Lesson plan Grade 6 Social Studies & Civics
Dorsett's Drought Stages: Writing a Town Water Rule
A 50-minute grade 6 civics lesson where small groups draft a three-stage drought ordinance for a fictional town, then role-play a council debate and vote to adopt it.
Objectives
- Students will draft a three-stage drought ordinance that matches stronger water rules to worse shortages.
- Students will explain how a town council deliberates and votes to turn a proposed rule into local law.
Vocabulary
- Drought
- A long stretch of drier-than-normal weather that leaves too little water for people, farms, and nature. Droughts build slowly and can last for years.
Also: ordinance, deliberation, restriction, council
Teacher overview
When a reservoir runs low, many towns do more than ask people to be careful. They write a rule, called an ordinance, that says exactly what everyone must do. This lesson uses the fictional town of Dorsett, which shares one shrinking reservoir. Student groups draft a three-stage drought ordinance, then act as a town council that debates and votes on one group's plan. The lesson shows how a shared problem becomes an enforceable rule through group deliberation and a formal council vote.
Procedure
Hook (5 min): Tell students that the reservoir serving the fictional town of Dorsett is half empty after a dry summer. Ask: should the town just trust people to save water on their own, or write a rule everyone must follow? Take a quick show of hands and record the split.
Background (10 min): Explain how a drought ordinance usually works in stages. In a mild shortage the town limits outdoor watering to certain days. In a worse shortage it bans lawn watering and car washing. In a severe shortage it allows only water for drinking, cooking, and cleaning. Explain that the town council must vote before any of these rules become law.
Draft the stages (15 min): In groups of three or four, students use the Student Handout to write Dorsett's Stage 1, Stage 2, and Stage 3 rules. Each stage must be stronger than the one before, and each rule must be specific enough to enforce.
Council role-play and vote (15 min): Choose one group's plan. Assign roles from the handout: three council members, a resident who waters a large garden, and a resident who worries about fairness to families. Each speaker gets one minute. The council then votes to adopt, change, or reject the plan. Announce the result.
Debrief and exit ticket (5 min): Ask the two debrief questions aloud: "Why does the ordinance use stages?" and "Why might the garden resident and the fairness resident disagree?" Suggested answers are in the Answer Key. Then each student writes one sentence answering the exit question: "Why does a drought rule need a council vote instead of just a suggestion?" Collect the cards, and if most answers miss the idea of a shared, enforceable rule, revisit it the next day.
Student Handout
Your group advises the fictional town of Dorsett, which shares one reservoir. Draft a drought ordinance with three stages. Each stage should be used when the shortage is worse than the last.
- Stage 1 (mild shortage): Write one rule that limits, but does not ban, outdoor water use.
- Stage 2 (serious shortage): Write one rule that bans a common outdoor use.
- Stage 3 (severe shortage): Write one rule that keeps water only for the most important indoor needs.
For each stage, write one sentence explaining who might complain about the rule and why.
Role cards for the council debate:
- Council member (three students): Ask each resident one question, then vote.
- Garden resident: Explain why the outdoor rules are hard for you.
- Fairness resident: Explain why the rules should treat large families and small households fairly.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Answer Key
- Debrief answer: A drought ordinance uses stages so the rules can grow stronger only as the shortage grows worse, which keeps early restrictions from being harsher than the situation requires.
- Debrief answer: A garden resident and a fairness resident may disagree because one cares most about keeping plants alive while the other cares most about rules that do not punish larger households, and the council must weigh both.
- Exit ticket answer: A drought rule needs a council vote because it becomes a law that everyone in town must follow, and a shared rule carries more weight than a suggestion each person could ignore.
Differentiation
Support
Give these groups a partly finished ordinance with Stage 1 already written as a model, so they only draft Stages 2 and 3. Provide a short word bank ("limit," "ban," "outdoor," "drinking," "cooking") to help them make each rule specific.
Extension
Ask the group to add a Stage 4 for an emergency in which the reservoir nearly runs dry, and to propose one fair way the town could help households and businesses that cannot easily cut back, such as a large family or a small business.
ELL supports
Pre-teach "ordinance," "drought," "stage," and "council" with simple pictures (a low reservoir, a dry lawn, a raised hand voting). Provide sentence frames for the debate: "This rule is hard for me because ___," and "I think the rule is fair or unfair because ___."