Writing prompt Grade 5 Health & Consumer Science
The Nakashima Well in Bellmoor: Test Every Year or Only When Needed?
A grade 5 opinion writing prompt in which students use fact cards on private wells, hidden contaminants, and test cost to advise a fictional family on well testing.
Objectives
- Students will state an opinion on how often a family should test a private well and support it with at least two ordered reasons.
- Students will quote accurately from the fact cards and name the card each quotation comes from.
- Students will explain why water that looks, smells, and tastes normal can still be unsafe to drink.
Vocabulary
- Groundwater
- Groundwater is water that has soaked into the ground and fills the spaces between soil particles and cracks in rock underground. It is a large underground source of fresh water that wells and springs draw from.
- Nitrate
- Nitrate is a form of nitrogen that plants use as food. It gets into water from fertilizer, animal waste, and septic systems, and too much of it is unhealthy for both people and streams.
Also: private well, fertilizer, opinion, linking words
Teacher overview
Families who get their water from a private well are responsible for testing it themselves, because the rules that require public water systems to test their water do not cover a household well. This prompt asks fifth graders to advise the fictional Nakashima family, who have just moved to a farmhouse near the town of Bellmoor, on whether to test their well every year or only when something about the water seems wrong. Both positions can be supported from the fact cards, which include a grandfather's long experience and the cost of a test in the scenario, so the task rewards reasons tied to evidence rather than one correct answer.
The misconception to watch for is that water which looks, smells, and tastes normal must be safe to drink. Card B states that some germs and chemicals, including nitrate, give no such signal, and students who argue for waiting should still be asked how the family would notice a problem that cannot be seen or tasted. At grade 5 the task follows the opinion expectations of W.5.1, so students state and support one opinion with ordered reasons and linking words and are not asked to answer an opposing claim, which begins in later grades. Read the cards aloud together in the first session before students start the organizer.
Prompt
Background. The Nakashima family just moved to an old farmhouse outside the fictional town of Bellmoor. Their house does not get water from a town water system. It gets water from a private well. A well is a deep hole drilled down to groundwater. Groundwater is water that fills the tiny spaces between grains of sand, bits of gravel, and cracks in rock under the ground. A pump pushes the water up into the house.
Kenji's parents have to decide how often to test the well water. They asked Kenji, who is in fifth grade, to read these fact cards and give them his opinion. Now you will do the same thing.
Card A: Who checks the water? A town water system has to test its water often and fix any problems it finds. No one has to test a private well. The family who owns the well is in charge of its water.
Card B: You cannot always tell. Some germs and some chemicals in water have no color, no smell, and no taste. Nitrate is one of them. It can come from fertilizer or animal waste that soaks into the ground. Water can look clear and taste fine and still not be safe to drink.
Card C: Things change underground. Groundwater moves slowly through the ground, and it can carry things with it. A flood, a field that was just fertilized, or a crack in the well cap can let germs or chemicals reach a well that used to be fine.
Card D: What the county suggests. In our scenario, the Bellmoor County Health Department suggests testing a private well once a year for germs and nitrate, and again after any flood. A test costs $30 at the county lab. The family fills a small bottle with water, drops it off at the lab, and gets the results in about a week.
Card E: What Grandpa says. Grandpa Nakashima grew up on a farm near Bellmoor and drank well water for most of his life. "Our water always tasted fine, and nobody got sick," he says. "I would test it if it ever looked cloudy or smelled strange, or after a flood. Why pay every year for water that has always been good?"
Your task. Write an opinion piece to the Nakashima family. Should they test their well every year, or only when something seems wrong? State your opinion clearly in your first paragraph. Give at least two reasons, and put them in an order that makes sense. Support each reason with a fact from the cards, and name the card. Use linking words such as because, for example, also, specifically, and as a result. End with a concluding statement that tells the family what to do.
