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Lesson plan Kindergarten English Language Arts

The Water Tower Above Yarrowgate: Draw and Label Lesson

A 30-minute kindergarten lesson in which students hear how water reaches Yarrowgate School, then draw and label a tank, a pipe, and a tap on one page.

Objectives

  1. Students will name the three stops water makes on its way to a school tap.
  2. Students will draw and label a tank, a pipe, and a tap on a single page.
  3. Students will dictate or write one true sentence about what a water tower does.

Vocabulary

Water tower
A water tower is a big tank raised high above town that stores drinking water. Its height is what pushes water through the pipes, keeping the pressure steady even when the power goes out.

Also: tank, pipe, tap

Teacher overview

Yarrowgate is a fictional town used for this lesson, and its water tower stands on the hill above Yarrowgate School. Water rests in the tank at the top, then travels down a pipe to the school, where it comes out of the tap at the sink. The misconception this lesson is built to correct is a common one at this age: many kindergartners believe water is made inside the faucet, or that it begins at the wall where the pipe disappears, and they picture no storage and no outdoor source at all. Drawing the tank above the school and the pipe running down to the tap gives students a single picture that puts the source outside the building where it belongs.

Sketch the tower, the pipe, and the tap on chart paper before students begin, and leave that sketch visible for the whole lesson so students have a model to look at while they draw.

Procedure

Hook (4 min): Turn on the classroom tap for a few seconds. Ask, "Where was this water one minute ago?" Take three or four answers without correcting any of them, and write the answers on the board.

Teacher read-aloud and board sketch (8 min): Read this short account aloud, drawing each part on the chart paper as you name it. "Up on the hill above Yarrowgate School there is a tall tank on legs. People call it the water tower. Clean water waits in the tank. A pipe runs down the hill from the tank. The pipe goes under the road. It comes up in the wall of the school. At the end of the pipe is the tap at our sink." Point back to the hook answers and say which ones matched the tower.

Modeling the labels (5 min): Write the three words tank, pipe, and tap next to the matching parts of your sketch. Say each word, then have the class say it with you while pointing to that part in the air.

Handout work (10 min): Give each student the handout page. Students draw the tower, the pipe, and the tap in the right places, copy or write the three labels, and answer items 4 through 6 aloud or in writing. Circulate and scribe for any student who dictates rather than writes.

Closure and formative check (3 min): Hold up your sketch and cover the tank with your hand. Ask, "What part did I hide?" Ask every student to answer with one word. If fewer than three-quarters of the class says tank, re-label the sketch together before moving on and plan to revisit the three words at morning meeting the next day.

The Water Tower Above Yarrowgate: Draw and Label Lesson — Kindergarten English Language Arts
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

The Water Tower Above Yarrowgate

  1. Draw a tall tank on legs at the top of your page. Write or copy the label: tank.
  2. Draw a long pipe going down from the tank to a school. Write or copy the label: pipe.
  3. Draw a sink with a tap at the end of the pipe. Write or copy the label: tap.
  4. Where does the water wait before it goes to the school?
  5. What carries the water from the tank down to the tap?
  6. Tell one true thing about the Yarrowgate water tower.

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: A tank drawn at the top of the page with the label tank. Accept any tall shape on legs or posts placed above the school, with the word copied or approximated by sound.
  2. Answer: A pipe drawn from the tank down to the school with the label pipe. Accept a single line, a pair of lines, or a curved path, as long as it connects the tank to the school.
  3. Answer: A sink and tap drawn at the end of the pipe with the label tap. Accept a faucet shape of any kind that sits where the pipe ends.
  4. Answer: In the tank on the water tower. Accept "the tank," "the tower," or "up on the hill," all of which name the storage stop described in the read-aloud.
  5. Answer: The pipe. Accept "a pipe under the road" or a gesture tracing the pipe on the page.
  6. Answer: Answers will vary. Accept any true statement drawn from the read-aloud, such as "it holds clean water," "it is up on a hill," or "the water goes down a pipe to our school."

Differentiation

Support

Give these students a handout with the tank, pipe, and tap already outlined in light gray so the drawing task becomes tracing and placing labels. Provide the three label words on small cards to glue in place rather than copy by hand, and accept a pointed answer for items 4 and 5.

Extension

Ask confident students to add a fourth part to their page: the drain at the bottom of the sink, with a label. Have them explain in one sentence where the water goes after it leaves the tap, and let them present their page to the class.

ELL supports

Pre-teach tank, pipe, and tap with a gesture for each: cupped hands for the tank, two flat hands sliding downward for the pipe, and a twisting wrist for the tap. Pair each word card with a simple picture, and allow students to answer items 4 through 6 by pointing to their own drawing instead of speaking.

Extensions

Walk the class outside and look for anything on the school grounds that carries or holds water, such as a spigot, a downspout, or a visible pipe along a wall. Back inside, add one of those parts to the class chart-paper sketch and label it together.