3rd Grade Unit 5 Assessment

What might be the BEST question to ask to determine the source of pollution in the river from a factory?

• 1. Where do the storm drains come from?

• 1. How many cars travel the road?

• 1. What kind of animals live in the river?

• 1. What does the factory make?

 A student was collecting trash from a playground. She sorted and weighed the trash that he collected.

Food waste---10 pounds

Paper trash---25 pounds

Plastic bottles, containers and wrappers---50 pounds

Wood, sticks and branches---60 pounds

Which question could the student ask to determine which trash could cause harm or not harm the environment?

• 1. Which trash can decompose or break down over time?

• 1. Which trash weighs the most?

• 1. Which trash is most used by humans?

• 1. Which trash will smell the worst?

  Ms. Ruhl is doing a project to determine the effects of a new factory on the quality of the air and in the surrounding lake. 

  Choose the TWO BEST questions Ms. Ruhl should ask.

• 1. Where does the factory dump their waste water?

• 1. Does the factory recycle?

• 1. How often does the factory get cleaned?

• 1. How much smoke does the factory create? 

• 1. How many people work at the factory?

Ms. Wilkerson is taking notes while she was researching on the environment. 

List A

• Litter from the playground

• Factory wastewater 

• Chemical runoff from fertilizer 

List B

• Blocks the sunlight so plants cannot grow

• Makes the fish sick 

• Turtles get sick and die 

What question could Ms. Wilkerson ask to help understand the two lists she created?

• 1. How do factories affect the environment?

• 1. What are different types of pollution that impact local environments?

• 1. Does exhaust from vehicles cause pollution?

• 1. What type of pollution will block sunlight for plants?

What might be the BEST question to ask to determine the effect of pollution in the river?

• 1. Did this build up over time or is there a landfill nearby that is dumping plastic? 

• 1. Who is responsible for cleaning up all of the trash?

• 1. How long has the trash been building up in the river?

• 1. Are there any animals who have lost their lives after eating plastic?

Mr. Nguyen and Mr. Rodriguez like to go fishing on the weekends. They fish at a lake that is downstream from a factory. One Sunday they went to the lake to go fishing and they found that the lake was full of dead fish and had a sign that said “NO SWIMMING.” Using your understanding of the impact of humans on the environment, which was the most likely cause for the dead fish and the “NO SWIMMING” sign at the lake? 

• 1. Too many people fished at the lake, so the fish lost their source of food which caused the fish to die.

• 1. People threw a lot of trash into the lake, which made the fish die and the water unsafe for swimming. 

• 1. Too many people were swimming in the water, which made the water too dirty for the fish to live in. 

• 1. Pollution from the factory upstream caused the fish to die and made the water unsafe for swimming. 

Ms. Ortiz has noticed that many of the roads in his town are covered with litter. Most of it is from fast food, including paper bags, and cups. What conclusion can Ms. Ortiz make about the impact the litter will have on the environment.

• 1. The trash won’t be re-used or recycled. 

• 1. All the trash will make the town smell bad.

• 1. Wind may blow the trash in front of the cars, which could cause accidents. 

• 1. Animals may think it is food and try to eat the trash.

What could have caused air pollution and how could it impact animals and plants that live in the area. 

• 1. There is a lot of air pollution that could be from transportation and local factories. Plants and animals may struggle to survive with complications with breathing. 

• 2. There are a lot of vehicles in the city that create a smokey effect, but it is not pollution since you cannot physically touch it.

• 1. There is a lot of air pollution that could be from chemicals spilled in the water. Plants and animals may struggle to survive with toxic chemicals.

• 2. There is some air pollution that is from vehicles in the city. Plants and animals will be fine because air pollution is common in cities. 

 A man driving a car throws a plastic water bottle out of the window. Will this plastic bottle affect the environment? Which answer and its explanation is the best to explain what might happen?

• 1. It will affect the river because it will roll into the storm drain which leads to the rivers and streams. It will never break down or decompose.

• 1. It will not affect the environment because it will be washed away by the rain into the storm drain which leads underground.

• 1. It will affect only the land because it will stay on the road until someone cleans it up.

• 1. It will not affect the environment because the bottle will break down or decompose.

 Bags of plastic trash are dumped into the ocean everyday. Which answer best explains the impact it can have on the environment?

• 2. It will break down into the soil and sand and will not harm any living thing.

• 1. It will float around until it lands on a beach and it will be cleaned up.

• 1. It will sink to the bottom of the ocean and it will not harm any living thing.

• 1. It will be eaten by fish and will get microparticles of plastic inside of them.