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Classroom activity Kindergarten Math

Two Trays at Elmsgate School: A Kindergarten Water Level Comparison

A three-day kindergarten activity in which pairs mark the water level in a sunny tray and a shady tray, then compare the two directly to see which lost more.

Objectives

  1. Students will mark the starting water level in two identical trays.
  2. Students will directly compare the two water levels and say which tray holds less.
  3. Students will describe where the missing water went.

Vocabulary

Key words: tray, level, sun, shade

Teacher overview

This is a whole-class investigation with a partner recording page, run in three short visits across three days at Elmsgate School. Two identical trays start with the same amount of water; one sits on a sunny windowsill and one sits in a shaded corner of the same room, and the class compares the two levels directly at the end. The comparison is made by setting the two trays side by side rather than by reading a number off a scale, which is how kindergartners are expected to compare a measurable attribute. Because the amount lost depends on the weather, the room, and the trays, the results are what the class observes rather than a fixed answer.

Activity Directions

  1. Setup, day one (5 min): Fill both trays from the same pitcher until the water is about a finger deep, pouring back and forth once so the two look the same. Ask two students to lift each tray and say whether they feel the same.
  2. Marking, day one (10 min): Stick a strip of masking tape up the inside wall of each tray and draw a line at the top of the water. Label one tray Sunny and one tray Shady. Let each pair build a cube tower as tall as the water on the tape line, so a physical record of the starting depth exists.
  3. Placing, day one (2 min): Set the sunny tray on the windowsill and the shady tray in a corner away from the window, both flat and both out of reach of hands.
  4. Check-in, day two (8 min): Gather the class at each tray in turn. Ask students to look at the tape line and say whether the water still touches it. Have each pair point to where the water is now and say whether it is still at the tape line or below it.
  5. Comparison, day three (12 min): Carry both trays to the carpet and set them side by side, touching, so the two water levels can be seen at once. Ask the class which tray has less water in it now. Have pairs complete the rest of the recording page.
  6. Ending and debrief (3 min): The activity ends after the day-three comparison. Ask two closing questions: "Which tray lost more water?" and "The water is not on the floor, so where did it go?" Guide the class to the idea that warm sun turns water into a gas that mixes into the air, and that the same water comes back to the ground later as rain.
Two Trays at Elmsgate School: A Kindergarten Water Level Comparison — Kindergarten Math
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

  1. Draw the water line in the Sunny tray on day one.
  2. Draw the water line in the Shady tray on day one.
  3. On day three, put the two trays side by side. Which tray has less water? Circle Sunny or Shady.
  4. Tell one way the two trays are not the same now.
  5. The water is gone from the tape line. Where do you think it went?

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: Accept any drawing that shows a line near the top of the tray, matching the tape mark the class made together on day one.
  2. Answer: Accept any drawing that shows the second line at about the same height as the first, since both trays were filled to match.
  3. Answer: Accept the tray the class actually observes. In most rooms the Sunny tray will be lower, yet a cool cloudy week can leave the two nearly even, and either observation is a correct record of what happened.
  4. Answer: Accept any true difference the student can see or feel, such as one tray looking lower, one tray feeling lighter to lift, or one tray showing more dry space above the water.
  5. Answer: Accept any answer describing the water going into the air, such as "it went up," "the sun dried it," or "it went into the air." Students should not say it leaked, unless the tray genuinely leaked.

Differentiation

Support

Pair these students with a partner who marks the tape line while they hold the tray steady, and give them a cube tower to hold against each tray on day three so the comparison becomes a matter of matching two towers rather than judging by eye.

Extension

Add a third tray covered with plastic wrap and ask confident students to predict, before day three, whether the covered tray will lose more or less than the open trays. Have them explain the prediction and then check it during the comparison.

ELL supports

Pre-teach tray, level, sun, and shade by walking to the sunny window and the shaded corner and naming each spot. Offer the sentence frames "This tray has less" and "The water went ___," and accept a student pointing to the correct tray as a complete answer.

Extensions

Run the same comparison outdoors with two shallow pans, one in a puddle-sized patch of sun and one under a bench, and connect the result to the puddles that dry on the playground after a rain. Keep a class chart of which days the playground puddles disappeared quickly and which days they lasted until dismissal.