Graphic organizer Kindergarten Health & Consumer Science
Three Kinds of Water: A Kindergarten Sorting Organizer
A three-column kindergarten organizer sorting twelve everyday water pictures into water we drink, water we wash with, and water we stay out of, with a filled exemplar.
Objectives
- Students will sort water pictures into three categories by how people use that water.
- Students will count the pictures in each column and write the number.
- Students will give one word that names what each column is about.
Vocabulary
Key words: drink, wash, safe, sort, count
Teacher overview
This is a three-column sorting frame that maps the water in a kindergartner's day onto what people actually do with it. The first column holds water that goes into the body, the second holds water that cleans, and the third holds water that is best left alone. Keeping all three categories on one page matters, because a two-way split into drink and do-not-drink leaves no place for the water children wash with every day.
Run it with the twelve picture cards described below, either drawn on the page for coloring or cut out and pasted into the columns. The counting row at the bottom turns the sort into a countable result, and the word row gives each child a chance to name the category in their own language rather than repeating yours. Teach it after a lesson on safe drinking water rather than before, so the third column has something to attach to.
Organizer
Read aloud: Water has many jobs. Some water we drink. Some water we wash with. Some water we stay out of. Look at each picture. Put it in the right box.
| Drink it | Wash with it | Stay out of it |
|---|---|---|
| picture: | picture: | picture: |
| picture: | picture: | picture: |
| picture: | picture: | picture: |
| picture: | picture: | picture: |
| How many? ____ | How many? ____ | How many? ____ |
| My word for this box: | My word for this box: | My word for this box: |
| One true thing about this box: | One true thing about this box: | One true thing about this box: |
The twelve pictures. Draw, print, or sketch these on cards.
- A cup of water from the tap.
- The school drinking fountain.
- Your water bottle from your bag.
- A pitcher of ice water at lunch.
- Hands under the sink with soap.
- A bathtub with bubbles.
- A dog getting a bath in a tub.
- A sponge in a bucket of soapy water.
- A muddy puddle by the road.
- A storm drain full of dirty water.
- A pond with green stuff on top.
- A ditch by the road after rain.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Completed Exemplar
The finished organizer holds four cards in each column. Counts and column words are shown as a strong kindergarten response would give them.
| Drink it | Wash with it | Stay out of it |
|---|---|---|
| A cup of water from the tap | Hands under the sink with soap | A muddy puddle by the road |
| The school drinking fountain | A bathtub with bubbles | A storm drain full of dirty water |
| Your water bottle from your bag | A dog getting a bath in a tub | A pond with green stuff on top |
| A pitcher of ice water at lunch | A sponge in a bucket of soapy water | A ditch by the road after rain |
| How many? 4 | How many? 4 | How many? 4 |
| My word for this box: drink | My word for this box: clean | My word for this box: dirty |
| One true thing: this water is safe to drink | One true thing: soap and this water get my hands clean | One true thing: this water has dirt in it, so I stay out |
Accept any column word that names the category honestly. Children commonly write or dictate thirsty, sip, or cup for the first column, soap, scrub, or bath for the second, and yucky, germs, or stay back for the third. The word matters less than the reason a child gives when you ask why they chose it.
The sentence in the last row is where the writing standard lives, so scribe it in the child's exact words rather than tidying it. A sentence counts as complete when it names the water and tells one true thing about it, even when the wording is rough.
Two cards are worth talking about with the whole class. The bathtub belongs in the wash column even though children sit in it, and the dog bath belongs there too, though a child who argues that the dog drinks bath water has noticed something real and should be praised for it. Neither card belongs in the drink column.
Differentiation
Support
Give the child six cards rather than twelve, two clearly matched to each column, and work one column at a time with the other two covered. Say the column heading aloud each time a card is placed. Fill the counting row together by touching each card as you count it, and accept a dictated word and a dictated sentence for the two bottom rows.
Extension
Ask the child to add two pictures of their own, one for the wash column and one for the stay-out column, and to explain why each belongs where they put it. Then ask the harder question: is there any water that could go in two boxes? A child who names the bathtub or the hose has understood the sort better than the page can show.
ELL supports
Teach the three column words with actions before any cards are handed out: a drinking motion, hands rubbing together, and both palms pushing away. Use those same actions instead of speaking each time you hold up a card. Accept the bottom-row word and sentence in the home language and write the English word beside them together.
Extensions
Take the finished organizers on a walk through the building and let children check their sort against the real fixtures, adding a card for anything they find that does not fit, such as the mop bucket or the fish tank. Send a blank copy home and ask families to fill it with water they find in their own kitchen, bathroom, and yard.