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Classroom activity Grade 1 Health & Consumer Science

Ordering Three Water Bottles at Turnstone School

A 30-minute grade 1 health activity ordering three bottles by height, measuring each in cubes, then filling them to see whether the tallest holds the most.

Objectives

  1. Students will order three bottles from shortest to tallest.
  2. Students will measure each bottle's height with cubes laid end to end.
  3. Students will tell whether the tallest bottle held the most cups.

Vocabulary

Key words: tallest, shortest, cube, cup, holds

Teacher overview

Turnstone School is a made-up school where the nurse asks every child to bring a bottle that holds enough water for the whole school day. This small-group activity turns that ordinary request into measurement work. Groups of three or four order three bottles by height, measure each height in linking cubes, predict which bottle holds the most, and then pour cup by cup to find out. The results depend on the bottles you actually gather, which is what the closing discussion is for, because a bottle's height only suggests how much it holds while counting cups settles the question. Gather bottles the day before, including at least one that is short and wide.

Activity Directions

  1. Before class, collect three clean empty plastic bottles of clearly different heights for each group, and make sure at least one group has a short wide bottle that holds more than the taller, thinner bottle in the same set. Set out cubes, paper strips, a measuring cup, a funnel, and a water tub at each table.
  2. Open by holding up two bottles and asking: "Which one do you think holds more water for a whole school day?" Take three answers and do not tell them who is right.
  3. Send students to tables in groups of three or four. Give each group its three bottles, labeled A, B, and C with tape.
  4. Step one, order by height. Groups stand their three bottles side by side and put them in a line from shortest to tallest. Each student writes the letters in that order on the recording page.
  5. Step two, the paper strip. Take one bottle from each group and move it to another table. Each group now has two bottles at its own table and one across the room, so the far bottle cannot be stood beside the other two. Show them how to tear a paper strip to match the height of one bottle, carry the strip to the far bottle, and compare. Each group reports which is taller, using the strip as the go-between.
  6. Step three, cubes. Groups snap cubes together beside each bottle, end to end with no gaps and no overlaps, until the tower matches the bottle's height. They count the cubes and write the number for A, B, and C.
  7. Step four, predict. Each group circles the bottle they think holds the most cups of water and says why out loud before any pouring happens.
  8. Step five, fill and count. Working over the tub, one student per group pours measuring cups of water through a funnel into each bottle while the group counts aloud, then records how many cups each bottle held. If the last cup does not all fit, record the count and write "and a little more."
  9. End the activity when every group has recorded cups for all three bottles, which usually takes about eight minutes of pouring.
  10. Debrief with the whole class. Ask: "Did the tallest bottle always hold the most?" and "How can you find out how much your own bottle holds?" Land the discussion on counting cups at home with a grown-up rather than guessing from height.
Ordering Three Water Bottles at Turnstone School — Grade 1 Health & Consumer Science
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

Read aloud: Write what your group finds.

Shortest to tallest: ____, ____, ____

Cubes tall: A is ____ cubes. B is ____ cubes. C is ____ cubes.

My guess for the most water: ____

Cups it held: A held ____ cups. B held ____ cups. C held ____ cups.

Circle one. My guess was right. My guess was wrong.

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Differentiation

Support (below grade level)

Give these students bottles with a large height difference so the ordering step is clear at a glance, and pre-snap the cube towers into fives so counting goes faster. Let them count pours aloud with a partner rather than tracking the count alone.

Extension (above grade level)

Ask these students to find two bottles where the taller one holds less, then explain to the class what makes that happen. They can also order all three bottles a second time by how many cups each held and compare that order with the height order.

ELL supports

Pre-teach shortest, tallest, holds, and pour by demonstrating each one with two bottles before groups begin. Post the recording page frames on chart paper so students copy the same structure, and let group reports be given by pointing at bottles while a partner supplies the words.

Extensions

Send a note home asking families to count with their child how many cups their own bottle holds, then chart the class results the next morning as a set of drawings ordered from fewest cups to most. The nurse or the PE teacher can use that chart when talking about how much to drink on a hot practice day.