Worksheet Grade 1 Math

Pennywhistle Lane's Watering Cans: A Grade 1 Make-Ten Worksheet

Thirteen grade 1 fluency items within 20 set at a shared garden tap, where students add and subtract watering cans by making a ten.

Grade: Grade 1
Subject: Math
Material: Worksheet
Time: 25 min
Prep: No prep
Materials: None

Standards

1.OA.C.6 Common Core Math

Add and subtract within 20, demonstrating fluency for addition and subtraction within 10. Use strategies such as counting on; making ten; decomposing a number leading to a ten; using the relationship between addition and subtraction; and creating equivalent but easier or known sums.

How this material aligns: Items 1 through 11 practice sums and differences within 20, and item 12 walks through the make-ten decomposition, which is one of the strategies 1.OA.C.6 names. Items 5 through 7, 10, and 11 use the link between addition and subtraction, another strategy the standard lists.

All materials for 1.OA.C.6 →

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This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-09-03.

Objectives

Students will add two numbers within 20 by making a ten.
Students will subtract within 20 using the link between addition and subtraction.
Students will describe how making a ten helped them find a sum.

Vocabulary

Key words: watering can, make a ten, sum, left

Teacher overview

Pennywhistle Lane is a made-up street with a shared garden at the corner and one outdoor tap that every family uses. Children fill watering cans at that tap and carry them to the beds, so the count of full cans rises and falls all afternoon, and every item on this worksheet describes one moment at that tap. The set is built for fluency rather than for problem sorting, so the numbers stay small and the structure repeats. A teacher circulating during this worksheet should watch for students who count all the cans from one every time instead of counting on from the larger number, since that habit is what the make-ten sequence in item 12 is meant to interrupt. Students who finish quickly can be asked to say aloud which pair they turned into a ten.

Pennywhistle Lane's Watering Cans: A Grade 1 Make-Ten Worksheet — Grade 1 Math

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Kids fill cans at the tap. Add or take away. You may draw a ten frame.

Ana fills 8 cans. Ben fills 6 cans. How many cans in all?
Ana fills 9 cans. Ben fills 4 cans. How many cans in all?
Kim fills 7 cans. Sam fills 5 cans. How many cans in all?
Kim fills 6 cans. Sam fills 6 cans. How many cans in all?
There are 15 full cans. Kids pour out 7 cans. How many cans are left?
There are 13 full cans. Kids pour out 9 cans. How many cans are left?
There are 14 full cans. Kids pour out 6 cans. How many cans are left?
Ana fills 8 cans. Ben fills 8 cans. How many cans in all?
Kim fills 5 cans. Sam fills 9 cans. How many cans in all?
There are 12 full cans. Kids pour out 8 cans. How many cans are left?
There are 16 full cans. Kids pour out 7 cans. How many cans are left?
Ana adds 9 cans and 6 cans. She moves 1 can from the 6 to the 9. Now she adds 10 and 5. What is the sum?
Tell how making a ten helped you in item 12.

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: 14 cans. Move 2 from the 6 to the 8 to make 10, then add the 4 that is left, so 10 plus 4 is 14.
Answer: 13 cans. Move 1 from the 4 to the 9 to make 10, then add the 3 that is left.
Answer: 12 cans. Move 3 from the 5 to the 7 to make 10, then add the 2 that is left.
Answer: 12 cans. This is a doubles fact, so 6 plus 6 is 12.
Answer: 8 cans. 15 minus 7 is 8, because 7 plus 8 is 15.
Answer: 4 cans. 13 minus 9 is 4, because 9 plus 4 is 13.
Answer: 8 cans. 14 minus 6 is 8, because 6 plus 8 is 14.
Answer: 16 cans. This is a doubles fact, so 8 plus 8 is 16.
Answer: 14 cans. Move 5 from the 9 to the 5 to make 10, then add the 4 that is left.
Answer: 4 cans. 12 minus 8 is 4, because 8 plus 4 is 12.
Answer: 9 cans. 16 minus 7 is 9, because 7 plus 9 is 16.
Answer: 15 cans. Moving 1 can turns 9 plus 6 into 10 plus 5, and 10 plus 5 is 15.
Answer: Accept any answer saying that a ten is easy to add on. Strong responses note that counting on from 10 takes one step, while counting on from 9 by ones takes six steps.

Differentiation

Support

Give these students a printed double ten frame and 20 counters so every item can be built before it is written, and shorten the assignment to items 1 through 8. Sit with them for item 12 and move a real counter from one frame to the other.

Extension

Ask these students to sort items 1, 2, 3, and 9 into the pairs that make a ten most easily, then to write two new can problems of their own whose numbers make a ten in one move.

ELL supports

Say each item aloud twice and pair "in all" with two hands coming together and "left" with a sweeping-away motion. Provide the frames "There are ___ cans in all" and "There are ___ cans left" so students write the same sentence shape every time.