Worksheet Kindergarten Math

Measuring Cup Counts at the Amberdown Library Refill Station

A kindergarten worksheet where students describe and compare a cup, a bottle, and a jug at a library refill station by height, weight, and how many cups they hold.

Grade: Kindergarten
Subject: Math
Material: Worksheet
Time: 20 min
Prep: Low prep
Materials: One small cup, one tall water bottle, and one large jug to show the class, A sink or tub for filling the containers in front of the class

Standards

K.MD.A.1 Common Core Math

Describe measurable attributes of objects, such as length or weight. Describe several measurable attributes of a single object.

How this material aligns: Items ask students to name measurable attributes of a bottle and a jug, including how tall each is and how heavy each feels.

All materials for K.MD.A.1 →

K.MD.A.2 Common Core Math

Directly compare two objects with a measurable attribute in common, to see which object has 'more of'/'less of' the attribute, and describe the difference. For example, directly compare the heights of two children and describe one child as taller/shorter.

How this material aligns: Students directly compare two containers by height and by how much they hold, then describe the difference in words.

All materials for K.MD.A.2 →

K.CC.C.6 Common Core Math

Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, e.g., by using matching and counting strategies.

How this material aligns: Items 2 and 8 compare cup counts to decide whether one container holds more than another or the two hold the same amount.

All materials for K.CC.C.6 →

K.OA.A.2 Common Core Math

Solve addition and subtraction word problems, and add and subtract within 10, e.g., by using objects or drawings to represent the problem.

How this material aligns: Items 3 and 7 ask how many more cups are needed, which students solve within ten by matching two rows of cups or counting on.

All materials for K.OA.A.2 →

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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 name at least two things that can be measured about a water container.
Students will compare two containers and tell which is taller and which holds more.
Students will explain that a bottle refilled at the station does not have to be replaced with a new one.

Vocabulary

Key words: tall, short, heavy, light

Teacher overview

The children's room at the made-up Amberdown Library has a refill station on the wall, and three containers sit beside it: a small paper cup, a tall water bottle, and a big jug that the story-time helper fills for the craft table. A refill station matters because a bottle that is filled again does not have to be thrown away, which is a form of conservation kindergartners can carry out themselves. The worksheet uses the three containers to practice describing measurable attributes and comparing two objects directly. Before handing out the page, fill the real cup, bottle, and jug in front of the class so students have watched the cup counts happen rather than only hearing them.

Measuring Cup Counts at the Amberdown Library Refill Station — Kindergarten Math

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Name one thing you can measure about a water bottle.
It takes 6 cups to fill the bottle. It takes 10 cups to fill the jug. Which one holds more?
How many more cups does it take to fill the jug?
The jug is full of water. Is it heavy or light?
Now the jug is empty. Is it heavy or light?
The bottle is tall. The paper cup is short. Which one is shorter?
It takes 6 cups to fill the bottle. Sam pours in 4 cups. How many more cups does the bottle need?
Two bottles each take 6 cups to fill. Do the two bottles hold the same?
Tell one way the jug and the bottle are not the same.

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: Accept any measurable attribute. Correct answers include how tall it is, how heavy it is, and how much water it holds.
Answer: The jug. Ten cups is more than six cups, so the jug holds more water than the bottle.
Answer: 4 cups. Line up 6 cups next to 10 cups and match them. Four cups in the jug row have no partner.
Answer: Heavy. Water has weight, so a full jug is heavier to lift than the same jug with nothing in it.
Answer: Light. The jug by itself weighs very little once the water is poured out.
Answer: The paper cup. Set the two side by side on the table and the cup does not reach the top of the bottle.
Answer: 2 cups. Start at 4 and count on to 6: 5, 6. That is two more cups.
Answer: Yes, the same. Each bottle takes the same 6 cups, so neither one holds more than the other.
Answer: Accept any true difference. Students may say the jug is taller, the jug is wider, the jug is heavier when full, or the jug holds more cups.

Differentiation

Support

Let these students hold the real containers while the items are read, and give them six and ten linking cubes to stack in two towers for items 2 and 3 so the comparison is a matter of looking at two towers rather than picturing cups. Accept pointing at the correct container as an answer.

Extension

Ask confident students to put all three containers in order from the one that holds the least to the one that holds the most, and to say the three cup counts in order. Then have them predict how many cups a container twice as tall as the bottle might hold and test the guess at the sink.

ELL supports

Pre-teach tall, short, heavy, and light by having students lift the full jug and then the empty jug, saying the word each time. Offer the sentence frames "The ___ holds more" and "The jug is ___," and allow gestures for heavy and light in place of words.

Extensions

Set the three containers at a math station with a tub of water and a scoop, and let pairs of students fill each one while a partner keeps the count on a tally sheet. Ask the class whether their counts matched the numbers on the worksheet, and talk about why a slightly overfilled cup can change the total.