Writing prompt Grade 4 Social Studies & Civics
Keep or Take Down the Old Stanhope Water Tower?
A grade 4 opinion-writing prompt where students write letters to a fictional town council deciding whether to repair a landmark water tower or clear it for a park.
Objectives
- Students will state an opinion about the tower and support it with two reasons tied to background information.
- Students will organize an opinion letter with linking words and a closing that asks the council to act.
Vocabulary
Key words: landmark, council, opinion, linking words
Teacher overview
A water tower often stands for years after a town stops using it, and towns then have to decide what to do with it. This prompt gives students that decision at fourth-grade scale: the fictional town of Stanhope must judge whether an empty, rusting tower that appears on the town flag is worth repair money, or whether the corner it stands on should become a park. Students take a side in a letter to the town council, which makes the audience concrete and the linking-word work purposeful. Plan one session for reading and planning and a second for drafting.
Prompt
Background. Stanhope is a fictional town used for this prompt. For almost one hundred years, a steel water tower has stood on the corner by the old train depot. The tower held the town's drinking water until last year, when a bigger new tank was finished on Miller Hill. Now the old tower stands empty. An inspection found peeling paint and rusty legs, and the fence around it is locked. Fixing and repainting the old tower would cost the town about 40,000 dollars. Taking it down would cost about 15,000 dollars, and the corner could become a small park with benches and a shade tree. The tower's picture is on the town flag, on the fall festival poster, and on the sign at the edge of town. Visitors stop to take photos of it. Some neighbors call the tower the town's landmark and say Stanhope would not look like Stanhope without it. Other neighbors say the money should go to things people use every day, and that a park would give the corner a new job. The town council votes next month.
Writing task. Write a letter to the Stanhope town council. State your opinion: should the town keep and fix the old water tower, or take it down and build the park? Give at least two reasons for your opinion, and support each reason with information from the background above. Use linking words such as because, for example, and also. End with a closing sentence that asks the council to act.
Planning Organizer
| Part of my letter | My notes |
|---|---|
| My opinion (keep and fix, or take down and build the park) | |
| Reason 1 | |
| Information from the background that supports reason 1 | |
| Reason 2 | |
| Information from the background that supports reason 2 | |
| Linking words I will use | |
| Closing sentence that asks the council to act |
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Exemplar & Rubric
Exemplar response:
Dear Stanhope Town Council,
I think our town should keep the old water tower and fix it up. I have two reasons for my opinion.
First, the tower is our landmark. The background says its picture is on the town flag, on the fall festival poster, and on the sign at the edge of town. Visitors even stop to take photos of it. Because the tower stands for Stanhope in all those places, taking it down would be like erasing part of our town.
Also, the tower has been here for almost one hundred years. It held our drinking water for all that time, so it did its job for our grandparents and parents. A park is nice, but we can put benches and a shade tree in other places. Once the tower is gone, it can never come back.
I know that fixing the tower costs more, 40,000 dollars instead of 15,000 dollars. I still think a landmark that makes Stanhope look like Stanhope is worth the higher cost.
Please vote next month to keep and repair our water tower.
Sincerely,
A Stanhope fourth grader
Rubric:
| Criterion | Beginning | Developing | Proficient | Strong |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opinion | No clear opinion is stated | An opinion appears but switches sides or hides in the middle | A clear opinion is stated at the start and kept throughout | A clear opinion is stated at the start, kept throughout, and echoed in the closing |
| Reasons and information | No reason connects to the background | One reason, with little or no background information | Two reasons, each supported with information from the background | Two or more reasons, each supported with specific background details the writer explains |
| Organization and linking words | Ideas appear in no clear order without linking words | Some order is present; one linking word is used | Reasons sit in separate paragraphs joined by linking words such as because, for example, and also | Paragraphs flow in a deliberate order, linking words vary, and the closing asks the council to act |
| Conventions | Errors make the letter hard to read | Frequent errors slow the reader but meaning survives | A few errors remain, but the letter reads cleanly | The letter is nearly error-free, with correct letter format |
Differentiation
Support (below grade level)
Reduce the task to one reason with one piece of background information, and provide the frames "I think the council should ___ because ___" and "The background says ___." Let students dictate the letter's first sentence before writing.
Extension (above grade level)
Ask writers to add a paragraph proposing how the town could help pay for their choice, such as a festival fundraiser or a donation jar at the old train depot, and to connect the proposal to one of their reasons.
ELL supports
Pre-teach landmark, council, opinion, and linking words with the town flag described in the background as the example of a landmark image. Allow the Planning Organizer to be completed in short phrases or the student's first language before drafting in English.
Extensions
After letters are finished, hold a short mock council meeting: three volunteers act as council members, several students read letters aloud, and the council explains which reasons it found most convincing before taking a class vote.