Worksheet Kindergarten Engineering & Design

Patching the Leaky Pipe Under Tinley School

A read-aloud kindergarten worksheet where students count holes, drips, and patches within 10 to help a repair crew plan the fix for a leaking school pipe.

Grade: Kindergarten
Subject: Engineering & Design
Material: Worksheet
Time: 20 min
Prep: No prep
Materials: None

Standards

K.OA.A.2 Common Core Math

Solve addition and subtraction word problems, and add and subtract within 10, e.g., by using objects or drawings to represent the problem.

How this material aligns: Items 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, and 9 are addition and subtraction word problems within 10 about holes, drips, and patches, solved with drawings or counters exactly as this standard describes.

All materials for K.OA.A.2 →

K-2-ETS1-1 NGSS

Ask questions, make observations, and gather information about a situation people want to change to define a simple problem that can be solved through the development of a new or improved object or tool.

How this material aligns: Items 5 and 6 have students count and compare the holes in two pipes so the crew knows which one to reach first, which is the gather-information side of the define-a-simple-problem work this expectation names.

All materials for K-2-ETS1-1 →

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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 add and subtract within 10 to count holes, drips, and patches.
Students will compare two pipes and say which one has more holes.
Students will explain why a rubber patch holds a leak where a paper patch does not.

Vocabulary

Key words: pipe, leak, patch, crew

Teacher overview

A pipe under the hall at the fictional Tinley School has sprung small leaks, and the repair crew has come with a box of patches. Every number on this page is small enough to model with counters, and every question stays inside the kindergarten range of 10.

The design idea underneath the arithmetic is that a crew counts before it fixes. Students count the holes in two pipes and decide which one the crew should reach first, which is the same reasoning a water utility uses when it ranks repairs. Read each item aloud and let students draw the holes or slide counters before answering. After item 6, ask the class aloud which pipe the crew should reach first and why.

A common error at this age is starting the count over instead of counting on. A child adding more drips to the 4 already in the pail may recount the pail from one, or may answer with only the new drips. Watch for both in item 4 and model counting on from the larger number.

Patching the Leaky Pipe Under Tinley School — Kindergarten Engineering & Design

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Layout note: beside item 8, print a small picture of a paper patch and a rubber patch for students to circle.

Your teacher will read each item to you.

The pipe under the hall has 3 holes. Water drips from every hole. How many holes drip? Write the number.
The crew puts a patch on 2 of those 3 holes. How many holes still drip? Write the number.
The crew brings 5 patches. They use 2 patches. How many patches are left? Write the number.
A pail catches 4 drips. Then 3 more drips fall in. How many drips are in the pail? Write the number.
Pipe A has 2 holes. Pipe B has 6 holes. Which pipe has more holes? Circle A or B.
Pipe A has 2 holes. Pipe B has 6 holes. How many more holes does Pipe B have? Write the number.
The crew fixed 6 holes on Monday. The crew fixed 2 holes on Tuesday. How many holes did the crew fix? Write the number.
One patch is paper. One patch is rubber. Water soaks right through paper. Circle the patch that will hold.
The crew has 9 patches. Each hole gets 1 patch. There are 4 holes to fix. How many patches will be left? Write the number.
All the holes are patched now. The pipe is dry. How many drips fall in the pail? Write the number.

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: 3 holes. The pipe has 3 holes and each one drips, so the count of dripping holes is the same as the count of holes.
Answer: 1 hole. Start with 3 holes and take away the 2 that got patches, which leaves 3 minus 2, or 1 hole.
Answer: 3 patches. Start with 5 patches and take away the 2 that were used, which leaves 5 minus 2, or 3 patches.
Answer: 7 drips. Start at 4 drips and count on 3 more: five, six, seven.
4 plus 3 is 7 drips.
Answer: Pipe B. Matching 2 holes against 6 holes leaves 4 holes with no partner on Pipe B, so Pipe B has more.
Answer: 4 holes. Take the 2 holes on Pipe A away from the 6 holes on Pipe B: 6 minus 2 is 4 holes.
Answer: 8 holes. Add the two days together: 6 plus 2 is 8 holes.
Answer: The rubber patch. Water soaks through paper and the paper falls apart, while rubber keeps the water on the inside of the pipe.
Answer: 5 patches. Each of the 4 holes takes 1 patch, so the crew uses 4 patches from the 9 they have: 9 minus 4 is 5 patches.
Answer: 0 drips. Every hole has a patch, so no water leaves the pipe and nothing falls into the pail.

Differentiation

Support (below grade level)

Give these students 10 counters and a paper pipe strip to lay them on so every problem is built before it is counted. Cover the items not in use with a blank card, and let students say the answer aloud while you write the number for them.

Extension (above grade level)

Ask these students to write the number sentence for items 4, 6, and 7 using the plus, minus, and equals signs, and then to make up one more pipe problem of their own within 10 for a partner to solve. Have them explain aloud why item 10 has an answer of zero.

ELL supports

Pre-teach pipe, leak, patch, and crew with a real length of pipe or a paper tube plus a piece of tape, and demonstrate a leak with a straw and a cup of water. Accept counters laid out in a row instead of written numerals, and let students point to A or B on item 5 rather than saying the letter.

Extensions

Walk the class to a spot in the building where pipes are visible, such as under a sink or in a utility corner, and count the joints together. Students look without touching, since some pipes carry hot water. If the school custodian or a plumber can spare a few minutes, ask them to show the class one tool they use on a leak and say in one sentence what they check first.