Math problem set Grade 2 Engineering & Design

Pebblewood's Rain Catcher Contest: A Grade 2 Bar Graph Set

A grade 2 problem set built on four teams' rain catcher results, with bar graph reading and one- and two-step add and subtract problems within 100.

Grade: Grade 2
Subject: Engineering & Design
Material: Math problem set
Time: 30 min
Prep: No prep
Materials: Graph paper or a blank grid for problem 5

Standards

K-2-ETS1-3 NGSS

Analyze data from tests of two objects designed to solve the same problem to compare the strengths and weaknesses of how each performs.

How this material aligns: Problems 1, 2, 5, and 6 analyze the cups four teams' rain catchers caught over the same rainy week on the same lawn, comparing how each design performed; the closing extension has students test two catcher shapes and say what they would change about the weaker one.

All materials for K-2-ETS1-3 →

2.MD.D.10 Common Core Math

Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a data set with up to four categories. Solve simple put-together, take-apart, and compare problems using information presented in a bar graph.

How this material aligns: Problem 5 has students draw a single-unit bar graph of four rain catcher teams, and problems 1, 2, and 6 are the compare questions this standard names.

All materials for 2.MD.D.10 →

2.OA.A.1 Common Core Math

Use addition and subtraction within 100 to solve one- and two-step word problems involving situations of adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart, and comparing, with unknowns in all positions, e.g., by using drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.

How this material aligns: Problems 3, 4, 7, and 8 are one-step add and subtract word problems within 100 drawn from the contest totals, and problem 9 is a two-step problem combining a loss and a gain.

All materials for 2.OA.A.1 →

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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 draw a single-unit bar graph showing four teams' rain catcher results.
Students will compare two teams' totals by subtracting within 100.
Students will solve two-step add and subtract problems about the teams' collected cups.

Vocabulary

Key words: rain catcher, bar graph, total, compare, design

Teacher overview

Four teams in the town of Pebblewood each designed a rain catcher for the school garden, set them out on the same open lawn, and left them for one rainy week. The four totals in this set are the contest results, and every problem draws on that single record so students stay inside one design story rather than jumping between unrelated scenarios. Two errors are common in a set like this one. When a problem asks how many more, a student may add the two amounts instead of subtracting, and when reading a bar graph a student may count the number of bars rather than the height of one bar. Both are worth naming before students start. Having students draw the problem 5 graph first means it is ready when the comparison questions arrive.

Pebblewood's Rain Catcher Contest: A Grade 2 Bar Graph Set — Grade 2 Engineering & Design

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Problems

Four teams at Pebblewood School built rain catchers for the garden. It rained all week. Then each team poured its water into a measuring cup and wrote down the cups it caught.

Team	Cups caught
Fox	12
Owl	18
Bee	9
Elk	15

Which team caught the most cups? How many cups was that?
How many more cups did Team Owl catch than Team Bee?
Team Fox and Team Elk pour their water together. How many cups is that?
How many cups did all four teams catch in all?
Make a bar graph of the four teams. Use one square for each cup. How many squares tall is Team Elk's bar?
Team Bee wants to catch as many cups as Team Elk. How many more cups does Team Bee need?
The next week, Team Owl caught 11 more cups. How many cups has Team Owl caught in all?
The garden needs 60 cups of water. The four teams caught 54 cups. How many more cups does the garden need?
Team Fox caught 12 cups. Then 5 cups spilled. Then Team Fox caught 8 more cups. How many cups does Team Fox have now?

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: 18 cups. Team Owl caught the most. Comparing the four numbers, 18 is greater than 15, 12, and 9.
Answer: 9 cups. Subtract Team Bee's total from Team Owl's total: 18 - 9 = 9.
Answer: 27 cups. Add the two totals: 12 + 15 = 27.
Answer: 54 cups. Add all four totals in pairs: 12 + 18 = 30, then 9 + 15 = 24, then 30 + 24 = 54.
Answer: 15 squares. Team Elk caught 15 cups, and the graph uses one square for each cup, so the bar is 15 squares tall. The four bars should read 12, 18, 9, and 15 squares.
Answer: 6 cups. Subtract Team Bee's total from Team Elk's total: 15 - 9 = 6. A student who answers 24 has added the two totals instead of comparing them.
Answer: 29 cups. Add the new cups to Team Owl's first total: 18 + 11 = 29.
Answer: 6 cups. Subtract what the teams caught from what the garden needs: 60 - 54 = 6.
Answer: 15 cups. First subtract the spill: 12 - 5 = 7 cups. Then add the new cups: 7 + 8 = 15 cups. A student who answers 25 added all three numbers and skipped the spill.

Differentiation

Support

Give these students a pre-drawn grid with the four team names already labeled along the bottom and the numbers 1 through 20 marked up the side, so problem 5 becomes coloring squares rather than building a graph from nothing. Provide counters for problems 2, 6, and 8, and read problem 9 aloud one sentence at a time.

Extension

Ask these students to add a fifth team whose catcher would make Team Owl's bar no longer the tallest, state that team's number of cups, and redraw the graph. Then have them write one new two-step problem about the contest, with its answer, for a classmate to solve.

ELL supports

Pre-teach rain catcher, bar graph, total, and more with a labeled example graph of three items kept posted during the set. Provide the frames "Team ___ caught ___ cups" and "___ more cups," and allow students to point to bars on the graph while explaining their comparison answers.

Extensions

Set two real rain catchers of different widths outside for one week, record the cups collected, and add both to the Pebblewood graph as two new bars. Students can then write one sentence about which catcher shape held more water and what they would change about the smaller one.