Worksheet Kindergarten Math
Drops on the Mossy Ford Bus Window: A Kindergarten Adding Worksheet
A kindergarten worksheet in which students draw and count water drops that form, join, and dry on a cold bus window, adding and subtracting within ten.
Objectives
- Students will draw water drops to show a joining or taking-away situation.
- Students will add and subtract within ten to find how many drops are on the glass.
- Students will explain that drops on a cold window dry up when the sun warms the bus.
Vocabulary
Key words: drop, window, join, dry
Teacher overview
On a cold morning the bus that runs the Mossy Ford route picks up water drops on the inside of its windows, and by the time the sun is up the drops have dried away. That daily change is a small, visible piece of the water cycle, and it gives kindergartners something they can draw, since drops appear on the glass, slide together, and then dry away. This worksheet keeps every number at or below ten and asks students to draw the drops before they answer, so the picture carries the mathematics rather than a symbol they cannot yet read. Teachers should read each item aloud and give students a blank box or a printed window frame for the drawings.
Student Worksheet
- Three drops sit on the glass. Two more drops form. Draw all the drops. How many drops in all?
- Five drops sit on the glass. One drop slides down and is gone. How many drops are left?
- Four drops are on the left side. Four drops are on the right side. How many drops in all?
- Two big drops join and make one drop. Draw the one drop. How many drops now?
- Seven drops sit on the glass. Three drops slide down. How many drops stay?
- Six drops sit on the glass. Draw two more drops. How many drops in all?
- Nine drops sit on the glass. The sun warms the bus. Five drops dry up. How many drops are left?
- Clap one time for each drop in a group of 5 drops. How many claps?
- Tell how you got your answer for number 7.
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: 5 drops. Draw three drops, then draw two more and count the whole set: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.
- Answer: 4 drops. Draw five drops and cross one out. Count the drops that are left: 1, 2, 3, 4.
- Answer: 8 drops. Count the four on the left, then keep counting into the right side: 5, 6, 7, 8.
- Answer: 1 drop. Two drops running together make a single larger drop, so the count of separate drops on the glass goes from two down to one.
- Answer: 4 drops. Seven drops with three crossed out leaves four drops on the glass.
- Answer: 8 drops. Start at six and count on two more: 7, 8.
- Answer: 4 drops. Nine drops with five crossed out leaves four drops still on the glass.
- Answer: 5 claps. One clap goes with one drop, so five drops give five claps.
- Answer: Accept any clear method. A student may say they drew nine drops and crossed out five, counted back from nine five times, or used fingers to take five away from nine.
Differentiation
Support
Give these students a printed window frame with ten empty squares so each drop has its own place and none get counted twice. Read each item twice and let the student draw during the second reading.
Extension
Ask confident students to write the number sentence that matches item 7 and then make up a new drop story for a partner using numbers that stay within ten. The partner draws the story and gives the answer.
ELL supports
Pre-teach drop, slide, join, and dry by breathing on a cold window or a chilled metal pan so students watch real drops form, slide, and disappear. Offer the sentence frames "There are ___ drops" and "___ drops are left," and accept a correct drawing in place of speech.
Extensions
Put a lidded jar of water and an open jar of water on the classroom windowsill and check them at the end of each day for a week, asking students to say which jar looks lower. Connect the open jar to the bus window, since water that leaves the glass or the jar does not vanish but moves into the air and comes back later as rain.