Worksheet Grade 2 Engineering & Design
Tidewell Art Room's Dripping Tap: A Drip Catcher Worksheet
A grade 2 worksheet in which students read five days of test data from two drip catcher designs, add and subtract within 100, and choose the better design.
Objectives
- Students will read a five-day data table and find the total each drip catcher collected.
- Students will subtract within 100 to compare two designs built for the same dripping tap.
- Students will choose a better design and support the choice with a number from the data.
Vocabulary
Key words: drip, catcher, design, compare, total
Teacher overview
The art room sink in the town of Tidewell has a tap that drips all day while the plumber's repair sits on a waiting list, so the second graders set out two catchers under it, one week each, and kept a five-day record of each. Pan A is wide and low; Jar B is tall and narrow. This worksheet gives students that record and asks them to do what a design team does with test results, which is total each column, compare the two designs on the same measure, and then commit to one with a reason. Watch for the common error in item 5, where a student reading "how many more" adds the two totals instead of finding the difference. The last two items are open, and a strong answer to item 10 names something about the jar's shape rather than simply saying it should be bigger.
Student Worksheet
The art room tap at Tidewell School drips all day. The class tried two catchers under it, one week each. Pan A is wide and low. Jar B is tall and narrow. The class wrote down the cups each one caught for five days.
| Day | Pan A cups | Jar B cups |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | 2 |
| 2 | 4 | 2 |
| 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 5 | 4 |
| 5 | 4 | 3 |
- How many cups did Pan A catch on Day 2?
- How many cups did Jar B catch on Day 4?
- Add up the five days for Pan A. How many cups in all?
- Add up the five days for Jar B. How many cups in all?
- How many more cups did Pan A catch than Jar B?
- On what day did both catchers catch the same number of cups?
- Pan A can hold 25 cups. It has 19 cups in it now. How many more cups can it hold?
- Jar B still had all the cups it caught on Days 1 to 5. On Day 6, Jar B caught 3 more cups. Then it tipped over. It spilled 5 cups. How many cups were left in Jar B?
- Which catcher is better for the art room? Use a number from the table to tell why.
- Name one change you would make to Jar B. Tell how the change would help.
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: 4 cups. Read across the Day 2 row to the Pan A column.
- Answer: 4 cups. Read across the Day 4 row to the Jar B column.
- Answer: 19 cups. Add the Pan A column: 3 + 4 = 7, 7 + 3 = 10, 10 + 5 = 15, 15 + 4 = 19.
- Answer: 14 cups. Add the Jar B column: 2 + 2 = 4, 4 + 3 = 7, 7 + 4 = 11, 11 + 3 = 14.
- Answer: 5 cups. Subtract the two totals: 19 - 14 = 5. A student who answers 33 has added the totals instead of comparing them.
- Answer: Day 3. Both catchers show 3 cups in the Day 3 row, and no other row matches.
- Answer: 6 cups. Subtract what is already in the pan from what it holds: 25 - 19 = 6.
- Answer: 12 cups. First add the new cups: 14 + 3 = 17 cups. Then subtract the spill: 17 - 5 = 12 cups. A student who answers 9 subtracted the spill and stopped before adding the 3 new cups.
- Answer: Pan A. Accept any answer that names Pan A and cites a number from the table, such as the 19-cup total against Jar B's 14 cups, or the 5-cup difference between them.
- Answer: Accept any change tied to the jar's shape or setup, such as making the opening wider, setting the jar on a flat base so it cannot tip, or moving it directly under the drip. A change that only makes the jar taller does not help it catch more drips, since the opening stays narrow.
Differentiation
Support
Give these students a copy of the table with the Pan A and Jar B columns cut apart so each total is added on its own, and provide counters or a number line to 100. Read items 8 and 10 aloud and let students answer item 10 with a labeled drawing instead of a sentence.
Extension
Ask these students to predict Pan A's and Jar B's totals for a second five-day week if the drip stayed the same, explain the prediction in one sentence, and then design a third catcher, sketch it, and state the one measure they would use to test it against Pan A.
ELL supports
Pre-teach drip, catcher, wide, and narrow with a labeled sketch of the two containers side by side. Provide the frames "Pan A caught ___ cups" and "___ is better because ___," and allow students to point to the table rows while answering items 1 and 2.
Extensions
Set a real pan under a classroom water fountain drip for one week, record the cups collected each day on the same table format, and compare the class's own numbers with Tidewell's. Students can then write a short note to the building custodian reporting what they measured.