Lesson plan Grade 2 Health & Consumer Science

Packing Water for Room 9's Trip to Tarnbrook Park

A grade 2 health lesson planning drinking water for a field trip with no fountain, using bottle and cup counts within 100 and a note home.

Grade: Grade 2
Subject: Health & Consumer Science
Material: Lesson plan
Time: 40 min
Prep: Low prep
Materials: A water jug or large pitcher with cup markings on the side, Two or three spare bottles to show the class, Chart paper for the trip plan, Printed handout, one per student

Standards

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: Handout items 1 through 6 are one- and two-step take-from and put-together problems within 100 about bottles, jug cups, and walking minutes.

All materials for 2.OA.A.1 →

W.2.2 Common Core ELA

Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.

How this material aligns: Handout item 7 asks students to write two sentences for the note home that introduce the trip and give a reason families should pack a bottle.

All materials for W.2.2 →

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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 plan when and where to drink water during a day away from school.
Students will solve one- and two-step problems within 100 about bottles, cups, and minutes.
Students will write two sentences for a note home telling families what to pack and why.

Vocabulary

Key words: refill, spare, plan, jug

Teacher overview

Room 9 at Kestrel Court School is walking to Tarnbrook Park for the day, and the park has picnic tables, a stream, and no drinking fountain anywhere on the grounds. Planning the water for that trip is a health problem with real arithmetic underneath it, so this lesson has students count bottles, track the class jug in cups, and decide when the drinking happens. The misconception to name out loud is that a full bottle at the start of the day is the whole plan; the bottle empties, the jug is what refills it, and somebody has to know how much is left in the jug before lunch.

Bring the marked jug to class so students can see cup lines on the side. The lesson uses a class of 24 students, a jug that holds 40 cups, and a 20-minute walk each way, and the handout restates all of those numbers.

Procedure

Hook (5 min): Show the class a photograph or a quick sketch of a park with picnic tables and a stream, and tell them there is no fountain and no store. Ask what the class would need to bring. Write the answers on chart paper without sorting them yet. Expect bottles, snacks, and sunscreen.

Direct instruction (8 min): Build the trip plan on chart paper in four moments: drink a cup before leaving, sip on the 20-minute walk, refill from the class jug at lunch, and drink again before the walk home. Add the park rule beside the plan: the stream is for looking at, not for drinking, because nobody has tested or treated that water and it can carry germs even when it looks clear. Explain that the jug is the only refill on the trip, which is why the class needs to know how much is left in it.

Guided practice (10 min): Model the first handout problem with the whole class. Room 9 has 24 students and 17 brought a bottle, so ask how many students still need one. Show the subtraction two ways on the board, counting up from 17 to 24 and taking 17 from 24, and have two students explain which way they would use.

Independent practice (12 min): Students complete the handout, which reprints every number they need. Watch for item 5, where the answer can build on item 3 or on item 4, and ask students who finish early to show the second route as a check.

Closure and exit ticket (5 min): Ask the class one question with a show of hands: "When on this trip does the jug get used?" The plan says at lunch, and the handout also shows cups poured in the morning, so accept morning or lunch. If more than five students name a moment other than morning or lunch, walk the chart-paper plan again from the top. Then ask three students to name the park rule about the stream before dismissal.

Packing Water for Room 9's Trip to Tarnbrook Park — Grade 2 Health & Consumer Science

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

The teacher reads each question aloud before students answer.

Room 9 is going to Tarnbrook Park. There is no fountain at the park. Here is what the class has:

Room 9 has 24 students.
17 students brought their own bottle.
The teacher packed 12 spare bottles.
The class jug holds 40 cups.
The walk to the park takes 20 minutes, and the walk home takes 20 minutes.

How many students in Room 9 did not bring a bottle?
The teacher gives one spare bottle to each student who did not bring one. How many spare bottles are left in the bag?
The class used 15 cups from the jug in the morning. How many cups are left in the jug?
The class used 18 more cups at lunch. How many cups did the class use in all?
How many cups are left in the jug at the end of the day?
How many minutes does the class spend walking in all?
Write two sentences for the note that goes home. Tell families what to pack for the trip and why it matters.

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: 7 students. Room 9 has 24 students and 17 brought a bottle, and 24 minus 17 equals 7.
Answer: 5 bottles. The teacher packed 12 spare bottles and handed out 7, and 12 minus 7 equals 5.
Answer: 25 cups. The jug holds 40 cups and the class used 15, and 40 minus 15 equals 25.
Answer: 33 cups. The morning used 15 cups and lunch used 18 more, and 15 plus 18 equals 33.
Answer: 7 cups. Either 40 minus 33 equals 7, or the 25 cups left after the morning minus the 18 used at lunch equals 7. Both routes are correct.
Answer: 40 minutes. The walk takes 20 minutes each way, and 20 plus 20 equals 40.
Answer: Answers will vary. A full-credit response has two sentences, names a full water bottle as the thing to pack, and gives a reason, for example: "Please pack a full water bottle on Friday. There is no fountain at Tarnbrook Park, so we will refill from our class jug."

Differentiation

Support (below grade level)

Give these students a hundred chart for items 1 through 5 and a set of 24 counters so the bottle problems can be built rather than imagined. Circle the two numbers needed for each item directly in the list at the top of the handout. Item 6 can be solved by drawing two twenty-minute arcs on a number line and counting them together.

Extension (above grade level)

Ask these students to work out how many more cups the class would use at lunch if every one of the 24 students took one cup instead of 18 cups being used, and whether the 40-cup jug would still be enough, then explain the comparison in a sentence. A second challenge is to write the packing list for a trip twice as long and defend one change they made.

ELL supports

Pre-teach spare, refill, jug, and plan with the objects in view, pointing at the cup lines on the jug while saying refill. Post the four moments of the trip plan as four pictures in order. Provide the frames "___ students did not bring a bottle" and "Please pack ___ because ___" for items 1 and 7, and accept item 7 dictated to a partner.

Extensions

Run the same planning problem for a shorter walk, such as a class trip to the town library, and let students argue about whether the jug is needed at all when the building has a fountain. Some classes keep the chart-paper plan and revise it after the trip, adding what the class actually ran short of, which makes the second plan better than the first.