a two-picture strip showing the sprinkler and the shade tent, and let them circle one before they plan. Read each organizer row aloud and accept a dictated answer, then have the student copy or trace the scribed sentence. The spoken frames "Room 4 should go to the ____" and "The kids still need a drink because ____" can be repeated as often as needed. A student who writes the opinion and reason sentences and dictates the water fact has met the core of the task.
Extension
Ask these students to add a sentence about the stop they did not pick, saying one good thing about it and why their choice is still better for Room 4. They can also add a second water fact, such as that sweat is water leaving the body, and read the finished piece aloud to a partner who listens for the opinion sentence.
ELL supports
Pre-teach sprinkler, shade, tent, sweat, dizzy, and drink with a picture card for each, and act out cool down by fanning and sitting. Keep the two stops posted with a labeled picture beside each. Accept an oral opinion in the home language followed by one scribed English sentence, and allow a labeled drawing of a child drinking from a cup to stand in for the water-fact sentence.
Extensions
On the next warm day, walk the playground with the class and have students point out the shady spots, the drinking fountains, and any place a child could cool off. Back in the room, record the places on a simple class map and add a sentence strip under it that reads "Get a drink, even if you are wet." The map can stay posted near the door for the rest of the warm season, and students can add to it after field day.