Classroom activity Grade 3 Social Studies & Civics
The Peppergate Founders Fair Water Plan: A Grade 3 Game
A grade 3 negotiation game in which four fair committees cut their water requests to fit one dry-day share, with a recording sheet of addition problems.
Objectives
- Students will add and subtract water amounts to test a plan against a limit.
- Students will negotiate cuts with other committees to fit a shared limit.
- Students will explain why a town sets rules about water during a dry month.
Vocabulary
Key words: share, committee, dry month, plan
Teacher overview
This is a 45-minute negotiation game for a class working in four committees of five or six students. Peppergate is a fictional town holding its Founders Fair during a dry month, and the water department has set aside one share of water for the whole fair day. Each committee wants more water than the share allows, so the committees must meet, choose cuts, and sign one plan that fits. The total written on the board is what settles the question, because the plan passes only when the four amounts together fall at or below the share, which means no committee can hold its full request by arguing for it. Third graders often assume a dry month means the taps stop working, so state plainly before starting that the water is still there, and that the town is choosing to spread a smaller amount across more uses.
Activity Directions
Before class, print the four request cards and the four cut-choice cards. Post the water share poster at the front. Write on it: "Founders Fair water share for the day: 900 liters."
Divide the class into four committees and give each one its request card. The four requests are Garden Row, 250 liters; Food Tents, 300 liters; Animal Barn, 200 liters; and the Splash Bucket Game, 400 liters.
Give every student a recording sheet. Committees work through questions 1 and 2 together to find the total request and how far over the share it is.
Bring the class together and write the four requests on the board in a column. Ask one student from each committee to read the total aloud. The class should agree that the plan does not fit.
Hand each committee its cut-choice card. Each card lists one way that committee can use less water and how many liters that choice saves. Give committees five minutes to decide whether to take the cut.
Hold the water table meeting. Call each committee to the front in turn. The speaker states the committee's new amount and the reason for its cut. Record each new amount on the board next to the old one.
Have every student finish questions 3 through 8 on the recording sheet, then compare the new total with the share on the poster.
If the new total is above the share, send committees back for one more round of cuts. If it is at or below the share, the plan passes.
End the activity when the plan passes and one member of each committee signs the board beside the committee's final amount, which most classes reach after a single round of cuts.
Debrief with two questions. First, ask which cut was easiest for a committee to make and why. Second, ask what the fair would have looked like if no committee had cut anything, and who in Peppergate would have noticed.
Student Handout
Founders Fair water recording sheet. Peppergate is a made-up town. The Founders Fair may use 900 liters of water on fair day.
The four committees asked for these amounts: Garden Row 250 liters, Food Tents 300 liters, Animal Barn 200 liters, and the Splash Bucket Game 400 liters. How many liters did the four committees ask for in all?
The four committees asked for 1,150 liters in all. The fair may use only 900 liters. How many liters must the committees cut?
Garden Row will spread mulch around the flowers. That saves 60 liters. Garden Row asked for 250 liters. How many liters does Garden Row need now?
The Food Tents will wash dishes in tubs instead of under a running hose. That saves 120 liters. The Food Tents asked for 300 liters. How many liters do the Food Tents need now?
The Animal Barn will fill the goats' troughs with a bucket instead of a running hose. That saves 50 liters. The Animal Barn asked for 200 liters. How many liters does the Animal Barn need now?
The Splash Bucket Game will run for two hours instead of four. That saves 200 liters. The game asked for 400 liters. How many liters does the game need now?
The four new amounts are 190 liters, 180 liters, 150 liters, and 200 liters. What is the new total for the fair?
The fair may use 900 liters. The new plan uses 720 liters. How many liters are left over?
Name one cut your committee made, and tell why your committee thought that cut was fair.
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: 1,150 liters. 250 + 300 = 550, and 200 + 400 = 600, so 550 + 600 = 1,150.
Answer: 250 liters. 1,150 - 900 = 250.
Answer: 190 liters. 250 - 60 = 190.
Answer: 180 liters. 300 - 120 = 180.
Answer: 150 liters. 200 - 50 = 150.
Answer: 200 liters. 400 - 200 = 200.
Answer: 720 liters. 190 + 180 = 370, and 150 + 200 = 350, so 370 + 350 = 720.
Answer: 180 liters. 900 - 720 = 180.
Answer: Accept any cut the committee actually made, with a reason such as the cut saved a lot of water, the fair could still run without it, or every committee gave up about the same amount.
Differentiation
Support
Give these students a recording sheet with the numbers already lined up in columns for questions 1 and 7, and offer base-ten blocks for the subtraction items. Assign them the speaker role at the water table so they present a decision the committee made together rather than computing under time pressure.
Extension
Ask these students to write a short rule the town could post for next year's fair so that the committees do not have to meet at all, and to name one problem their rule would still leave unsolved.
ELL supports
Pre-teach share, committee, and cut with the poster and a jug marked in liters, and post the four committee names with a small picture for each. Provide a sentence frame for the water table meeting: "Our committee will use ____ liters, because we will ____."
Extensions
Have students find out whether their own town or water system has a rule for dry months, such as set watering days, and compare it with the plan the class negotiated for Peppergate.