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Worksheet Grade 4 Social Studies & Civics

The Wells of Cranberry Flats: A Grade 4 Aquifer Worksheet

A grade 4 geography worksheet where students read a described cross-section of a fictional town's aquifer and explain how the community protects its wells.

Objectives

  1. Students will identify which underground layer holds the water that Cranberry Flats wells reach.
  2. Students will explain why the community made rules to protect its shared aquifer.

Vocabulary

Aquifer
An aquifer is an underground layer of rock, sand, or gravel that holds water in the tiny spaces between its grains. Wells reach down into aquifers to bring water up to the surface.
Groundwater
Groundwater is water that has soaked into the ground and fills the spaces between soil particles and cracks in rock underground. It is a large underground source of fresh water that wells and springs draw from.

Also: well

Teacher overview

Cranberry Flats is a fictional town in a dry place used for this worksheet. It has no river nearby, so its families get their water from wells that reach water held in an underground layer of sand and gravel. Students read a short description of the ground beneath the town, then answer questions about how the community shares that water and why it made rules to keep the water clean and steady.

The Wells of Cranberry Flats: A Grade 4 Aquifer Worksheet — Grade 4 Social Studies & Civics
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Read this description of the ground under Cranberry Flats, then answer the questions.

Cranberry Flats sits on flat, dry land. No river runs near the town. At the top is a layer of soil where grass and crops grow. Below the soil is a thick layer of sand and gravel. This layer is full of tiny spaces, and those spaces hold water. A layer of sand, gravel, or rock that holds water in its tiny spaces is called an aquifer. Under the aquifer is solid rock that the water cannot pass through.

To reach the water, families drill a well straight down through the soil until it reaches the sand and gravel. A pump pulls the water up to the house. The water they pump is called groundwater, because it comes from under the ground.

When rain falls, some of it soaks down through the soil and refills the aquifer. Because the town is dry, that does not happen very often. Over time, the people of Cranberry Flats made three community rules. New wells must be spaced far apart. No one may store paint, oil, or trash near a well. During long dry spells, families must not water large lawns.

  1. What is an aquifer?
  2. Which layer under Cranberry Flats holds the water that the wells reach?
  3. How does the aquifer get refilled?
  4. Why do the people of Cranberry Flats use wells instead of a river?
  5. The town made a rule that new wells must be spaced far apart. Why might that rule help?
  6. Why does the town not allow paint or oil to be stored near a well?
  7. What could happen to the aquifer if every family watered large lawns all through a dry summer?
  8. Explain what "groundwater" means, using Cranberry Flats as your example.
  9. Name one way the people of Cranberry Flats adapt to living in a dry place.
  10. Why is protecting the aquifer important for the town's future?

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: An aquifer is an underground layer of sand, gravel, or rock that holds water in its tiny spaces. The description says the sand and gravel layer under the town is full of tiny spaces that hold water.
  2. Answer: The sand and gravel layer. The description says this layer, below the soil and above the solid rock, is the one that holds the water.
  3. Answer: By rain soaking down. The description says some rain soaks through the soil and refills the aquifer, though it does not happen often because the town is dry.
  4. Answer: There is no river nearby. The description says the town sits on dry land with no river, so families get water from wells instead.
  5. Answer: So wells do not pull water from the same spot. Spacing wells apart keeps one well from draining the water another well needs, which helps the shared aquifer last.
  6. Answer: To keep the water clean. Paint, oil, or trash could soak down into the aquifer and pollute the same water the whole town drinks.
  7. Answer: The aquifer could run low. If everyone pumped a lot of water for lawns during a dry summer, the town might use water faster than the rain can refill it.
  8. Answer: Groundwater is water from under the ground. In Cranberry Flats it is the water families pump up from the sand and gravel aquifer beneath their wells.
  9. Answer: Any one of: drilling wells to reach the aquifer, spacing wells apart, keeping pollution away from wells, or not watering large lawns during dry spells.
  10. Answer: The town depends on it. The aquifer is the town's only water source, so keeping it clean and full is what lets people keep living and farming there.

Differentiation

Support (below grade level)

Give these students a simple labeled drawing of the three layers (soil, sand and gravel, solid rock) with a well drawn reaching the middle layer, so they can point to the answer for items 1 and 2 before writing.

Extension (above grade level)

Ask students to write a fourth community rule that would help protect the Cranberry Flats aquifer, and to explain in a sentence what problem their new rule would prevent.

ELL supports

Pre-teach aquifer, well, and groundwater with the labeled layer drawing described in Support. Allow students to answer items 1 through 4 with short phrases or labels on the drawing rather than full sentences.