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Worksheet Kindergarten English Language Arts

Getting Ready for Rain in Bramlow: A Question and Note Worksheet

A kindergarten worksheet about a visit from Bramlow's town weather watcher, where students tell questions from statements, ask one, and write her a note.

Objectives

  1. Students will tell a question apart from a statement read aloud to them.
  2. Students will ask one question of their own that begins with a question word.
  3. Students will write or dictate a short note that names its topic and gives one piece of information.

Vocabulary

Key words: question, warning, weather map, note

Teacher overview

Bramlow is a fictional town whose public works office employs Ms. Cobbett, who reads weather maps and telephones Bramlow School when heavy rain is likely. Larkspit Creek runs past the low corner of the school field and rises quickly, so an early call gives the building time to prepare. The class is expecting her as a visitor, and this worksheet rehearses the language work a visit calls for: hearing the difference between a question and a statement, naming the word a question opens with, composing a question of one's own, and deciding which of two adults can answer a particular question. The last two items turn that preparation into a short note addressed to her.

The misunderstanding worth addressing before item 4 is that a warning is a promise. When rain that was announced does not arrive, a warning is easy to hear as a broken one, and the person who issued it as untruthful. Explain that Ms. Cobbett reports what is likely rather than what is certain, and that the school gains from getting ready even for rain that never falls.

Read each item aloud twice. Students may answer by speaking, pointing, drawing, or writing, whichever they can manage, since the worksheet measures listening and composing rather than independent reading.

Getting Ready for Rain in Bramlow: A Question and Note Worksheet — Kindergarten English Language Arts
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Ms. Cobbett Comes to Our Class

Ms. Cobbett works for the town of Bramlow. She reads maps of the sky all day. She looks for big rain. When big rain is on the way, she calls our school. Then we get set for it. On Friday she will come to our class. We will ask her what we want to know.

  1. Ms. Cobbett reads maps of the sky all day. What does she look for, big rain or big trucks?
  2. When big rain is on the way, Ms. Cobbett calls our school. Who does she call?
  3. When she calls, we put the book bin up on a shelf. Why do we put the books up high?
  4. Ms. Cobbett says big rain may come. She can not be sure. If no rain falls, did she tell us a lie? Say yes or no.
  5. A question asks for what you want to know. Which one is a question? "How do you know big rain is on the way?" or "My cup is red."
  6. Some questions start with who, what, when, where, or how. Say the first word in this question: "When will the rain start?"
  7. Ask Ms. Cobbett one thing about her job. Say it or write it. Start with who, what, when, where, or how.
  8. Ms. Cobbett knows about rain. Mr. Ferriby cooks our lunch. Who can tell us how much rain will fall?
  9. Ms. Cobbett knows about rain. Mr. Ferriby cooks our lunch. Who can tell us what is for lunch?
  10. Write a note to Ms. Cobbett. Say what the note is about. Tell her one thing you know now. You may draw as well.
  11. At the end of a note you write your own name. Write your name at the end of your note.

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

Answer Key
  1. Answer: Big rain. Item 1 says she reads maps of the sky, and looking for big rain is her job for the town of Bramlow, while trucks are no part of it.
  2. Answer: Our school. Item 2 states that she telephones the school once big rain is on the way, so the school is who receives the call.
  3. Answer: Answers will vary. Accept any reason about keeping the books out of water, such as "the floor gets wet" or "the books would be ruined." Item 3 supplies the action and leaves students the cause.
  4. Answer: No. Item 4 gives her exact words, that big rain may come and that she cannot be sure, so the warning reported what was likely rather than what was certain. A student who answers yes is treating the warning as a promise, so reread those two sentences and ask the item again.
  5. Answer: "How do you know big rain is on the way?" That sentence asks for something the speaker wants to know, while "My cup is red" tells something instead of asking for it.
  6. Answer: When. It is the first word of the question printed inside item 6, and it belongs to the list of question words given there.
  7. Answer: Answers will vary. Accept any question about her work that opens with who, what, when, where, or how, such as "How do you know?" or "When do you call our school?" A dictated question counts in full.
  8. Answer: Ms. Cobbett. Item 8 states that she is the one who knows about rain, so a question about how much rain will fall belongs to her.
  9. Answer: Mr. Ferriby. Item 9 states that he cooks the lunch, so the lunch question belongs to him rather than to the weather watcher.
  10. Answer: Answers will vary. A complete note names its topic, such as her job or her call to the school, and adds one true detail taken from this worksheet, such as "You call our school when big rain comes." Accept a drawing with dictated words or invented spelling.
  11. Answer: The student's own name. Accept it written, copied from a name card, or spelled by sound, so long as it sits at the end of the note rather than in the middle of it.

Differentiation

Support

Give items 1 through 6 in one sitting and the rest after a break. For items 8 and 9, put two picture cards on the desk, one of a weather map for Ms. Cobbett and one of a soup pot for the cook, so students can answer by pointing. Offer a sentence frame for item 10: "Dear Ms. Cobbett, you ___."

Extension

Ask confident students to add a second question to their note in item 10 and to mark it with a question mark. Have them name one other person in the town of Bramlow who would want the warning about heavy rain, such as the bus driver or the crossing guard, and say in one sentence what that person would do with it.

ELL supports

Post the five question words on a chart with a small picture beside each, and add a shared gesture for a question, such as an open hand turned upward at the end of a sentence. Allow students to answer items 8 and 9 by holding up a picture card. A student may dictate the note in item 10 in a home language, provided the name in item 11 is written, and the chart of question words stays in view throughout.

Extensions

Ask the front office who in the building takes the call when heavy rain is coming, and invite that person in for five minutes. Have students ask the questions they wrote in item 7, then compare that person's answers with what Ms. Cobbett does for the town of Bramlow. Record two answers on chart paper for the class to keep.