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Worksheet Grade 4 Health & Consumer Science

Water Bottle Line Plot for the Stillbrook Cross-Country Team

A grade 4 worksheet where students build a line plot of how much water twelve runners drank after practice and add and subtract fourths of a liter.

Objectives

  1. Students will build a line plot from measurements recorded in fourths of a liter.
  2. Students will add and subtract fourths of a liter using the data shown on their line plot.
  3. Students will use the line plot to decide how many runners met a stated drinking goal.

Vocabulary

Key words: line plot, liter, fourth, data

Teacher overview

A coach who wants to know whether a team is drinking enough after practice needs a picture of the whole team at once, which is what a line plot gives. This worksheet supplies twelve measurements from a fictional cross-country team at Stillbrook Elementary, each recorded to the nearest fourth of a liter, and asks students to plot them and then read totals and differences off the plot. Watch for two errors that are common at this grade: students who write one X for each different amount instead of one X for each runner, and students who subtract 1 minus 1/4 by taking the whole number away first. Item 4 catches the second error, so it is worth checking that item before students go on.

Water Bottle Line Plot for the Stillbrook Cross-Country Team — Grade 4 Health & Consumer Science
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Imagine the twelve runners on the Stillbrook Elementary cross-country team. After practice, each runner wrote down how much water they drank from a one-liter bottle. Each amount was measured to the nearest fourth of a liter.

Here are the twelve amounts, in liters:

1/2, 3/4, 1/4, 1, 1/2, 3/4, 3/4, 1/2, 1/4, 1, 1/2, 3/4

  1. Draw a number line. Mark and label four points on it: 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and 1. Draw one X above a point for each runner who drank that amount. How many X's did you draw above 3/4 liter?
  2. How many runners drank exactly 1/2 liter?
  3. How many runners drank more than 1/2 liter?
  4. What is the difference between the largest amount and the smallest amount on your line plot?
  5. Two runners drank 3/4 liter each. How much water did those two runners drink in all? Write your answer as a mixed number.
  6. One runner drank 1/2 liter. Another runner drank 3/4 liter. How much more did the second runner drink?
  7. Two runners drank 1/4 liter each. How much did those two drink in all? Write your answer in the simplest form you can.
  8. Four runners drank 1/2 liter each. How much did those four runners drink in all?
  9. Coach Reyes asks every runner to drink at least 1/2 liter after practice. How many runners drank less than 1/2 liter?
  10. Explain in one or two sentences how the line plot helps Coach Reyes see whether the team followed the rule.

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

Answer Key
  1. Answer: 4 X's.
    The amount 3/4 appears four times in the list, so the plot shows four X's above 3/4. The finished plot has 2 X's above 1/4, 4 above 1/2, 4 above 3/4, and 2 above 1, for 12 X's in all.
  2. Answer: 4 runners.
    The amount 1/2 appears four times in the list.
  3. Answer: 6 runners.
    More than 1/2 means the amounts 3/4 and 1, so 4 + 2 = 6 runners.
  4. Answer: 3/4 liter.
    The largest amount is 1 liter and the smallest is 1/4 liter. Rewrite 1 as 4/4, then 4/4 - 1/4 = 3/4 liter.
  5. Answer: 1 1/2 liters.
    3/4 + 3/4 = 6/4, and 6/4 is 1 whole and 2/4, which is 1 1/2 liters. Accept 6/4 or 1 2/4 with correct work.
  6. Answer: 1/4 liter.
    Rewrite 1/2 as 2/4, then 3/4 - 2/4 = 1/4 liter.
  7. Answer: 1/2 liter.
    1/4 + 1/4 = 2/4, and 2/4 is the same as 1/2 liter.
  8. Answer: 2 liters.
    Adding 2/4 four times gives 8/4, and 8/4 is 2 whole liters. Students may also count by halves: 1/2, 1, 1 1/2, 2.
  9. Answer: 2 runners.
    Only the two runners at 1/4 liter drank less than 1/2 liter.
  10. Answer: The plot stacks the X's, so the coach can see at a glance how many runners are below the 1/2 liter mark.
    Any answer earns credit if it says the plot groups equal amounts together, which makes the number below the goal quick to count without rereading the list.

Differentiation

Support

Provide a printed number line with the four labels already in place so the only work is drawing the X's, and let students cross each amount off the list as they plot it to avoid double counting. For items 4 through 8, offer fraction strips folded into fourths so students can build each sum or difference before writing it.

Extension

Ask students to find the total amount the whole team drank by adding all twelve measurements, then to express the total as a mixed number of liters and check it a second way by counting the fourths. Students who finish that should write the one sentence they would say to Coach Reyes about the team's totals.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "line plot," "fourth," and "at least" with a demonstration using a one-liter bottle marked into four equal parts, filling it to each mark as you name the fraction. Allow students to answer items 9 and 10 orally to a partner before writing, and provide the frame "The line plot helps because ___."

Extensions

Have the class collect its own data for one week: each student records to the nearest fourth of a liter how much water they drink during the school day, using a marked bottle. Build a class line plot on chart paper each afternoon, then compare Friday's plot with Monday's and ask students what changed and what stayed the same.