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Lesson plan Grade 5 Social Studies & Civics

The Delmont Bond Vote: Paying for a New Water Plant

A grade 5 civics lesson where the town of Delmont votes on borrowing money for a new water plant, and students compute each household's share of the cost.

Objectives

  1. Students will explain how a town develops and votes on a bond to pay for a public water project.
  2. Students will compute one household's yearly and monthly share of a public project's cost.
  3. Students will name one benefit and one cost of voting yes on a public bond.

Vocabulary

Public works
The city department that builds and takes care of shared things everyone uses, like streets, water pipes, and sewers. Many water careers are part of public works.

Also: bond, ballot, household

Teacher overview

The town of Delmont, a fictional community used for this lesson, has a water plant that is more than fifty years old and struggles to keep up on hot summer days. The town council has proposed a bond, which lets the town borrow $12,000,000 now and pay it back a little at a time through water bills, and the voters must approve it. A common misconception this lesson addresses is that a town pays for a big project all at once with money it already has; the handout math shows how borrowing spreads a large cost across many households and many years.

Procedure

Hook (5 min): Ask students what happens when a school needs a new roof: who decides to fix it, and where does the money come from? Explain that towns face the same question with water plants, and that today the class will act as the voters of the town of Delmont.

Direct instruction (10 min): Present the situation: Delmont's water plant is old, and a new one costs $12,000,000. The town cannot pay that from one year's budget. Define a bond as a promise the town makes to borrow money now and pay it back over many years, with the payments collected through water bills. Explain that in Delmont, the bond only happens if voters approve it on a ballot. Mention that real bonds also require the town to pay interest to the people who lend the money, so a real household's share would be somewhat higher than the handout numbers, which leave interest out to keep the math simple. Introduce the vocabulary words bond, ballot, public works, and household.

Ballot study (10 min): Distribute the student handout and read the ballot question aloud together. Have students restate it in their own words to a partner, then call on two or three students to share their versions and correct any confusion.

Shared math (10 min): Work handout question 1 together as a model, then have pairs complete questions 2 and 3. Circulate and check that students are dividing in the correct order.

Town meeting and vote (15 min): Hold a short town meeting. Invite volunteers to speak for one minute each as Delmont residents: a parent worried about a bigger water bill, a firefighter who wants strong water pressure for hydrants, a shop owner tired of summer low-pressure days, a grandparent on a careful budget. Then have every student complete handout question 4, mark a yes or no ballot, and drop it in the ballot box.

Debrief and exit ticket (10 min): Count the class ballots aloud and compare the class result with the scenario result in handout question 5, which students complete individually as the exit ticket. Collect the handouts and scan question 5 for correct addition and a correct pass-or-fail call before dismissal.

The Delmont Bond Vote: Paying for a New Water Plant — Grade 5 Social Studies & Civics
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

The town of Delmont wants to build a new water plant. The ballot reads: "Shall the town of Delmont borrow $12,000,000 to build a new water treatment plant, to be repaid over 20 years through water bills?" Answer each question below.

  1. The new plant costs $12,000,000. The town of Delmont has 4,000 households that would share the cost equally. What is each household's full share?
  2. Suppose a household pays its full share of $3,000 evenly over 20 years. How much does it pay each year?
  3. A Delmont household pays $150 each year toward the plant. How much is that each month?
  4. Name one benefit the town of Delmont would get if the bond passes, and one cost families would take on.
  5. In our scenario, 2,610 residents vote yes and 1,890 residents vote no. How many residents voted in all? The bond passes if there are more yes votes than no votes. Did it pass?

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: $3,000 per household. The full cost divided among the households is 12,000,000 ÷ 4,000 = 3,000.
  2. Answer: $150 per year. The full share spread over the repayment years is 3,000 ÷ 20 = 150.
  3. Answer: $12.50 per month. The yearly amount divided by the months in a year is 150 ÷ 12 = 12.50.
  4. Answer: Answers will vary. Benefits for the town of Delmont include reliable clean water, steady pressure in summer, and strong flow for fire hydrants. Costs include a higher water bill, about $12.50 more each month in this simplified example, for 20 years.
  5. Answer: 4,500 residents voted, and the bond passed. 2,610 + 1,890 = 4,500, and 2,610 yes votes is greater than 1,890 no votes.

Differentiation

Support

Provide the three division problems with the first step already set up, and allow students to check their quotients with a calculator after attempting each one by hand. Pair hesitant speakers with a partner for the town meeting instead of asking them to speak alone.

Extension

Ask students how each household's share would change if twice as many households in the town of Delmont shared the same cost, and have them prove their answer with division rather than a guess.

ELL supports

Pre-teach bond, ballot, and household with a simple drawing of a town borrowing from lenders and many houses each contributing a small payment. Provide sentence frames for the town meeting: "I will vote ___ because ___." Allow question 4 to be answered in a phrase for each blank rather than full sentences.

Extensions

Have students write a short front-page article for the fictional Delmont newspaper reporting the vote result, including one quote from an imagined resident on each side. The article should state what the bond will build and how many years repayment will take.