Worksheet Grade 1 Art & Music

Cobblewick School Water-Saving Paper Quilt: A Grade 1 Worksheet

Twelve grade 1 art and place-value items about a hallway paper quilt, with rows of ten squares to count, a border pattern, and one square to design.

Grade: Grade 1
Subject: Art & Music
Material: Worksheet
Time: 25 min
Prep: No prep
Materials: None

Standards

1.NBT.B.2 Common Core Math

Understand that the two digits of a two-digit number represent amounts of tens and ones. Understand that 10 can be thought of as a bundle of ten ones; that the numbers 11 to 19 are a ten plus some ones; and that 10, 20, 30, and so on refer to a number of tens with zero ones.

How this material aligns: Items 3 and 4 ask students to name the tens and the ones in 34, and items 1 and 2 build that number by treating each finished quilt row as a bundle of ten squares with four loose squares left over.

All materials for 1.NBT.B.2 →

1.OA.A.1 Common Core Math

Use addition and subtraction within 20 to solve word problems involving situations of adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart, and comparing, with unknowns in all positions, e.g., by using objects, drawings, and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.

How this material aligns: Items 5 and 11 are add-to problems with an unknown addend, solved within 20, about the squares still needed to fill a quilt row and the rows still needed to fill the wall.

All materials for 1.OA.A.1 →

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This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-09-03.

Objectives

Students will count squares arranged in rows of ten and name the tens and ones.
Students will continue a two-color border pattern on a quilt design.
Students will design one quilt square that shows a way to save water.

Vocabulary

Key words: quilt, row, border, pattern, outline

Teacher overview

Cobblewick School is a fictional school whose first graders are building a paper quilt for the hallway outside the art room. Every child draws one way to save water on a paper square, and the teacher tapes the squares up in rows of ten with a blue-and-green border running around the edge. The worksheet uses that grid twice: once as an art composition, where a repeating border and a heavy outline hold the squares together, and once as a place-value picture, where each full row is a bundle of ten. The misconception to watch for is digit reversal, in which a student looks at 34 and says four tens and three ones because the 4 was the last number spoken while counting. Item 3 and item 4 sit next to each other on purpose so the teacher can hear that reversal immediately, and the quilt itself gives a fix: the student can point to the three taped rows and then to the four loose squares.

Cobblewick School Water-Saving Paper Quilt: A Grade 1 Worksheet — Grade 1 Art & Music

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

The art class is making a paper quilt. Each child draws one way to save water on one square. The teacher tapes the squares in rows. Each full row holds 10 squares.

The quilt has 3 full rows. Each row has 10 squares. How many squares are in the 3 rows?
The class taped 4 more squares in the next row. Now there are 3 full rows and 4 more squares. How many squares are on the quilt in all?
Look at the number 34. How many tens are in 34?
Look at the number 34. How many ones are in 34?
A full row holds 10 squares. The new row has 4 squares so far. How many more squares does that row need?
The border goes blue, green, blue, green, blue, green. What color comes next?
The border has 10 blue squares and 10 green squares. How many border squares in all?
One square shows a tap left running. One square shows a hand turning the tap off. Which square shows a way to save water?
Rosa wants her border square to match the border. The border uses blue and green only. May she use red?
The teacher draws a thick dark line around the edge of each square. Is that line an outline or a shadow?
The wall fits 4 full rows. The class has 3 full rows taped up. How many more rows will fit?
Design your own quilt square. Draw one way to save water at school.

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Answer Key

Answer: 30 squares. Three rows of ten is 10 plus 10 plus 10, which is 30.
Answer: 34 squares. The 3 full rows are 30 squares, and 30 plus 4 more is 34.
Answer: 3 tens. The three taped rows are three bundles of ten, so the 3 in 34 counts rows.
Answer: 4 ones. The four loose squares in the new row are the ones, so the 4 in 34 counts single squares.
Answer: 6 squares. The row holds 10 and has 4, and 4 plus 6 is 10.
Answer: Blue. The border repeats blue and then green, and the last square named was green.
Answer: 20 squares. 10 blue plus 10 green is 20.
Answer: The square with the hand turning the tap off. Turning off the tap stops water from running down the drain.
Answer: No. The border uses blue and green only, so red would break the color plan.
Answer: An outline. An outline is a line drawn around the edge of a shape.
Answer: 1 row. The wall fits 4 rows and 3 are up, and 3 plus 1 is 4.
Answer: Accept any drawing that shows one water-saving action, such as turning off the tap while brushing teeth, fixing a drip, or filling a cup only partway.

Differentiation

Support

Hand these students a printed grid with ten empty boxes per row so the bundle of ten is already drawn for them, and give them ten paper squares to place and count before item 1. Let them stop after item 8. For items 3 and 4, cover the loose squares with a sheet of paper so only the tens are visible, then uncover the loose squares.

Extension

Ask these students to plan a second quilt for a different wall that fits 5 full rows of ten, state how many squares that quilt needs, and design a three-color border that repeats in a blue, green, gray pattern. Have them write the count of each border color.

ELL supports

Post a photograph or simple sketch beside the words quilt, row, border, and outline, and trace the border with a finger while reading item 6 aloud. Allow students to answer items 8, 9, and 10 by pointing to or circling a picture rather than writing a word, and accept a labeled drawing for item 12.

Extensions

Visit the finished quilt outside the art room and count the rows again with the whole class, then add one square each week until the fourth row fills so students watch the tens digit change from 3 to 4. Photograph the quilt at the start and the end so the class can compare the two grids.