Worksheet Kindergarten Careers & CTE

June's Sample Tray at the Bellrock Water Lab

A kindergarten careers worksheet about a water lab tester's sample tray, with nine read-aloud items on counting, comparing, adding, and subtracting within 10.

Grade: Kindergarten
Subject: Careers & CTE
Material: Worksheet
Time: 20 min
Prep: Low prep
Materials: 10 counters per student, such as beans or paper circles, crayons

Standards

K.CC.B.5 Common Core Math

Count to answer 'how many?' questions about as many as 20 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle, or as many as 10 things in a scattered configuration; given a number from 1-20, count out that many objects.

How this material aligns: Items 1, 2, and 7 ask students to count jars in a line, lids in a circle, and drops they draw themselves, covering the line, circle, and count-out arrangements this standard names.

All materials for K.CC.B.5 →

K.CC.C.6 Common Core Math

Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, e.g., by using matching and counting strategies.

How this material aligns: Items 3, 4, and 8 ask which group of lab supplies has more and whether two groups are the same, the greater-than and equal-to comparisons this standard describes, using matching and counting.

All materials for K.CC.C.6 →

K.OA.A.2 Common Core Math

Solve addition and subtraction word problems, and add and subtract within 10, e.g., by using objects or drawings to represent the problem.

How this material aligns: Items 5 and 6 are an addition and a subtraction word problem within 10 about jars tested and jars removed, solved with counters or drawings as this standard requires.

All materials for K.OA.A.2 →

W.K.2 Common Core ELA

Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.

How this material aligns: Item 9 asks each student to draw June at work and tell one true thing about her job, which is the drawing and dictation informative task this standard sets for kindergarten.

All materials for W.K.2 →

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This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-07-23.

Objectives

Students will count groups of up to 10 lab objects arranged in a line, a circle, and a drawing.
Students will decide which of two groups has more and whether two groups are equal.
Students will draw a water lab tester at work and tell one thing she does.

Vocabulary

Key words: sample, jar, test

Teacher overview

Every water system sends samples to a lab, where a tester opens each jar, runs checks, and writes down what the water is like. This worksheet invents that tester, June, and one workday at the invented Bellrock Water Lab, then builds nine counting and comparing items out of the things on her tray. The same jars, lids, and pens appear across the items, so the counting stays tied to one worker's day rather than to a set of unrelated pictures. Read every item aloud twice so that students spend their attention on the mathematics rather than on reading the words.

June's Sample Tray at the Bellrock Water Lab — Kindergarten Careers & CTE

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Layout note: print an empty box under item 7 for the drops and a large drawing space under item 9.

The teacher reads each item aloud. You may use counters. You may draw.

June sets 6 jars in a line. How many jars are in the line?
June puts 8 lids in a circle. How many lids are in the circle?
June has 5 blue pens. She has 3 red pens. Which group has more?
June has 4 clean jars. She has 4 used jars. Are the groups the same?
June tests 3 jars. Then she tests 2 more jars. How many jars in all?
June had 7 jars on her tray. She took 2 jars away. How many jars are left?
Draw 9 water drops in a box. How many drops did you draw?
June has 6 jars. Her helper has 6 jars. Do they have the same? Tell how you know.
Draw June at work. Tell one thing June does at the lab.

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: 6 jars. Students touch each jar once while counting, and the last number said names the whole line.
Answer: 8 lids. Counting a circle is correct as long as the student starts at one lid and stops when returning to it.
Answer: The blue pens. Matching 3 red pens to 3 of the 5 blue pens leaves 2 blue pens unmatched, so blue is the larger group.
Answer: Yes, the groups are the same. Each group has 4 jars, so a one-to-one match uses up both groups with nothing left over.
Answer: 5 jars. Three jars tested plus two more tested makes five in all. Accept 5 counters pushed together and counted.
Answer: 5 jars. Seven jars with two taken away leaves five. Accept seven circles drawn with two crossed out.
Answer: 9 drops. Credit any drawing with exactly nine drops, in any arrangement, as long as the student counts them out and says nine.
Answer: Yes, they have the same. Accept any explanation that matches the jars one to one or counts both groups and gets six each.
Answer: Accept any drawing of a person with jars, tubes, or a tray, paired with one true statement such as "June tests the water" or "June checks if the water is clean." Scribe the student's exact words.

Differentiation

Support (below grade level)

Cut the page to items 1, 3, 5, and 9, which keeps every number at 6 or below. Set out real jars or paper cups and have the student move the objects while you read, then answer by showing counters instead of writing a numeral. Scribe item 9 from a single dictated word.

Extension (above grade level)

Ask these students to write a tenth item of their own about June's tray, using numbers no larger than 10, and to record the answer on the back of the page. For item 8, ask them to prove the two groups are equal in two different ways, once by matching and once by counting each group.

ELL supports

Pre-teach jar, lid, and tray by holding each object up and naming it three times with the class. Use a consistent gesture for more and for same, such as two hands at different heights and two hands level. Accept pointing and counters for items 1 through 8, and allow item 9 to be captioned in the home language with one English word added during scribing.

Extensions

Set up a classroom sample tray at the science table with six clean jars and a clipboard, and let two students each day be the lab tester who counts the jars and records the number. If a nearby utility or a high school chemistry teacher will send a photograph of a real sample rack, post it beside the tray so the class can compare what they built with what a working lab actually looks like.