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Worksheet Grade 3 Health & Consumer Science

Safe Water to Drink on the Bluff Creek Hike

A grade 3 worksheet where students read a ranger's rule about drinking water on a class hike and decide which water sources on the trail are safe to drink.

Objectives

  1. Students will explain why clear-looking water can still carry germs.
  2. Students will choose safe drinking water sources in an outdoor setting and give a reason from the text.

Vocabulary

Key words: germs, safe, trailhead, fountain

Teacher overview

Students meet untreated water most often outdoors, on hikes, at creeks, and around campsites, where the usual signals of safety do not apply. This worksheet places students on a class hike along the fictional Bluff Creek trail, gives them a ranger's short trail talk as the text, and asks them to decide which water on the trail is safe to drink and how they know. The items move from finding stated facts to applying the ranger's rule in a new place.

Safe Water to Drink on the Bluff Creek Hike — Grade 3 Health & Consumer Science
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Imagine your class hikes the Bluff Creek trail. At the start, Ranger Odell gives a trail talk. Read it, then answer the questions.

Ranger Odell's trail talk. Welcome to Bluff Creek. The creek looks clear, but clear water is not always clean water. Germs are too small to see, even in water that sparkles. Rain washes dirt and animal waste into the creek, so do not drink from it. Do not drink from puddles either. Safe drinking water on this trail comes from two places. One is the fountain at the trailhead, which uses the town's cleaned water. The other is the water bottle you filled at home. Drink water at every rest stop, even before you feel thirsty. If your bottle runs out, tell an adult, and refill it at the trailhead fountain.

  1. Ranger Odell says the creek looks clear. Can you tell if water has germs just by looking? Copy the sentence that proves your answer.
  2. Which two places on the trail have safe drinking water?
  3. Why is the creek not safe to drink, even though it looks clear? Give one reason from the trail talk.
  4. A friend says, "Clear water is always clean water." Is your friend right? Use the ranger's words to explain.
  5. Where does the trailhead fountain's water come from? Copy the words from the trail talk that tell you.
  6. What does the ranger say to do if your water bottle runs out?
  7. Now imagine a picnic at a lake in another town. Using the ranger's rule, which would you drink: lake water or the water bottle you filled at home? Tell why.
  8. The ranger says to drink at every rest stop, even before you feel thirsty. Why might that be a smart rule on a long hike? Write one or two sentences.

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: No. The proof sentence is "Germs are too small to see, even in water that sparkles."
  2. Answer: The fountain at the trailhead and the water bottle filled at home. The trail talk names exactly these two places as safe.
  3. Answer: Rain washes dirt and animal waste into the creek. The trail talk gives this as the reason the creek is not for drinking.
  4. Answer: No, the friend is not right. The ranger says "clear water is not always clean water" because germs are too small to see.
  5. Answer: From the town's cleaned water. The trail talk says the fountain "uses the town's cleaned water."
  6. Answer: Tell an adult and refill the bottle at the trailhead fountain. This is stated in the last sentence of the trail talk.
  7. Answer: The water bottle filled at home. The lake is like the creek: it may hold germs you cannot see, so the bottle with cleaned water is the safe choice.
  8. Answer: Answers will vary. A strong response says your body keeps losing water as you walk and sweat, so drinking early keeps you from getting a headache or feeling tired before the hike ends.

Differentiation

Support

Read the trail talk aloud twice before students begin, and number its sentences so students can answer items 1, 4, and 5 with a sentence number. Reduce the set to items 1, 2, 3, and 6.

Extension

Have students write a four-sentence trail talk for a different place, such as a beach or a snowy hill, keeping the same rule about germs and naming which water is safe there.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "germs," "trailhead," and "fountain" with simple sketches beside each word. Allow items 2 and 6 to be answered with short phrases, and let students explain item 7 to a partner aloud before writing.

Extensions

As a class, list the safe drinking water places inside your own school, then compare the list with the two safe places on the Bluff Creek trail. Discuss what the school fountain and the trailhead fountain have in common.