Worksheet Grade 1 Science

Three Rain Containers at Quillspur School: A Grade 1 Worksheet

A wide pan, a narrow jar, and a cup sat out in the same rain; students read the cube depths and work out why the widest one did not fill deepest.

Grade: Grade 1
Subject: Science
Material: Worksheet
Time: 30 min
Prep: No prep
Materials: None

Standards

1.MD.A.2 Common Core Math

Express the length of an object as a whole number of length units, by laying multiple copies of a shorter object end to end; understand that the length measurement is the number of same-size length units that span it with no gaps or overlaps.

How this material aligns: Items 1 through 3 report the depth of rain in each container as a whole number of cubes stacked end to end from the bottom, with no gaps or overlaps between the cubes.

All materials for 1.MD.A.2 →

1.OA.A.1 Common Core Math

Use addition and subtraction within 20 to solve word problems involving situations of adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart, and comparing, with unknowns in all positions, e.g., by using objects, drawings, and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.

How this material aligns: Item 6 asks how many more small cups the wide pan filled than the narrow jar filled, which is a compare word problem solved with subtraction within twenty.

All materials for 1.OA.A.1 →

W.1.2 Common Core ELA

Write informative/explanatory texts in which they name a topic, supply some facts about the topic, and provide some sense of closure.

How this material aligns: Item 10 asks students to write two sentences naming what the three containers showed about rain depth and one thing to check when setting a container out, with a closing thought.

All materials for W.1.2 →

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This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-09-04.

Objectives

Students will read the depth of collected rain as a whole number of cubes.
Students will compare how many small cups the pan and the jar filled.
Students will explain why a wide container collects more water but not deeper water.

Vocabulary

Key words: rain, deep, wide, container

Teacher overview

Before a storm, Room 3 at the fictional Quillspur School set three straight-sided containers out on the same open patch of the field, a wide baking pan, a narrow jar, and a medium cup, and afterward stood a stick of cubes in each one to read the depth. This worksheet gives students that record and the follow-up count of how many small cups the pan's water and the jar's water filled. The misconception it exists to correct is the reasonable expectation that a wider container catches deeper water, which is a common first-grade prediction. A wide pan does catch more rain, because its opening is bigger, yet that water spreads across a wider bottom, so the depth comes out the same as the narrow jar's. This is exactly why a real rain gauge can be a slim tube rather than a barrel, and it is worth saying aloud once students have seen the three matching readings.

Three Rain Containers at Quillspur School: A Grade 1 Worksheet — Grade 1 Science

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Room 3 set three containers out on the field. All three had straight sides. All three sat in the open. The same rain fell on all of them. Then the class stood a cube stick in each one.

Container	How wide it is	Cubes deep
Wide pan	very wide	2
Narrow jar	thin	2
Medium cup	in between	2

How many cubes deep was the water in the wide pan?
How many cubes deep was the water in the narrow jar?
How many cubes deep was the water in the medium cup?
Were the three depths the same or different?
The pan is much wider than the jar. Did the wide pan get deeper water?
The class poured out the pan water and the jar water into small cups. The pan filled 9 small cups. The jar filled 3 small cups. How many more cups did the pan fill?
The pan filled more cups. The water was still the same depth. Tell why.
Rosa wants to know how deep the rain was. Will a narrow jar work, or does she need the wide pan? Tell why.
A fourth container sat under the slide. The slide top blocked the sky above it. That container had no water at all. Tell why.
Write two sentences. Tell what the three containers showed about how deep the rain was. Tell one thing to check before you set a container out in the rain.

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: 2 cubes.
The chart lists the wide pan at 2 cubes deep.
Answer: 2 cubes.
The chart lists the narrow jar at 2 cubes deep.
Answer: 2 cubes.
The chart lists the medium cup at 2 cubes deep.
Answer: The same.
All three containers read 2 cubes deep after the same rain.
Answer: No.
The pan read 2 cubes, exactly like the thin jar, even though it is far wider across the top.
Answer: 6 cups.
The pan filled 9 small cups and the jar filled 3 small cups, and 9 minus 3 is 6.
Answer: Accept any answer naming the wider opening and the wider bottom together.
Sample response: the pan has a bigger opening, so more rain landed in it, but that water had to spread across a much wider bottom, so it stayed just as shallow.
Answer: The narrow jar will work.
Depth does not depend on how wide the container is, so any straight-sided container standing in the open gives the same reading.
Answer: Accept any answer naming the blocked sky.
Sample response: the top of the slide covered it, so the rain landed on the slide instead of falling into the container.
Answer: Accept any two sentences reporting equal depths and naming one setup check.
Sample response: all three containers held rain that was 2 cubes deep, even though they were different sizes. Before you set one out, check that nothing above it blocks the sky.

Differentiation

Support

Give students three paper strips cut to the same 2-cube length so they can lay one beside each row of the chart and see for themselves that the readings match before answering item 4. For item 6, set out 9 counters and 3 counters in two rows and let students match them one to one instead of subtracting on paper.

Extension

Ask students to predict the cube depth for a fifth container twice as wide as the pan, write the number, and give a reason. Students ready for more can work out roughly how many small cups the medium cup would fill if the pan filled 9 and the jar filled 3, and explain what they used to decide.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "rain," "deep," "wide," and "container" by holding up a wide dish and a thin glass and running a finger up the side of each to show what depth means. Allow items 7 through 10 to be answered orally or with a labeled side-view drawing showing the water line at the same height in two containers of different widths.

Extensions

Set the same three containers out for a real rain, using a plastic jar rather than glass, and let students read all three with a cube stick, then compare their readings with the chart on this page. When the readings come out equal again with the class's own weather, students have their own evidence for a rule that a forecaster relies on every time a small gauge stands in for a whole field.