Classroom activity Grade 2 Health & Consumer Science
Cup A or Cup B: A Tap Water Taste Test at Lantern Ridge
A grade 2 blind taste test comparing school tap water with store-bought bottled water, ending with a class tally and one written opinion with a reason.
Objectives
- Students will compare two samples of drinking water and record a preference by tally.
- Students will write an opinion sentence with one reason and a linking word.
- Students will explain that the school tap water is tested and safe to drink.
Vocabulary
Key words: tally, opinion, reason, refill
Teacher overview
This is a blind taste test for a whole class, run at four small tables, followed by a class tally and one piece of opinion writing. The tasting carries the health and consumer point directly: students compare two cups without knowing which is which, then learn that the school tap water is tested by the people who run the town's water system and is free at every fountain in the building. Nothing about the activity asks students to dislike bottled water, since both cups hold safe drinking water and a class often splits fairly evenly between the two.
Fill the pitchers out of sight before students arrive and label them only A and B, keeping a note of which is which in your pocket. Let both sit long enough to reach the same temperature, since a colder sample is easy to pick out on temperature alone.
Activity Directions
Set up the tables (5 min). Place a pitcher of A and a pitcher of B at each of four tables, along with a stack of cups labeled A and a stack labeled B. Seat students in four groups. Remind the class that every cup is used once and then goes on the tray.
Explain the rules (4 min). State the three rules: taste A first, then B, and no talking about your choice until everyone has tasted. Explain that both cups are safe drinking water and that nobody, including the teacher, will say which is which until the end.
Taste and mark (8 min). Students taste cup A, take a breath, then taste cup B. Each student circles A, B, or "the same" on the opinion page. Collect the used cups on the tray as groups finish.
Class tally (5 min). Draw three labeled rows on chart paper: chose A, chose B, and could not tell. Call for hands one row at a time and make one tally mark per hand. Read the three totals aloud and ask whether one choice won clearly or whether the class was split.
Opinion writing (10 min). Students complete the opinion page: which cup they picked, one reason using the word because, and a closing sentence. Model one example on the board about a different pair of items, such as two kinds of apple, so no student copies your water sentence.
Reveal and debrief (3 min). Say which pitcher held the school tap water. Then ask the two debrief questions: if many students could not tell the difference, what does that suggest about the water in the fountain, and what does a student save by refilling a bottle at school instead of buying a new one? Close by naming who tests the town's water and asking how often the class thinks that job needs doing.
Student Handout
My Taste Test Page
Circle your choice.
I picked: cup A / cup B / they tasted the same
Now write your opinion. Use the word because.
I liked cup ___ best.
I liked it because ___.
That is why I picked cup ___.
After the reveal: Cup ___ was the school tap water. One thing I want to remember: ___.
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)
Let these students mark their choice by placing a colored counter in one of three labeled cups rather than circling on paper. Provide the opinion frame with the linking word already printed and scribe the reason as the student dictates it. Pair them with a partner who reads the three rules aloud before tasting.
Extension (above grade level)
Ask these students to run a second round with a third cup, water from a drinking fountain in a different hallway, and to predict in writing whether the class will tell the difference. A second challenge is to write two sentences explaining why the class results might change if one pitcher had been colder than the other.
ELL supports
Pre-teach taste, same, different, and pick with the cups in view, using a thumbs gesture for each choice that the whole class practices. Provide the tally rows as pictures of a cup labeled A, a cup labeled B, and two cups side by side for "the same." Accept the opinion sentence in the home language with the cup letter and the word because written in English.
Extensions
Repeat the tally a week later without the tasting and ask how many students have refilled a bottle at school since the activity, which turns a one-day result into a habit worth tracking. Classes that want the science side can invite the person who tests the town's water to explain what the testing involves, since second graders ask better questions after they have tasted the sample themselves.