Project Grade 3 Social Studies & Civics
The Ardenhope Water Welcome Booklet: A Grade 3 Project
A four-session grade 3 civics project in which students write a four-page welcome booklet on a fictional town's water system, summer watering rule, and water office.
Objectives
- Students will write four informative pages about a town's water system.
- Students will use only facts drawn from the provided source cards.
- Students will explain how the town council adopted its summer watering rule.
Vocabulary
Key words: water department, council, watering rule, well
Teacher overview
The driving question for this four-session project is what a family moving into town needs to know about its water, and who should tell them. Students write and fold a four-page welcome booklet for the clerk's desk in Ardenhope, a fictional town, using only the facts on four provided source cards. Third graders regularly assume that water rules come from a mayor or from the state, so the source card for page 3 shows the actual path: a dry summer, two public meetings, and a council vote. The source-card rule also means students write from a given set of sources rather than from memory, and the rubric scores whether they did.
Project Brief
Ardenhope is a made-up town. You work for the town clerk. New families move to Ardenhope every month. The clerk wants a short booklet to hand each new family.
Your job. Make a four-page welcome booklet about water in Ardenhope. Fold one large sheet in half to make the four pages.
Rules for the booklet.
- Page 1 tells where Ardenhope water comes from.
- Page 2 tells who takes care of the water.
- Page 3 tells the summer watering rule and how the town made it.
- Page 4 tells how to save water and who to call for help.
- Each page needs a topic sentence, at least three facts, and a closing sentence.
- Each page needs one drawing with at least two labels.
- No page may be longer than six sentences.
- Every fact must come from a source card. Do not add facts of your own.
Source card 1: where the water comes from. Ardenhope pumps its water from three wells under the Beckwold meadow. The wells reach water that soaked down through sand and soil. A pump house lifts the water to a small plant. The plant takes out the iron that stains sinks, and it adds a little chlorine to keep germs away. Pipes then carry the water to every street.
Source card 2: who takes care of the water. The town water department has four workers. The plant operator runs the machines and checks the water each day. The tester fills sample bottles around town and checks them in a lab. The line crew fixes broken pipes and hydrants. The office clerk answers calls and sends the bills. The town council hires the department and sets the rules.
Source card 3: the summer watering rule. Three summers ago the wells ran low in August. Some neighbors watered lawns all day, and the pumps could not keep up. People asked the council for help. The council held two public meetings and then voted for a rule. Now, in July and August, houses with odd numbers may water on odd days, and houses with even numbers may water on even days. Nobody may water in the middle of the day, when the sun dries the water fastest.
Source card 4: saving water and getting help. A dripping faucet wastes clean water day and night. Keeping a jug of water in the refrigerator saves the water people run down the drain waiting for it to get cold. Sweeping the walk uses no water at all. Call the water office if your water looks cloudy or tastes odd, and call before you dig in your yard so you do not hit a pipe.
What you turn in. One folded booklet with four finished pages, plus a one-minute read-aloud of your favorite page for the class, spoken as if the class were the clerk's new families.
Milestones
Session 1: read the cards and plan the pages. Read all four source cards with a partner. Fill in the page plan chart with the topic of each page and three facts you will use on it. Turn in the finished page plan at the end of the session.
Session 2: draft pages 1 and 2. Write a topic sentence, three facts, and a closing sentence for each page. Leave a box on each page for the drawing. Turn in both drafted pages.
Session 3: draft pages 3 and 4, then add drawings. Write the same four parts for these two pages. Then draw and label one picture on each of the four pages. Turn in the complete draft.
Session 4: check, fix, and read aloud. Trade booklets with a partner and use the checklist to look for the topic sentence, the three facts, the labels, and the six-sentence limit. Fix what your partner marks. Fold and finish your booklet, then read one page aloud to the class.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Rubric
| Criterion | Emerging | Developing | Proficient | Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coverage of the four pages | One or two pages are finished, or a page covers the wrong topic. | Three pages are finished and on topic. | All four pages are finished and each covers its assigned topic. | All four pages are finished, on topic, and ordered so a reader can follow them without help. |
| Use of the source cards | Most facts are invented or copied incorrectly. | Some pages use source facts, and at least one page has fewer than three. | Every page uses at least three facts, and every fact comes from a source card. | Every page uses at least three accurate source facts, and the writer chose the facts a new family would most need. |
| Informative writing | Sentences are listed with no topic sentence or closing. | A topic sentence appears on some pages, and closings are missing or unclear. | Each page has a topic sentence, grouped facts, and a closing sentence, within six sentences. | Each page meets the structure, and the wording is clear enough to read aloud without stumbling. |
| Drawings and labels | A drawing is missing, or it has no labels. | Drawings appear on most pages, with one label or unclear labels. | Each page has one drawing with at least two accurate labels. | Each drawing has at least two accurate labels and shows something the text alone does not make clear. |
| The council's rule on page 3 | The rule is missing, or it is described as one person's decision. | The rule is stated, but how the town adopted it is missing. | The page states the rule and names the meetings and the council vote. | The page states the rule, the meetings and vote, and why the town needed the rule that summer. |
Differentiation
Support
Provide the page plan chart already filled in with the topic of each page, and highlight the three facts for pages 1 and 2 on the source cards. Allow students to dictate a page and then copy it, and reduce the requirement to two facts per page.
Extension
Ask students to add a fifth page, on a half sheet tucked inside the folded booklet, answering a question a new family might have that the four source cards do not answer, and to write down who they would ask to find out.
ELL supports
Pre-teach well, council, and rule with pictures, and give a bilingual glossary card for the four job names on source card 2. Provide a sentence frame for each page, such as "Water in Ardenhope comes from ____," and allow labels on drawings in the student's first language alongside English.
Extensions
Have the class combine its best pages into one classroom booklet, then compare it with a real welcome packet or water bill insert from the local utility, and list two things the real document includes that the class booklet does not.