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Worksheet Grade 5 Science

Skelmore Dam's Rain Gauge Log: A Grade 5 Line Plot Worksheet

Students plot ten days of rainfall measured in eighths of an inch above a fictional dam, add and subtract the fractions, and model how rain refills the lake.

Objectives

  1. Students will build a line plot from rainfall amounts written in eighths of an inch.
  2. Students will add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators to answer questions about the plot.
  3. Students will model how rain in the air changes the amount of water stored behind a dam.

Vocabulary

Reservoir
A human-made lake, usually created by a dam, that stores water for later. Reservoirs supply cities and farms and help control floods.
Dam
A strong wall built across a river to hold back water. Dams store water for people and farms, help prevent floods, and can make electricity.

Also: line plot, rain gauge, eighth

Teacher overview

Skelmore Dam is a fictional dam that holds back Skelmore Lake, and the gauge reader there writes down the rainfall to the nearest eighth of an inch every morning. This worksheet gives students ten days of that log and asks them to build a line plot, then use it to add, compare, and subtract fractions with unlike denominators. The last item turns the data back into science by asking for a labeled model of rain moving from the air onto the hills and into the lake. A common error with a line plot in eighths is spacing only the amounts that appear in the data evenly, as if they were categories, so that one half and three quarters land the same distance apart as one eighth and one quarter; item 1 asks for a full scale in eighths to head that off.

Skelmore Dam's Rain Gauge Log: A Grade 5 Line Plot Worksheet — Grade 5 Science
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

The gauge reader at Skelmore Dam wrote down the rain for ten days.

Day Rain that day
1 1/8 inch
2 1/8 inch
3 1/4 inch
4 1/8 inch
5 3/8 inch
6 1/2 inch
7 1/4 inch
8 1/8 inch
9 3/4 inch
10 1/4 inch
  1. Make a line plot for these ten days. Mark the line from 0 to 1 inch. Put a tick mark at every eighth of an inch. Then place one X above the right spot for each day.
  2. Which amount of rain shows up most often on your plot?
  3. How many days had 1/4 inch of rain?
  4. Day 9 had the most rain. Day 1 had the least. Subtract to find the difference between those two amounts.
  5. Add all ten amounts. How much rain fell in all ten days? Write your answer as a mixed number.
  6. How many days had more than 1/4 inch of rain?
  7. The dam keeper says that every 1/8 inch of rain on the hills sends about 4,000 gallons into Skelmore Lake. Your total from item 5 is 2 7/8 inches, which is 23 eighths. How many gallons reached the lake in the ten days?
  8. Draw a simple side view with three labels: the air above the hills, the hills, and Skelmore Lake. Draw arrows to show rain moving from the air to the hills and then to the lake. Then write one sentence that names the two Earth systems your arrows connect.
  9. On day 11 the gauge read 5/8 inch. Which tick mark would that X sit on, and between which two amounts already on your plot is it? Would 5/8 inch become the amount that shows up most often?
  10. Skelmore Lake needs 1 1/2 inches of rain in a month to stay full. The ten days brought 2 7/8 inches. How much more than 1 1/2 inches is that?

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: A line plot with a scale in eighths. The line runs from 0 to 1 inch with tick marks at 1/8, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 5/8, 3/4, and 7/8. Four X marks sit above 1/8, three above 1/4, one above 3/8, one above 1/2, and one above 3/4. Accept any plot with all ten X marks placed correctly and the scale labeled in eighths.
  2. Answer: 1/8 inch. Four of the ten days measured 1/8 inch, which is more than any other amount on the plot.
  3. Answer: 3 days. Days 3, 7, and 10 each measured 1/4 inch.
  4. Answer: 5/8 inch. Rewrite 3/4 as 6/8, then subtract: 6/8 - 1/8 = 5/8 inch.
  5. Answer: 2 7/8 inches. Rewrite every amount in eighths: four days at 1/8 is 4/8, three days at 1/4 is 6/8, one day at 3/8, one day at 1/2 is 4/8, and one day at 3/4 is 6/8. Add the eighths: 4 + 6 + 3 + 4 + 6 = 23 eighths, and 23/8 = 2 7/8 inches.
  6. Answer: 3 days. Days 5, 6, and 9 measured 3/8, 1/2, and 3/4 inch, and each of those is greater than 1/4 inch.
  7. Answer: 92,000 gallons. There are 23 eighths in the ten-day total, and each eighth sends about 4,000 gallons, so 23 x 4,000 = 92,000 gallons.
  8. Answer: A labeled side view naming the atmosphere and the hydrosphere. Arrows should run down from the air to the hills and then downhill to the lake. Accept any drawing that labels all three parts and any sentence naming the air as the atmosphere and the lake as the hydrosphere. Also accept the atmosphere and geosphere (air and hills) or the geosphere and hydrosphere (hills and lake) when the sentence matches each system to a labeled part.
  9. Answer: On the 5/8 tick, between 1/2 and 3/4, and no. The mark for 5/8 sits at the tick between 1/2 and 3/4. One X there does not beat the four X marks already above 1/8, so 1/8 inch is still the amount that shows up most often.
  10. Answer: 1 3/8 inches more. Rewrite 1 1/2 as 1 4/8, then subtract: 2 7/8 - 1 4/8 = 1 3/8 inches.

Differentiation

Support

Give these students a printed line already marked and labeled in eighths from 0 to 1 inch so their work in item 1 is placing the ten X marks. For items 4, 5, and 10, supply a fraction strip showing halves, quarters, and eighths side by side so the rewriting step is visible rather than remembered.

Extension

Ask these students to add days 11 through 14 to the plot using amounts of their own choosing in eighths, with the rule that the new total for all fourteen days must land between 4 and 5 inches. They should list their four amounts, show the addition in eighths, and explain how they chose them.

ELL supports

Pre-teach gauge, plot, and eighth with a real rain gauge or a clear tube marked in eighths, and point to each mark while naming it aloud. Provide a fraction word bank pairing 1/8, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, and 3/4 with their spoken names, and allow items 8 and 9 to be answered with a labeled drawing plus a short phrase.

Extensions

Have students keep a rain gauge outside the classroom window for two weeks, record each morning to the nearest eighth of an inch, and build a second line plot from their own numbers. Ask them to write two sentences comparing the shape of their plot with the Skelmore plot.