Worksheet Grade 1 Careers & CTE
The New Bottle Filler at Waxwing School: A Grade 1 Worksheet
A grade 1 careers worksheet in which students add and subtract within 20 and tell apart the jobs of a town water worker and a school plumber.
Objectives
- Students will solve add-to, take-from, and compare word problems within 20 about a bottle filler installation.
- Students will explain what a valve does and why it is closed before a pipe is cut.
- Students will tell which work the town water worker did by the street and which work the school plumber did inside the building.
- Students will write one fact about what a town water worker did for their school.
Vocabulary
- Valve
- A valve is a device in a pipe that operators can open or close to control where water flows. Valves let crews shut off one street for repairs without turning off the whole town.
Also: bolt, wrench, filler, plumber
Teacher overview
In the fictional town of Waxwing, two workers replace a school drinking fountain with a bottle-filling station. Mr. Pike, a plumber who works for the school district, takes care of the pipes inside the school, while Ms. Ruiz from the town water department takes care of the pipes and valves under the street. Because the old shutoff valve inside the school is stuck, Mr. Pike calls Ms. Ruiz, and she closes the school's water valve under a small lid by the street before he cuts the pipe. This matches common practice in most towns, where the water department's pipes end at the street or the water meter, and the pipes and fixtures inside a building are the owner's responsibility. Read the opening story aloud before students begin. Items 1 through 7 are word problems within 20, and items 8 through 11 ask students to explain what a valve does and which worker did which part of the job.
Student Worksheet
Listen as your teacher reads the story. Then answer the questions.
Waxwing School is getting a new bottle filler in the hall. Two workers help.
Mr. Pike is a plumber. He works for the school district. He fixes the pipes inside the school.
Ms. Ruiz works for the town water department. She takes care of the pipes and valves under the street.
The old valve inside the school is stuck. It will not shut. So Mr. Pike calls Ms. Ruiz.
First, Ms. Ruiz lifts a small lid in the grass by the street. The valve for the school's water pipe is under the lid. She turns it with a long metal key. Now no water goes into the school.
Next, Mr. Pike cuts the old pipe with a pipe cutter. He takes out the old fountain. He bolts the new filler to the wall with a wrench.
Last, Ms. Ruiz turns the valve back on. Mr. Pike looks for drips. There are none.
- Mr. Pike brought 8 pipe parts. The school district sent 6 more parts. How many parts did he have in all?
- The old fountain had 9 bolts in it. Mr. Pike took out 5 bolts. How many bolts were left?
- Mr. Pike used 12 screws and 4 bolts to hang the new filler. How many more screws than bolts did he use?
- Room 3 filled 7 bottles at the new filler. Room 4 filled 6 bottles. How many bottles in all?
- There were 15 bottles waiting in the hall. 9 of them got filled. How many bottles were still waiting?
- Later that day, Ms. Ruiz checked 10 valves under Elm Street. She checked 4 more valves under Oak Street. How many valves did she check?
- The new filler counts every bottle. It showed 8 bottles on Monday and 9 bottles on Tuesday. How many bottles in all?
- Ms. Ruiz turned the valve by the street before Mr. Pike cut the pipe. What does a valve do?
- Name one tool Mr. Pike used to put the new filler in.
- Who worked inside the school? Who worked by the street?
- Name Ms. Ruiz's job. Write one fact about what she did for the school. End with one sentence about the students.
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: 14 parts. 8 + 6 = 14, an add-to problem with the total unknown.
- Answer: 4 bolts. 9 − 5 = 4, a take-from problem with the result unknown.
- Answer: 8 more screws. 12 − 4 = 8, a compare problem with the difference unknown. Students may also count on from 4 to 12.
- Answer: 13 bottles. 7 + 6 = 13; making ten first gives 7 + 3 = 10 and 10 + 3 = 13.
- Answer: 6 bottles. 15 − 9 = 6. Students who count on from 9 to 15 arrive at the same answer.
- Answer: 14 valves. 10 + 4 = 14, a ten and four ones.
- Answer: 17 bottles. 8 + 9 = 17; making ten first gives 8 + 2 = 10 and 10 + 7 = 17.
- Answer: It stops the water. Also accept "It turns the water off and on." When Ms. Ruiz turned the valve, the water stopped going into the school, so none sprayed out when Mr. Pike cut the pipe open.
- Answer: A pipe cutter or a wrench. Both are named in the story. Also accept a screwdriver, since item 3 says he put in screws. The long metal key is not correct here, because Ms. Ruiz used it.
- Answer: Mr. Pike worked inside the school, and Ms. Ruiz worked by the street. Accept "the plumber" for Mr. Pike and "the water worker" for Ms. Ruiz.
- Answer: Answers vary. Accept "town water worker," "water department worker," or "water line worker" for her job. The fact should come from the story, such as "She turned off the water at the street" or "She turned the water back on." Do not accept "plumber" as her job or "she put in the filler" as her fact, since Mr. Pike did that work; point the student back to the story. Accept a closing sentence such as "Now students can fill their own bottles."
Differentiation
Support (below grade level)
Offer a ten frame and counters for items 1 through 7 so students can build each number before combining or removing. Read every item aloud twice, read the story a second time before items 8 through 11, and accept a drawing with the answer circled instead of a written number sentence. For item 10, students may draw Ms. Ruiz by the street and Mr. Pike inside the school.
Extension (above grade level)
Ask these students to write the number sentence beside each answer for items 1 through 7, then to write one new bottle-filler problem of their own for a partner using numbers that stay within 20. They may also add a second sentence to item 11 that tells why Mr. Pike needed Ms. Ruiz that day.
ELL supports
Pre-teach valve, bolt, plumber, and fill with a picture card for each and keep the four cards visible while students work. Provide the frames "They had ____ parts" and "____ bolts were left" for items 1 and 2, and "____ worked inside. ____ worked by the street." for item 10. Accept a labeled drawing for items 9 and 11.
Extensions
Count the bottles filled at the school's own filling station over one week, keeping the count in tally marks bundled by fives, and post the running total in the hall. If students ask who would come to fix the counter when it stops working, that question can be sent to the school district's maintenance office, because the filler is part of the building. A question about the pipes under the street in front of the school would go to the local water utility.