Reading passage Grade 1 Social Studies & Civics
The Water Truck Came to Cloverdale: A Grade 1 Read-Aloud
An original grade 1 read-aloud about a fictional town whose well ran low one dry summer, with six comprehension questions about sharing water and building a tank.
Objectives
- Students will retell how one town got water before and after a dry summer.
- Students will explain why a town put drinking water ahead of washing cars.
- Students will describe one lasting change the town made after the dry summer.
Vocabulary
- Pump
- A pump is a machine that adds energy to water to move it or push it uphill, doing the job gravity cannot do on its own. Water systems use many different kinds of pumps to move water from wells, through treatment, and out to customers.
Also: well, tank, share, vote
Teacher overview
This original read-aloud tells how the people of a fictional town called Cloverdale handled one dry summer, first by ranking which uses of water mattered most, then by building something that would hold water for the next dry spell. Both halves are first-grade civics, because the town has to decide which uses come first while the well is low, and it later votes to build a tank so that the next dry summer is easier.
Read the passage twice. On the second reading, pause after the sentence about the town meeting and ask students what they would have put first, before the passage tells them. The final scene with Ben and his grandmother gives the class a way to talk about why towns remember hard summers.
Passage
The Water Truck Came to Cloverdale
Cloverdale is a small town. Long ago it had one well. The well sat by the town hall. A pump brought the water up.
One summer, no rain fell. Week after week, the sky stayed clear. The well got low. The pump made a dry sound.
The town held a meeting. People asked what to do. There was not enough water for every job. So the town had to choose.
Drinking water came first. Cooking and washing hands came next. Grass and cars had to wait. Mrs. Rios put a note on every door. It told the new rules for the week.
Then a big truck came. It held water for the town. It parked by the school every Friday. People brought jugs and pails. Each home got a share.
The dry summer ended when the rain came back. But the town did not forget. People voted to build a tank up on the hill. Now the tank holds water for dry weeks.
Ben lives on Cloverdale Road. He can see the tank from his yard. His grandma tells him about the truck. Ben likes to hear that story.
His grandma says the town fixed the problem together. She says that is what a town does.
Questions
- What did Cloverdale use to get its water long ago?
- What happened to the well during the dry summer?
- Which use of water did the town put first?
- Which two uses had to wait?
- Why did the town vote to build a tank on the hill?
- Ben's grandma says the town fixed the problem together. What does she mean?
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Answer Key
- Answer: One well with a pump. The opening says the well sat by the town hall and a pump brought the water up.
- Answer: It got low. The second paragraph says no rain fell for weeks, the well got low, and the pump made a dry sound.
- Answer: Drinking water. The passage says drinking water came first, then cooking and washing hands.
- Answer: Grass and cars. The passage lists those two as the uses that had to wait while the well was low.
- Answer: So the town would have water stored for the next dry weeks. The passage says the town did not forget the dry summer and voted to build a tank that now holds water.
- Answer: Answers will vary. Accept any answer showing that neighbors made the choice and the change as a group, such as people meeting, sharing the truck water, and voting for the tank instead of each family solving it alone.
Differentiation
Support
Read the passage twice and stop after each paragraph to ask one question about that paragraph only. Provide questions one through four with two answer choices each, spoken aloud. Accept a drawing of the well, the truck, or the tank with one dictated label as an answer to question five.
Extension
Ask these students to write the note Mrs. Rios put on every door, using three short rules and one sentence explaining why the rules were needed. A second task is to write what Ben might tell a new neighbor about the tank on the hill.
ELL supports
Pre-teach well, pump, truck, and tank with four sketches drawn in order on the board so the sequence is visible while you read. Use a hand motion for pumping and for pouring. Allow students to retell the story by pointing at the four sketches before answering any question in words.
Extensions
Ask students to find out where their own school or home water is stored, and report back one thing they learned from a family member or the school office. Compare that answer with Cloverdale's tank and add both to a class chart of places water waits before it reaches a tap.