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Math problem set Grade 1 Math

Briar Patch Garden's Rain Barrel: A Grade 1 Word Problem Set

A grade 1 math problem set that follows one rain barrel through a week of filling and draining, building addition and subtraction word problems within 20 in sequence.

Objectives

  1. Students will solve a sequence of addition and subtraction word problems within 20.
  2. Students will use an answer from one problem as a starting number in the next problem.

Vocabulary

Rain barrel
A rain barrel is a container that catches rainwater from a roof downspout so it can be used later to water plants. It saves drinking water and keeps some runoff out of the storm drains.

Also: buckets, fill, trough

Teacher overview

Briar Patch Community Garden keeps a rain barrel next to the vegetable bed, where a team of volunteers checks the water level every morning before the garden opens for the day. Over the course of one week, workers fill the barrel from rain, pour water out to care for the plants, and finally empty the whole thing into a larger trough shared with a second, smaller barrel nearby. This problem set follows that single barrel from Monday through the following Monday, and each problem's answer becomes a number that the next problem depends on, so a mistake early in the set carries forward. A common misconception in this set is assuming subtraction only happens when water gets used up; problem 5 instead asks students to compare two barrels side by side, and the correct answer is a difference between two amounts, not a leftover total from pouring water out.

Briar Patch Garden's Rain Barrel: A Grade 1 Word Problem Set — Grade 1 Math
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Problems

  1. The barrel has 8 buckets. Rain adds 5 more. How many buckets now?
  2. Workers use 6 buckets. They water plants. How many buckets are left?
  3. No rain falls. Workers use 4 more buckets. How many buckets are left now?
  4. Rain comes back. Now there are 10 buckets. How many buckets of rain fell?
  5. A small barrel has 6 buckets. A big barrel has 10 buckets. How many more does the big barrel have?
  6. Workers pour both barrels into a trough. Big barrel: 10 buckets. Small barrel: 6 buckets. How many buckets go into the trough?
  7. Rain adds 3 buckets to the trough. How many buckets are in the trough now?
  8. Workers use some buckets. 12 buckets are left. How many buckets did they use?

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: 13 buckets. 8 + 5 = 13.
  2. Answer: 7 buckets. 13 - 6 = 7.
  3. Answer: 3 buckets. 7 - 4 = 3.
  4. Answer: 7 buckets. 3 + 7 = 10, so 7 buckets of rain fell on Thursday.
  5. Answer: 4 buckets. 10 - 6 = 4 more buckets in the big barrel.
  6. Answer: 16 buckets. 10 + 6 = 16.
  7. Answer: 19 buckets. 16 + 3 = 19.
  8. Answer: 7 buckets. 19 - 12 = 7 buckets were used.

Differentiation

Support

Provide a printed number line from 0 to 20 for students to count on or count back for each problem, and allow them to draw simple bucket tallies for problems 1 through 4 instead of solving purely from the number sentence.

Extension

Ask students to write a ninth problem that starts from the trough's 12 remaining buckets on the next Monday and adds a new week of rain, then trade papers with a partner and solve each other's new problem.

ELL supports

Read each problem aloud twice, underline the two numbers in each sentence before students start, and provide a sentence frame for every answer: "There are ___ buckets." Post a small picture of a rain barrel and a trough on the board so the two containers stay easy to tell apart throughout the set.

Extensions

Ask students to track a real container of water in the classroom, such as a pitcher used for a classroom plant, over one school week, recording how many cups are poured in or out each day and writing one addition or subtraction sentence for each change.