Reading passage Grade 3 Social Studies & Civics
Marigold's Dry Summer: How a Town Made a Water Rule
A grade 3 informational passage about how the town of Marigold faced a dry summer and made a water-saving rule to protect its well and creek.
Objectives
- Students will identify how the town of Marigold responded to a dry summer.
- Students will explain why a dry well is a public problem the town solved together.
- Students will infer why residents followed the council's water rule.
Vocabulary
Key words: council, water keeper
Teacher overview
This passage tells how one small town solved a water shortage by making a rule together, which is a clear example of how a community governs a shared resource. It is written for grade 3 readers in short sentences and can be read alone, with a partner, or as a class. The comprehension questions move from stated facts to why the town acted as it did.
Passage
Marigold is a small town in a dry valley. Its water comes from two places. One is Marigold Creek. The other is a deep well below the town. In most years, the creek and the well give the town all the water it needs.
The town has a water keeper named Dana. Dana checks the creek and the well each day. One summer, the rain did not come. Week after week, the sky stayed clear. The creek ran low and slow. The well began to drop too. Dana grew worried. If the well ran dry, the whole town would be in trouble.
A dry well is a public problem. One family cannot fix it alone. So the town council held a meeting. Neighbors came to listen. Dana told them how low the water had fallen. Then the council talked about what to do.
They looked at three choices. They could do nothing and hope for rain. They could pay to truck in water from far away, which would cost a lot. Or they could make a rule to save the water they still had. The council chose to make a rule.
The new rule was simple. People could water their gardens only in the early morning. They could water only on some days, not every day. No one could wash a sidewalk or a car with a running hose. The rule would last until the rains came back.
Most people followed the rule. Gardens still grew, just with less water. The well stopped dropping so fast. The town made it through the dry summer with water to spare.
When the fall rains came, the creek filled again. The well rose back up. The council ended the rule. But the people of Marigold remembered how a fair rule had helped them share water in a hard year.
Questions
Name the two places the town of Marigold gets its water.
What happened to the creek and the well during the dry summer?
What three choices did the town council look at?
Which choice did the council pick to solve the problem?
The passage says a dry well is a public problem. Why could one family not fix it alone? Use the passage.
Why do you think most people followed the new water rule? Use details from the passage.
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: Marigold Creek and a deep well below the town. The passage names both near the start.
Answer: The creek ran low and slow, and the well began to drop. The passage says this happened when the summer rain did not come.
Answer: Do nothing and hope for rain, pay to truck in water from far away, or make a rule to save water. The passage lists these three choices at the meeting.
Answer: The council chose to make a rule. The passage says they picked the water-saving rule over the other two choices.
Answer: The well serves the whole town, so one family saving water alone would not be enough. Answers should note that everyone shares the same well, so the town had to act together, as the passage shows.
Answer: Answers will vary. Good answers note that the rule was simple and fair, that everyone shared the same shortage, and that gardens could still grow with less water, so following the rule protected water for all, as the passage suggests.
Differentiation
Support
Give students a simple five-box timeline (dry summer, worried water keeper, council meeting, new rule, rains return) to fill in as they read. Allow questions 5 and 6 to be answered aloud to a partner before writing.
Extension
Ask students to write a short new paragraph for the passage set one year later, telling what the council might do to get ready before the next dry summer, using only ideas the passage already gives.
ELL supports
Pre-teach council, water keeper, and public problem with simple pictures and a one-line meaning for each. Let students answer the fact questions (1 through 4) by pointing to and reading the matching sentence in the passage.