Grade 9 Lesson plan
Harrowmere's Sewershed Testing Proposal: A Board Hearing
A 60-minute grade 9 civics lesson in which students hold a sanitary district hearing on neighborhood-level wastewater testing and weigh public health against privacy.
Common Core ELA · Grades 9–10
WHST.9-10.1 Discipline-specific argument writing
Write arguments focused on discipline-specific content.
Why water teaches this standard well
High school science and social studies students argue discipline-specific water questions, such as whether the data support switching a city's water source or whether a proposed regulation's costs justify its benefits. Claims must stand on lab results, datasets, and primary documents rather than on opinion.
Materials tagged with this code are written to the full standard , and each carries a written note explaining the alignment. See how we review materials.
22 materials aligned to WHST.9-10.1
Lesson plans
Writing prompts
Grade 10 Writing prompt
Stormwater Rules for the Mardenfield Mill Site
A grade 10 science argument prompt where students take a position on whether a redevelopment must control runoff on site or pay into a downstream detention basin.
Grade 9 Writing prompt
Should Vanbrough Chlorinate Its Wells? An Argument Prompt
A grade 9 science argument prompt where students take a position on whether a fictional groundwater town should begin chlorinating its three deep wells.
Grade 10 Writing prompt
Should Yorling High Test Every Fountain Every Year?
A grade 10 argument prompt asking students to recommend annual lead testing, filtered filling stations, or both to a fictional school board, with exemplar and rubric.
Grade 9 Writing prompt
Should Brayhampton Landlords Disclose Lead Service Lines?
A grade 9 argument writing prompt on a fictional rental disclosure ordinance, with background, a planning organizer, a full exemplar essay, and a four-level rubric.
Grade 10 Writing prompt
A Water Bill Assistance Fund for Tresland: An Argument Prompt
A grade 10 argument prompt on a fictional state bill adding a small surcharge to every water bill to fund assistance for low-income households.
Grade 9 Writing prompt
Requiring Green Stormwater Design in Pellston: An Argument Prompt
A grade 9 argument prompt where students take a position on whether a fast-growing fictional city should require green stormwater design in all new development.
Grade 10 Writing prompt
Should Ambrose City Meter Every Home? An Argument Prompt
A grade 10 argument prompt where students take a position on whether a fictional city should install water meters on every home, using conservation and cost evidence.
Debate kits
Grade 10 Debate kit
Should Cardington Switch to Chloramine Disinfection?
A grade 10 science debate kit on converting a city's distribution system from free chlorine to chloramine, with two-sided evidence on byproducts, residual, and risk.
Grade 10 Debate kit
Should Harroway Sell Water to a New Data Center?
A grade 10 science debate kit on a town water contract for a data center, weighing evaporative cooling against closed-loop cooling and the energy each design uses.
Grade 9 Debate kit
Where Ivenden's Concentrate Goes: River or Injection Well
A grade 9 science debate kit on whether a fictional brackish water plant should send its salty reverse osmosis concentrate to a river or into a deep injection well.
Grade 9 Debate kit
Stock Trout or Plant Shade Along Tessleton Brook
A grade 9 science debate kit on whether a fictional county should spend its stream grant on stocking trout each spring or on shade trees and floodplain reconnection.
Grade 10 Debate kit
Should Bottlers Pay for Groundwater? The Nettlebridge Extraction Fee
A grade 10 debate kit on a per-gallon groundwater fee for bottling plants, with two-sided evidence, role notes, a written case brief, and a four-level rubric.
Grade 10 Debate kit
Should Pellrick's Wells Join the Hallowmere Regional Authority?
A grade 10 debate kit on a state bill that would merge a fictional village's troubled water system into a larger regional authority, with two-sided evidence.
Grade 9 Debate kit
Should Bramblecote Permit the Highfern Aquifer Bottling Plant?
A two-session grade 9 debate kit on a fictional town's twenty-year groundwater withdrawal permit, with a two-sided evidence file and a written case brief.
Grade 10 Debate kit
Ludlow's PFAS Upgrade: Raising Rates Now or Waiting for Settlements
A grade 10 debate kit on whether the fictional Ludlow Water District should raise rates now for PFAS treatment or wait for manufacturer settlement money.
Grade 9 Debate kit
Should Graymont Recycle Wastewater into Drinking Water? A Debate Kit
A grade 9 debate kit on whether a fictional city should recycle its wastewater into drinking water, with two-sided evidence on cost, safety, and drought.
Grade 10 Debate kit
Kestrel Dam: Fish Passage Restoration Versus Continued Hydropower
A grade 10 debate kit on whether a fictional dam should be removed for fish passage, weighing ecosystem restoration against continued hydropower generation.
Grade 9 Debate kit
Mandatory Buffer Strips Along Fenwick Creek: A Grade 9 Debate Kit
A grade 9 debate kit on requiring farms along a fictional creek to keep vegetated buffer strips, weighing nutrient runoff against lost farmland and income.
Grade 10 Debate kit
Mandatory Nutrient-Management Plans for Farms: A Grade 10 Debate Kit
A grade 10 debate kit on whether a state should require farms in a fictional watershed to adopt mandatory nutrient-management plans, with two-sided policy evidence.
Projects
Grade 10 Project
Protecting Glasspool Reservoir: A Colbeck Ordinance Project
A five-session grade 10 project in which students draft a watershed overlay ordinance and staff report for a fictional town facing a subdivision above its reservoir.
Grade 10 Project
Water Service for Tessary Hollow: A County Board Proposal
A five-session grade 10 project in which students map a fictional community on failing wells, cost three service options, and argue one to a county board.