Worksheet Grade 3 Math

Larkhill Farm's Sprinkler Cup Test: A Grade 3 Line Plot Worksheet

Students plot twelve sprinkler catch-cup depths from a fictional farm, then read the line plot to judge how evenly the field is being watered.

Grade: Grade 3
Subject: Math
Material: Worksheet
Time: 35 min
Prep: No prep
Materials: None

Standards

3.MD.B.4 Common Core Math

Generate measurement data by measuring lengths using rulers marked with halves and fourths of an inch. Show the data by making a line plot, where the horizontal scale is marked off in appropriate units - whole numbers, halves, or quarters.

How this material aligns: Item 6 plots twelve catch-cup depths given to the nearest half and fourth of an inch on a line plot scaled in fourths, and items 7 through 11 are answered from that plot. Students generate their own ruler measurements only in the closing activity, so the worksheet alone covers the display half of the standard.

All materials for 3.MD.B.4 →

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This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-07-23.

Objectives

Students will build a line plot with a horizontal scale marked in fourths of an inch.
Students will count and compare data points shown on a line plot.
Students will explain what an uneven line plot shows about a sprinkler.

Vocabulary

Key words: line plot, fourth of an inch, catch cup, sprinkler

Teacher overview

Larkhill Farm is a fictional vegetable farm that checks its sprinkler by setting twelve straight-sided cups across a field and running the water for one hour. Growers really do run this test, because a sprinkler that drops far more water on one side than the other wastes water and leaves dry rows. The misconception this worksheet targets is the belief that a taller stack of marks on a line plot means a deeper measurement; a stack shows how often a depth appeared, not how much water was caught. Items 5, 8, and 9 separate those two ideas.

Larkhill Farm's Sprinkler Cup Test: A Grade 3 Line Plot Worksheet — Grade 3 Math

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Larkhill Farm set out twelve cups. The sprinkler ran for one hour. A worker measured the water in each cup with a ruler marked in fourths of an inch. Here is what the worker wrote.

Cup	Depth of water
Cup 1	1/2 inch
Cup 2	3/4 inch
Cup 3	1 inch
Cup 4	1/2 inch
Cup 5	1 1/4 inches
Cup 6	3/4 inch
Cup 7	1 inch
Cup 8	3/4 inch
Cup 9	1/2 inch
Cup 10	1 1/4 inches
Cup 11	1 inch
Cup 12	3/4 inch

How many cups held 3/4 inch of water?
How many cups held 1/2 inch of water?
How many cups held 1 inch of water?
How many cups held 1 1/4 inches of water?
Which depth was measured the most times?
Draw a line plot for this data. Mark the line from 1/4 inch to 1 1/2 inches in fourths. Put one X above the depth for each cup.
How many cups were measured in all?
On your line plot, how many X marks sit to the right of 3/4 inch?
On your line plot, how many X marks sit to the left of 1 inch?
On your line plot, how many fourth-inch spaces are there from the smallest depth to the largest depth?
Two more cups were found. Each one held 1/2 inch of water. How many cups in all would show 1/2 inch?
The farmer wants every cup to hold close to the same amount of water. Does this line plot show that?

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: 4 cups. Cups 2, 6, 8, and 12 each held 3/4 inch.
Answer: 3 cups. Cups 1, 4, and 9 each held 1/2 inch.
Answer: 3 cups. Cups 3, 7, and 11 each held 1 inch.
Answer: 2 cups. Cups 5 and 10 each held 1 1/4 inches.
Answer: 3/4 inch. Four cups held 3/4 inch, which is more than the 3 cups at 1/2 inch, the 3 cups at 1 inch, and the 2 cups at 1 1/4 inches.
Answer: A line plot with 3 X marks above 1/2, 4 X marks above 3/4, 3 X marks above 1, and 2 X marks above 1 1/4. The line should be labeled 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1, 1 1/4, and 1 1/2, and the tick at 1/4 and the tick at 1 1/2 should have no X marks.
Answer: 12 cups. Add the stacks: 3 + 4 + 3 + 2 = 12 cups, which matches the 12 rows in the table.
Answer: 5 cups. To the right of 3/4 inch are the 3 cups at 1 inch and the 2 cups at 1 1/4 inches, and 3 + 2 = 5.
Answer: 7 cups. To the left of 1 inch are the 3 cups at 1/2 inch and the 4 cups at 3/4 inch, and 3 + 4 = 7.
Answer: 3 spaces. The smallest depth is 1/2 inch and the largest is 1 1/4 inches. Counting fourth-inch spaces gives 1/2 to 3/4, 3/4 to 1, and 1 to 1 1/4.
Answer: 5 cups. Three cups already held 1/2 inch, and 3 + 2 = 5 cups.
Answer: No. The cups range from 1/2 inch up to 1 1/4 inches, so some parts of the field got more than twice as much water as others. The farmer should move or repair the sprinkler.

Differentiation

Support

Give students a pre-drawn number line already labeled 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1, 1 1/4, and 1 1/2 so the plotting work is only about placing X marks. Let them cross off each row of the table as they plot it. For items 8 and 9, let students point at the plot and count aloud with a partner before writing.

Extension

Give students a second set of cup depths from the far side of the same field and ask them to build a second line plot on the same scale, then write two sentences comparing the two plots and naming which half of the field is wetter. Ask what the farmer should check first.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "catch cup," "depth," "line plot," and "fourth of an inch" with a real ruler and a clear cup of water. Provide the frame "___ cups held ___ inch" for items 1 through 4. Allow students to answer item 12 by circling "yes" or "no" on a picture of the plot and adding a short reason with support.

Extensions

Set out six identical cups on the classroom floor and pour water into them with a watering can held in one place. Have students measure each cup to the nearest fourth of an inch, plot the results, and compare the shape of that plot to Larkhill Farm's plot.