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Lesson plan Kindergarten Math

The Water Fountain Line: A Kindergarten Counting and Comparing Lesson

A 25-minute kindergarten lesson where students count children in two pretend water fountain lines and compare the groups as greater than, less than, or equal.

Objectives

  1. Students will count how many children stand in a line, up to 10.
  2. Students will match two counted groups one-to-one to compare them.
  3. Students will tell whether one group is greater than, less than, or equal to another.

Vocabulary

Key words: greater, less, equal, fountain

Teacher overview

Most schools have a water fountain, and children are used to waiting in line for a turn at one. This lesson uses that familiar wait to teach comparing two counted groups, one of the core kindergarten counting skills. Two taped lines on the floor stand in for two water fountains, and students physically match children from one line to the other to see which line has more, fewer, or the same number. A common misconception at this age is judging which group is "more" by how long a line looks rather than by an actual count; matching one-to-one, the strategy this lesson practices, corrects that directly because a long line of children standing far apart can still have fewer people than a short line of children standing close together.

Every number in this lesson stays at or below 10. Read every direction aloud, since kindergartners are not expected to read on their own yet.

Procedure

Hook (5 min): Ask, "Has anyone ever waited in a line for the water fountain? What happens if one line is way longer than the other?" Take a few answers. Tell the class that today they will be fountain-line detectives, figuring out exactly which line has more children.

Direct instruction (6 min): Ask 6 volunteers to stand at the "Fountain 1" line and 4 volunteers to stand at the "Fountain 2" line. Model matching: have one child from each line step forward and hold hands, then the next pair, and so on. When Fountain 2 runs out of partners, point out that 2 children are left standing alone at Fountain 1. Say together: "Fountain 1 has more children than Fountain 2, because some children in Fountain 1 do not have a partner." Count each line out loud to confirm: 6 and 4.

Guided practice (9 min): In pairs, give students counters or number cards to represent two new lines. Story one: "Fountain A has 5 children in line. Fountain B has 5 children in line. Match them up. What do you notice?" Have pairs report whether the lines are equal. Story two: "Fountain A has 3 children in line. Fountain B has 7 children in line. Which fountain's line has more?" Circulate and check that pairs count both groups before answering rather than guessing.

Closure and exit ticket (5 min): Bring the class back together. Ask one pair to explain how they knew the lines in story one were equal. Then give the exit ticket: "Fountain A has 8 children in line. Fountain B has 6 children in line. Which line has more?" Students may answer with counters, fingers, or by pointing to a number card.

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: Equal. Guided practice story one: Fountain A has 5 children and Fountain B has 5 children, so the two lines match up exactly with no one left over.
  2. Answer: Fountain B. Guided practice story two: Fountain B's 7 children is greater than Fountain A's 3 children.
  3. Answer: Fountain A. Exit ticket: Fountain A's 8 children is greater than Fountain B's 6 children.

Differentiation

Support

Let students physically hold hands or link arms to make the one-to-one matching visible and countable, rather than comparing counters on a table. Recount each line together, touching each child or counter once, before naming which group is greater.

Extension

Ask confident students to figure out exactly how many more children are in the greater line by removing matched pairs and counting what remains, an early preview of subtraction they are not required to master yet.

ELL supports

Pre-teach greater, less, and equal with a simple gesture for each (one hand higher for greater, one hand lower for less, two flat hands level for equal). Allow students to show their answer with the gesture instead of the word.

Extensions

Take an actual class trip to the school's water fountain and count how many steps it takes to get a drink, or count how many classmates are ahead of and behind a chosen student in the real line, connecting the lesson's comparing practice to a routine students already do daily.