Classroom activity Kindergarten English Language Arts

Rainswick Lane Storm Drains: A Three-Station Rotation

A 35-minute kindergarten rotation where small groups sort drain cards, order the rain's path down Rainswick Lane, and draw a labeled sign for a storm drain.

Grade: Kindergarten
Subject: English Language Arts
Material: Classroom activity
Time: 35 min
Prep: Moderate prep
Materials: Eight picture cards drawn or printed by the teacher, Two labeled trays or hoops for the sorting station, Three sentence strips with a small picture on each, Paper and crayons for the sign station, One printed recording page per student

Standards

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: At station three students name the storm drain as their topic and write or copy the words for a sign that tells a reader what belongs in it, supplying information through drawing and writing together.

All materials for W.K.2 →

K-ESS3-3 NGSS

Communicate solutions that will reduce the impact of humans on the land, water, air, and/or other living things in the local environment.

How this material aligns: The sorting station and the sign station together have students communicate a solution, keeping trash out of the grate, that reduces what people send into the creek downstream.

All materials for K-ESS3-3 →

Download Word file

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 sort items into ones that belong in a storm drain and ones that belong in a bin.
Students will put the three stops rainwater makes on a street in order.
Students will draw and label a sign that tells people what belongs in a storm drain.

Vocabulary

Storm drain: A storm drain is the grate at the edge of a street that swallows rainwater and sends it through pipes to the nearest creek or river. That water is usually not treated, so only rain belongs down the drain.

Also: grate, curb, sign

Teacher overview

Rainswick Lane is a fictional street used for this rotation, and its storm drains take rain from the road straight to a creek at the end of the block. Small groups of five or six students move through three stations that each teach one piece of that idea by doing it: sorting cards into what belongs in a drain and what belongs in a bin, laying three sentence strips in the order the rain travels, and drawing a labeled sign for the grate. The misconception worth naming before the rotation begins is that kindergartners routinely treat a storm drain in the street and a sink drain in the classroom as the same thing going to the same place, when in most towns the sink drain leads to a plant that cleans the water while the street drain leads straight to a creek.

Set up all three stations before class, since the rotation runs without a pause once it starts.

Activity Directions

Before class, set up three stations around the room. Station one holds eight picture cards and two labeled trays, one marked "Rain goes down" and one marked "This goes in the bin." Station two holds three sentence strips, shuffled. Station three holds blank paper and crayons.
Draw or print the eight cards for station one: rain falling, melting snow, a puddle, rain running off a roof, a juice pouch, a chip bag, a foam cup, and a plastic straw.
Write the three sentence strips for station two, each with a small picture: "Rain falls on Rainswick Lane." "The rain runs to the curb." "The rain goes down the grate to the creek."
Introduction (5 min): Gather the whole class. Explain how the rotation works: each station teaches one part of what a storm drain does, and every group will do all three parts in order, the same order the rain travels. Show the two trays and the three strips so every group knows what waits for them.
Split the class into three groups of five or six students and send one group to each station. Give every student the recording page to carry with them.
Rotation one (8 min): Groups work at their first station. At station one, students take turns placing one card in a tray and saying why. At station two, students lay the strips in order and read them together with the teacher or an adult helper. At station three, students draw the grate and copy the sign words.
Rotation two (8 min): Ring a bell and have groups move one station clockwise. Reset the cards and strips before the new group arrives.
Rotation three (8 min): Ring the bell again and rotate one more time, so every group has done all three stations.
Debrief (6 min): Bring the class back to the carpet with their recording pages. Ask the three debrief questions in the answer key, calling on a different group for each. Close by holding up two or three student signs and reading the words aloud together.
The rotation ends after every group has finished all three stations and the debrief questions have been answered.

Rainswick Lane Storm Drains: A Three-Station Rotation — Kindergarten English Language Arts

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

My Rainswick Lane Page

Station one. Name one thing you put in the "Rain goes down" tray.
Station one. Name one thing you put in the bin tray.
Station two. What comes first, the rain falling or the rain going down the grate?
Station two. Where does the water go last?
Station three. Write or copy the words for your sign: only rain.
Tell one reason a storm drain should get only rain.

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: Rain, melting snow, a puddle, or rain running off a roof. Any one of these four cards belongs in the tray marked "Rain goes down."
Answer: A juice pouch, a chip bag, a foam cup, or a plastic straw. Any one of these four cards belongs in the bin tray.
Answer: The rain falling. The first sentence strip puts the rain falling on Rainswick Lane before it reaches the curb or the grate.
Answer: To the creek. The third sentence strip ends with the rain going down the grate to the creek at the end of the block.
Answer: Only rain. Accept the two words copied, spelled by sound, or written with reversed letters, along with any drawing of a grate or a street.
Answer: Answers will vary. Accept any reason that connects the drain to the creek, such as "the trash goes to the creek" or "fish live down there."

Differentiation

Support

Cut station one down to four cards, two for each tray, and pair these students with an adult helper who names each card aloud before they place it. At station two, hand the strips out one at a time in a scaffolded order rather than shuffled, and let students point to the answers for items 3 and 4.

Extension

Ask confident students to add a fourth sentence strip of their own at station two, telling what happens to the creek if trash goes down the grate. Have them read all four strips in order to the group and add a second line of words to their sign.

ELL supports

Pre-teach grate, curb, and sign by walking the class past a real curb and a real posted sign before the rotation begins, saying each word three times while pointing. Label both trays at station one with a picture as well as words, and allow students to complete items 1 through 4 by holding up the matching card instead of speaking.

Extensions

Ask the office for permission to post two of the finished signs near the drains closest to the school entrance for one week. Walk the class past them each morning and ask whether anything new has landed on the grate since the day before.