Planning Organizer
Fill in every row before you start your draft.
| Part of my opinion piece | My notes |
|---|---|
| My opinion (every year, or only when something seems wrong?) | |
| Reason 1 | |
| Fact for reason 1 (copy the exact words in quotation marks and name the card) | |
| Reason 2 | |
| Fact for reason 2 (copy the exact words in quotation marks and name the card) | |
| Which reason goes first, and why | |
| Linking words I will use | |
| My concluding statement |
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
Dear Nakashima family,
I think you should test your well water every year, not only when something seems wrong. Your family is in charge of your own water now, and some problems are impossible to notice without a test.
My first reason is that nobody else will check your water. Card A says, "No one has to test a private well." When a family lives in town, the water system tests the water for them. Now that you have a well, that job belongs to your family. If you wait until something seems wrong, you are counting on the water to warn you, and it might not.
My second reason is that some dangers hide. Card B says that some germs and chemicals "have no color, no smell, and no taste." Nitrate is one of them, and it can come from fertilizer or animal waste that soaks into the ground. As a result, your water could taste the same as it always has and still not be safe. Card C also explains that a well can change. Specifically, it says that "a flood, a field that was just fertilized, or a crack in the well cap can let germs or chemicals reach a well that used to be fine." A well that was safe last year might not be safe this year.
My last reason is that testing is easy. On Card D, the county lab charges $30, and you only have to fill a small bottle and drop it off. You get the results in about a week. Grandpa says to test after a flood, and the county suggests that too, so everyone agrees on that part.
For these reasons, you should put a well test on your calendar once a year and test again after any flood. Then you will know your water is safe instead of guessing.
Sincerely,
Maya
Rubric
| Criterion | 1 Emerging | 2 Developing | 3 Proficient | 4 Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opinion and introduction | No clear opinion, or the writer chooses both options. | An opinion appears but is unclear about how often to test. | The first paragraph states one clear opinion about how often to test and keeps it through the piece. | The first paragraph states a clear opinion and previews the reasons that follow. |
| Reasons and facts | Fewer than two reasons, or reasons have no facts from the cards. | Two reasons appear, but a fact is missing, copied incorrectly, or not linked to its card. | Each of two or more reasons is backed by an accurate quotation or fact with its card named. | Each reason is backed by an accurate quotation, and the writer explains in their own words what the quotation means for the family. |
| Order and linking words | Reasons are listed with no clear order and few linking words. | Reasons have some order, and linking words are limited to "and" or "because." | Reasons are in a sensible order, and the writer uses at least three different linking words or phrases. | The order builds from one reason to the next, and phrases such as "specifically" or "as a result" join reasons to facts smoothly. |
| Conclusion and conventions | No concluding statement, and errors make sentences hard to follow. | A conclusion appears but does not tell the family what to do, or errors slow the reader. | The concluding statement tells the family what to do, and there are few errors. | The conclusion restates the opinion as a clear plan for the family, and spelling and punctuation are nearly error-free. |
Differentiation
Support
Give these students only Cards A, B, and D to read, and provide sentence starters for each organizer row, such as "I think the Nakashima family should ___ because ." and "Card ___ says, '.'" Allow the opinion piece to be three paragraphs: the opinion, two reasons together, and the conclusion.
Extension
Ask these students to add a paragraph about a new detail: the Nakashima family is expecting a baby, and baby formula is mixed with water. Nitrate in drinking water is a particular health concern for babies. Students explain whether this detail changes how often the family should test and which card it connects to.
ELL supports
Pre-teach "well," "groundwater," "nitrate," "fertilizer," and "opinion" with a labeled drawing of a house, a pump, and a well reaching down into wet sand and gravel. Allow students to fill in the organizer with short phrases and a card letter before drafting in full sentences. Provide the frames "I think ___." and "One reason is ___. Card ___ says ___."
Extensions
Have students find what their own state or county health department advises for families with private wells and compare that advice with Card D. Students can then write two sentences saying whether the real advice would change their opinion and why.