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Worksheet Grade 4 Social Studies & Civics

The Water Cart or the New Pipes: A Persimmon Crossing Choice

A grade 4 economics worksheet set about a century ago, where students compare the cost of barrel-delivered water with a fictional town's new piped water system.

Objectives

  1. Students will use multiplication to find the yearly cost of two ways of buying water.
  2. Students will compare costs and name one benefit of a piped water system beyond its price.

Vocabulary

Key words: benefit, cost, public water system

Teacher overview

Before towns laid water pipes, many families bought water by the barrel from a delivery cart. This worksheet places students in the fictional town of Persimmon Crossing at the point where families had to choose between paying the cart driver and hooking up to the town's new pipes. The items build the comparison with grade 4 multiplication and subtraction, then ask for the reasons beyond price that led real towns to make the same change. Every number a student needs is stated in the worksheet, so no outside information is required, and the dollar amounts were chosen to keep the arithmetic within grade 4 range rather than to reproduce historical prices.

The Water Cart or the New Pipes: A Persimmon Crossing Choice — Grade 4 Social Studies & Civics
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Imagine the town of Persimmon Crossing about one hundred years ago. Clean water does not come from a tap yet. A driver named Mr. Ash fills barrels at a spring and sells them from his horse-drawn cart. A barrel costs 2 dollars, and most families buy 3 barrels each week. This year the town finished something new: a small plant that cleans water, and iron pipes under the streets. A home can hook up to the pipes for a one-time fee of 50 dollars. After that, piped water costs 15 dollars each month, as much as a family wants to use. For this worksheet, count a month as 4 weeks and a year as 12 months. Show your work for every problem.

  1. Most families buy 3 barrels each week at 2 dollars a barrel. How much do they pay Mr. Ash each week?
  2. How much does cart water cost one of those families each month? Count a month as 4 weeks.
  3. How much does cart water cost that family for a whole year of 12 months?
  4. Piped water costs 15 dollars each month. How much does piped water cost for a whole year?
  5. How much money would a 3-barrel family save in one year by switching from the cart to the pipes? Use your answers to items 3 and 4.
  6. In the first year, a family switching to pipes also pays the one-time 50-dollar hook-up fee. What does the first year of piped water cost in all?
  7. The Pickett family is large. They buy 5 barrels each week at 2 dollars a barrel. How much do they pay for cart water each month of 4 weeks?
  8. Who saves more money each month by switching to the 15-dollar pipes, a family that pays 24 dollars a month for cart water or the Pickett family? Explain with numbers.
  9. The new plant cleans the water before it enters the pipes. Name one benefit of piped water besides its lower price.
  10. When most homes hook up to the pipes, what happens to Mr. Ash's delivery business, and what might he do next?

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: 6 dollars. Three barrels at 2 dollars each is 3 x 2 = 6 dollars a week.
  2. Answer: 24 dollars. At 6 dollars a week for 4 weeks, the month costs 6 x 4 = 24 dollars.
  3. Answer: 288 dollars. At 24 dollars a month for 12 months, the year costs 24 x 12 = 288 dollars.
  4. Answer: 180 dollars. At 15 dollars a month for 12 months, the year costs 15 x 12 = 180 dollars.
  5. Answer: 108 dollars. The cart year costs 288 dollars and the piped year costs 180 dollars, and 288 - 180 = 108 dollars saved.
  6. Answer: 230 dollars. The year of piped water costs 180 dollars plus the 50-dollar hook-up fee, and 180 + 50 = 230 dollars, which is still less than the cart's 288 dollars.
  7. Answer: 40 dollars. Five barrels at 2 dollars is 5 x 2 = 10 dollars a week, and 10 x 4 = 40 dollars a month.
  8. Answer: The Pickett family. They save 40 - 15 = 25 dollars a month, while the 24-dollar family saves 24 - 15 = 9 dollars a month, and 25 is more than 9.
  9. Answer: Any one of: the water is cleaned before it reaches homes, water arrives without hauling or waiting for the cart, water is there any hour it is needed, or plenty of water is on hand to fight fires.
  10. Answer: Answers will vary. A strong answer says Mr. Ash loses customers as homes hook up, so his business shrinks, and he might find new work, such as delivering other goods with his cart or taking a job at the new water plant.

Differentiation

Support (below grade level)

Let students use a multiplication chart or calculator for items 3 and 4, and have them circle each number in the story before it goes into a problem. Reduce the set to items 1, 2, 4, 5, and 9 for students who need fewer questions.

Extension (above grade level)

Ask students to figure out about how many months of savings it takes a 3-barrel family to earn back the 50-dollar hook-up fee at 9 dollars saved a month, and to explain why a family might pay a big fee now for savings later.

ELL supports

Pre-teach benefit, cost, and public water system with a two-picture card: a cart loaded with barrels and a tap over a sink. Provide a sentence frame for item 9: "Piped water is better because ___." Accept a drawing with labels for item 10.

Extensions

Have students write a short letter from a Persimmon Crossing family to a cousin in another town, telling the cousin whether the family chose the cart or the pipes and giving both a money reason and a non-money reason in the letter.