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Classroom activity Kindergarten Math

Wickerby Drain Marker Match-Up: A Kindergarten Matching Activity

A kindergarten floor activity where teams match fish markers to storm drain cards one to one across three rounds and decide which group has more, fewer, or the same.

Objectives

  1. Students will match two groups of objects one to one across three rounds.
  2. Students will say whether one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the other.
  3. Students will count a set of drain cards in a line and in a circle and get the same number.

Vocabulary

Key words: marker, match, left over, equal

Teacher overview

Some towns glue a small fish marker beside each storm drain so people can see that the drain runs to a creek and not to a treatment plant. In this activity the class works as the marker crew for the fictional town of Wickerby: teams of three or four lay drain cards along a taped street on the floor and set one fish marker beside each drain. Placing one marker beside each drain is one-to-one matching, and the cards or markers left over at the end of a round are what tell students which group is greater. The round ends when every drain that can get a marker has one.

Activity Directions

  1. Setup (6 min): Tape three or four short streets on the floor, one per team. Sort the drain cards and fish markers into labeled envelopes for each round so the counts are ready before students arrive at the station. Assign each team a street and give the team its round-one envelope and its recording page.
  2. Model the move (4 min): With the whole class watching one street, lay out three drain cards and three markers. Walk one marker to one drain, saying "one marker, one drain," until each card is served. Show that nothing is left over and say the word equal.
  3. Round one (5 min): Each team opens the round-one envelope, which holds 6 drain cards and 6 markers. Teams lay the drains along the street, place one marker at each drain, and stop when no card is left unserved. A recorder circles the answer on the page.
  4. Round two (5 min): Teams open the round-two envelope, which holds 8 drain cards and 5 markers. Teams place one marker per drain until the markers run out, then count the drains still waiting.
  5. Round three (5 min): Teams open the round-three envelope, which holds 4 drain cards and 7 markers. Teams serve every drain and then count the markers left in a pile off to the side.
  6. Counting check (3 min): Each team lays its 6 round-one drain cards in a straight line and counts them, then moves the same cards into a circle and counts again, recording the number both times.
  7. Debrief (2 min): Ask two questions with the class back on the carpet. First, "In round two, how did you know there were more drains than markers?" Look for the answer that some drains had no partner. Second, "If a crew has fewer markers than drains, what should the town do?" Accept any reasonable answer about ordering more markers or marking the rest later.
Wickerby Drain Marker Match-Up: A Kindergarten Matching Activity — Kindergarten Math
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

  1. Round one: your team has 6 drain cards and 6 markers. Match them. Are there more markers, more drains, or the same?
  2. Round two: your team has 8 drain cards and 5 markers. Match them. Are there more drains or more markers?
  3. Round two: how many drains have no marker?
  4. Round three: your team has 4 drain cards and 7 markers. Match them. How many markers are left over?
  5. Round three: are there more markers or more drains?
  6. Put your 6 round-one drain cards in a line and count them. Then put the same cards in a circle and count again. How many drain cards?

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: The same. Every drain gets one marker and no marker is left in the pile, so the two groups are equal at six.
  2. Answer: More drains. The five markers run out before the drains do, which means the drain group is the larger group.
  3. Answer: 3 drains. Five of the eight drains get a marker. Count the ones still waiting: 1, 2, 3.
  4. Answer: 3 markers. Four markers go to the four drains. Count what stays in the pile: 1, 2, 3.
  5. Answer: More markers. Seven markers against four drains leaves three markers with no drain, so the marker group is larger.
  6. Answer: 6 drain cards. The line and the circle hold the same cards, so both counts end at six.

Differentiation

Support

Give these students a taped street with printed squares so each drain card lands in its own square and each marker sits directly beside it, which keeps the pairs visible without careful lining up. Start them at round one and let them repeat it before moving on.

Extension

Ask confident teams to invent a fourth round for another team by choosing two numbers within ten, writing them on a blank envelope, and predicting which group will be larger before the other team plays it. Have them check the prediction afterward.

ELL supports

Pre-teach match, left over, and equal by demonstrating each with cups and lids at the carpet, saying the word as the action happens. Offer the sentence frames "There are more " and " are left over," and accept a student pointing at the leftover pile as a complete answer.

Extensions

Walk the school sidewalk with the class, keeping everyone back from the curb, and look for the real storm drains near the building, counting them and asking whether any already carry a marker. If the school has more drains than the class expected, ask students to draw a marker for each one and post the drawings in the hallway with the count written underneath.