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Quiz & test questions Grade 4 Math

Hobbsville Public Works Quiz: Storm Drains and Plant Pumps

A 30-point grade 4 quiz on a fictional public works week, mixing unit conversion choices, multi-digit multiplication, rounding, and short written answers.

Objectives

  1. Students will convert hours, minutes, and liters into smaller units.
  2. Students will multiply multi-digit numbers and round totals to a named place value.
  3. Students will explain a unit error and a rounding choice in writing.

Vocabulary

Storm drain
A storm drain is the grate at the edge of a street that swallows rainwater and sends it through pipes to the nearest creek or river. That water is usually not treated, so only rain belongs down the drain.

Also: filter, round, convert, remainder

Teacher overview

This 30-point quiz closes a unit built around the public works crew of Hobbsville, a fictional town whose small department handles both the storm drains along the streets and the filters at the water plant. Items 1 and 2 are multiple choice, items 3 through 9 are computation, and items 10 through 12 ask for short written explanations. The mix moves from recalling a unit relationship to applying it inside a two-step problem, and the last three items ask students to justify a choice rather than produce a number. Allow 40 minutes and no calculators.

Hobbsville Public Works Quiz: Storm Drains and Plant Pumps — Grade 4 Math
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Assessment

  1. Which amount is the same as 3 hours? (2 points)

    • A. 30 minutes
    • B. 180 minutes
    • C. 300 minutes
    • D. 3,000 minutes

  2. Which amount is the same as 4 liters? (2 points)

    • A. 40 milliliters
    • B. 400 milliliters
    • C. 4,000 milliliters
    • D. 40,000 milliliters

  3. Change 6 minutes into seconds. (2 points)

  4. A storm drain crew clears 14 drains each day for 6 days. How many drains do they clear? (3 points)

  5. A pump pulls 1,235 gallons of standing water off a flooded corner each hour for 4 hours. How many gallons is that? (3 points)

  6. Round your answer from item 5 to the nearest hundred gallons. (3 points)

  7. Round your answer from item 5 to the nearest thousand gallons. (3 points)

  8. The crew must check 158 drain covers. One worker can check 6 covers. How many workers are needed so that every cover is checked? (3 points)

  9. A plant pump moves 55 gallons of water each minute for 24 minutes. How many gallons does it move? (3 points)

  10. Explain what a storm drain carries and where that water goes after it leaves the street. (2 points)

  11. Explain why the crew rounds the gallon total from item 5 before writing it in the town report. (2 points)

  12. A worker wrote that 4,000 milliliters is less than 4 liters. Explain the mistake. (2 points)

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: B.
    One hour is 60 minutes, so 3 hours is 3 × 60 = 180 minutes. Choice C is the common error of counting 100 minutes in an hour.

  2. Answer: C.
    One liter is 1,000 milliliters, so 4 liters is 4 × 1,000 = 4,000 milliliters. Choice B comes from using 100 milliliters in a liter.

  3. Answer: 360 seconds.
    One minute is 60 seconds, so 6 minutes is 6 × 60 = 360 seconds.

  4. Answer: 84 drains.
    14 × 6. Splitting 14 into 10 + 4 gives 10 × 6 = 60 and 4 × 6 = 24, and 60 + 24 = 84 drains.

  5. Answer: 4,940 gallons.
    1,235 × 4. Splitting 1,235 into 1,000 + 200 + 35 gives 4,000, then 800, then 140, and 4,000 + 800 + 140 = 4,940 gallons.

  6. Answer: 4,900 gallons.
    The hundreds digit is 9 and the digit to its right is 4, which is less than 5, so the hundreds digit stays at 9 and the rest become zeros.

  7. Answer: 5,000 gallons.
    The thousands digit is 4 and the digit to its right is 9, which is 5 or more, so the thousands digit goes up to 5.

  8. Answer: 27 workers.
    158 ÷ 6 gives 26 with a remainder of 2, because 6 × 26 = 156. Two covers are still unchecked, so a twenty-seventh worker is needed even though that worker checks only 2 covers.

  9. Answer: 1,320 gallons.
    55 × 24. Splitting 24 into 20 + 4 gives 55 × 20 = 1,100 and 55 × 4 = 220, and 1,100 + 220 = 1,320 gallons.

  10. Answer: A storm drain carries rain and whatever the rain washes off the street, and it empties into a creek or river without being cleaned first.
    Full credit for naming both the rainwater and a destination such as a creek, river, or lake. Give one point for naming only one of the two.

  11. Answer: A rounded total is easier to read and compare, and it still shows about how much water the crew moved.
    Full credit for naming easier reading or comparison and noting that the rounded number stays close to the exact one.

  12. Answer: The worker mixed up the units, because 4,000 milliliters is exactly the same amount as 4 liters.
    Full credit for stating that the two amounts are equal and explaining that milliliters are smaller, so it takes 1,000 of them to make one liter.

Differentiation

Support

Provide a reference card with 1 hour equals 60 minutes, 1 minute equals 60 seconds, and 1 liter equals 1,000 milliliters, and allow students to use a place-value chart on items 6 and 7. Read items 10 through 12 aloud for students who need decoding support.

Extension

Ask students who finish early to write a thirteenth item worth 3 points that uses rounding to the nearest ten thousand, along with a complete answer key entry for it.

ELL supports

Allow labeled drawings in place of full sentences for items 10 and 12, and provide the sentence frame: ___ milliliters is the same as ___ liters because 1 liter equals 1,000 milliliters.

Extensions

Have students total their scores by section, computation and writing, and set one goal for the section they found harder before the next unit begins.