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Worksheet Grade 1 Engineering & Design

Barley Field's Flooded Bus Lane: A Grade 1 Soak-Up Test Worksheet

A grade 1 worksheet using tray test data from blacktop and grass so students compare run-off amounts and add and subtract within 20 to fix a flooded bus lane.

Objectives

  1. Students will read test data from two ground covers and say which one lets less water run off.
  2. Students will add and subtract within 20 to compare the two test results.
  3. Students will explain why a grass strip helps keep a paved lane from flooding.

Vocabulary

Surface runoff
Runoff is water from rain or snowmelt that flows over the ground instead of soaking in. It moves downhill into ditches, streams, and rivers, picking up whatever is on the ground along the way.
Impervious surface
An impervious surface is any hard surface, like a road, roof, or parking lot, that rain cannot soak through. The more impervious surface a town has, the more stormwater rushes off it.

Teacher overview

In the town of Barley Field, rain that lands on the paved bus lane has nowhere to soak in, so it sheets toward the low corner by the front steps and stands there until it dries. Two design teams ran the same test on two trays: one tray held a flat paved surface and the other held a piece of grass sod. Each tray was tilted the same way, and each got the same ten cups of water. The teams counted the cups that ran off the low end into a pan. This worksheet gives students those counts and asks them to compare the two ground covers with addition and subtraction within 20, then to sketch one fix for the lane. Comparing the two counts is the main work here, and the arithmetic gives students a way to state the difference precisely.

Barley Field's Flooded Bus Lane: A Grade 1 Soak-Up Test Worksheet — Grade 1 Engineering & Design
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Read aloud: Rain falls on the bus lane at Barley Field School. The rain runs off the pavement. It makes a big puddle by the steps. Two teams ran a test. Each team used a tray. Each tray was tilted. Each tray got 10 cups of water. Tray 1 held pavement. Tray 2 held grass. The teams counted the cups that ran off.

  1. Tray 1 got 10 cups of water. 9 cups ran off. How many cups stayed in the tray?
  2. Tray 2 got 10 cups of water. 3 cups ran off. How many cups stayed in the tray?
  3. Tray 1 let 9 cups run off. Tray 2 let 3 cups run off. Which tray let more water run off? Write pavement or grass.
  4. Tray 1 let 9 cups run off. Tray 2 let 3 cups run off. How many more cups ran off Tray 1?
  5. Tray 1 let 9 cups run off. Tray 2 let 3 cups run off. Add them. How many cups ran off in all?
  6. The lane floods when more than 5 cups run off. Tray 1 let 9 cups run off. Tray 2 let 3 cups run off. Which tray would flood the lane? Write pavement or grass.
  7. Tray 2 let 3 cups run off. The team wants just 1 cup to run off. How many fewer cups is that?
  8. Tray 1 kept 1 cup. Tray 2 kept 7 cups. Tell why grass keeps more water than pavement.
  9. Draw a plan for the bus lane. Put one grass strip in your plan. Tell one way the strip helps.

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: 1 cup.
    The tray got 10 cups and 9 ran off, so 10 − 9 = 1 cup stayed. Accept a drawing of ten cups with nine crossed out.
  2. Answer: 7 cups.
    The tray got 10 cups and 3 ran off, so 10 − 3 = 7 cups stayed.
  3. Answer: Pavement.
    Tray 1 held pavement and let 9 cups run off, which is more than the 3 cups from Tray 2.
  4. Answer: 6 cups.
    9 − 3 = 6, so 6 more cups ran off the pavement tray than the grass tray.
  5. Answer: 12 cups.
    9 + 3 = 12 cups of run-off in all. Accept counting on from 9.
  6. Answer: Pavement.
    Tray 1 let 9 cups run off, and 9 is more than 5, so the pavement would flood the lane. Tray 2 let only 3 cups run off, which is less than 5.
  7. Answer: 2 fewer cups.
    The team wants 1 cup instead of 3 cups, and 3 − 1 = 2 fewer cups.
  8. Answer: Grass has open soil that water can soak into, so less water runs away.
    Accept any wording that says water goes down into the ground or the dirt instead of running across the top, backed by the counts of 7 cups kept and 1 cup kept.
  9. Answer: Answers vary.
    Accept any labeled plan that places grass, soil, or plants where the water would otherwise run toward the steps, along with a stated reason such as the grass soaking up rain.

Differentiation

Support (below grade level)

Give these students ten counters and two paper trays so items 1 and 2 can be acted out before they write. Circle the two numbers inside each item with a highlighter so the two-number problems in items 4 and 5 do not depend on rereading. Accept spoken answers for items 8 and 9 with a scribe.

Extension (above grade level)

Ask these students to invent a third tray, state how many of the 10 cups ran off it, and prove with subtraction whether it beats the grass tray. They can then draw a bus lane plan that keeps every cup out of the low corner and label what each part of the plan does.

ELL supports

Provide a two-picture card showing a paved tray and a grass tray, each with an arrow for the water that runs off, so items 3 and 6 can be answered by pointing before writing. Pre-teach four words with gestures: rain, run off, soak, puddle. Allow items 8 and 9 to be answered with a labeled drawing rather than sentences.

Extensions

After the next rain, walk the class to the spot at your own school where water stands longest and have students mark its edge with sidewalk chalk. Compare the marked shape on a dry day, and ask students where a grass strip could go if the class could choose one place to add soil and plants.