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Worksheet Grade 1 Science

Telling a Leak from a Spill at Ryeholt School

A grade 1 science worksheet on four wet spots at a fictional school, where students sort leaks from spills and plan one check for the next day.

Objectives

  1. Students will explain why rain is not the cause of a wet spot after six dry days.
  2. Students will sort wet spots into leaks and spills using notes from two mornings.
  3. Students will name what a spot drying after a tap is shut tells them about the water.
  4. Students will choose the spot to fix first and give one reason from the notes.

Vocabulary

Key words: leak, spill, drip, dry, notes

Teacher overview

Ryeholt School sits in the town of Quillmarsh, where no rain has fallen for six days, and a first-grade class walked the outside of the building on two mornings in a row and wrote down every wet spot it found. This worksheet hands students those two mornings of notes and asks them to work spot by spot: two of the four spots dry out on their own, two are wet again the next morning, and the difference between the two kinds is whether something is still adding water. The misconception the worksheet targets is that water on the ground outdoors came from rain and will be gone once it dries, which is why the notes begin with six dry days and why items 7 and 8 have the class shut one tap and check again. Shutting the garden tap dries one spot but not the other, so students see a test that rules a cause in at one spot and out at another.

Telling a Leak from a Spill at Ryeholt School — Grade 1 Science
Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

Room 3 walked around Ryeholt School. The school is in the town of Quillmarsh. It did not rain for six days. The class found four wet spots. The class looked on Monday. The class looked again on Tuesday. Mr. Ames fixes things at the school. Here are the notes.

  • Spot 1. By the back door. Wet on Monday. Dry on Tuesday. A mop bucket was dumped here on Monday.
  • Spot 2. Under the garden tap. Wet on Monday. Wet on Tuesday. The tap drips when it is shut.
  • Spot 3. By the bike rack. Wet on Monday. Dry on Tuesday. Children filled bottles here on Monday morning.
  • Spot 4. By the wall pipe. Wet on Monday. Wet on Tuesday. The wet ground runs from the pipe down the hill.
  1. It did not rain for six days. Did rain make these wet spots? Write yes or no.
  2. Spot 1 was wet on Monday. Spot 1 was dry on Tuesday. What happened to that water?
  3. Spot 2 was wet on Monday. It was wet again on Tuesday. No rain fell. Where did the new water come from?
  4. A leak adds new water each day. A spill puts water down one time. Which two spots are leaks? Write the two spot numbers.
  5. Which two spots are spills? Write the two spot numbers.
  6. The wet ground at Spot 4 starts at the wall pipe. It runs down the hill. Is the water coming from the pipe or from the foot of the hill?
  7. The class shut the garden tap tight. The next day Spot 2 was dry. What was making Spot 2 wet?
  8. The class shut the garden tap tight. The next day Spot 4 was still wet. Did the tap make Spot 4 wet? Write yes or no.
  9. A leak drips all day and all night. A spill puts water down one time. Which one wastes more water in a week? Write leak or spill.
  10. Draw Spot 4. Draw the wall pipe. Draw one arrow to show which way the water runs.
  11. Write one question you would ask Mr. Ames about Spot 4.
  12. Which spot should the school fix first? Write the spot number. Write one reason. Then write one more sentence to end.

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: No.
    No rain fell for six days, so rain cannot be what put water on the ground. Accept "no rain" or a drawing of a crossed-out cloud.
  2. Answer: It dried up.
    The sun and the air took the Monday water, and nothing put new water there overnight. Accept "it dried," "the sun dried it," or "it went into the air."
  3. Answer: From the tap.
    The tap above Spot 2 drips even after it is shut, so it puts down new water after the Monday water dries. Accept "the drip" or "the tap over it."
  4. Answer: Spot 2 and Spot 4.
    Both were wet on Monday and wet again on Tuesday with no rain in between, so something is still adding water at each one.
  5. Answer: Spot 1 and Spot 3.
    The dumped mop bucket and the Monday bottle filling each put water down one time, so both spots dried by Tuesday.
  6. Answer: From the pipe.
    The wet ground starts at the pipe and spreads downhill from it. Water runs downhill, so it cannot start at the foot of the hill and climb up to the pipe.
  7. Answer: The tap.
    Shutting the tap stopped the drip, and the spot then dried, which is what shows the tap was the source. Accept "the water from the tap."
  8. Answer: No.
    Spot 4 stayed wet while the tap was shut off, so the tap is not what wets it. Something else is adding water there, and the notes point to the wall pipe.
  9. Answer: A leak.
    A leak keeps adding water hour after hour, while a spill puts down one load of water and then stops.
  10. Answer: A drawing of the pipe with one arrow running downhill.
    Look for the pipe drawn at the high end of the wet ground and a single arrow leading away from the pipe and down the slope.
  11. Answer: Answers will vary.
    Accept any question Mr. Ames could answer about the wet ground at Spot 4, such as what the wall pipe carries, how long that ground has been wet, or whether the pipe can be shut off for a day.
  12. Answer: Spot 4.
    Accept Spot 2 as well when the reason fits the fictional notes. Look for a spot number, a reason such as the water coming back every morning or the wet ground spreading, and a closing sentence.

Differentiation

Support

Give these students the notes for Spot 2 and Spot 3 only, read each line aloud, and have them mark a card wet or dry for each morning before any writing begins. Provide two picture cards for the sort in items 4 and 5, one showing a tipped bucket and one showing a dripping tap, so the sort can be done by placing a card on a spot rather than by writing numbers. The Quillmarsh notes are fictional, so a student who wants to add a detail may say it aloud and then answer from the printed line.

Extension

Ask these students to write a fifth spot for the fictional notes, including where it is, what it looked like on each of the two mornings, and one detail that would let a classmate decide whether it is a leak or a spill. Partners then trade papers and sort each other's new spot, saying which line in the notes settled the question.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "leak," "spill," "wet," and "dry" by holding a slowly dripping cup over a tray and then pouring a spoonful of water onto a paper towel while naming each one. Post the sentence frame "Spot ____ is a ____" beside the fictional notes, and allow items 1, 4, 5, 8, and 9 to be answered by pointing or with a single word.

Extensions

On a dry day, walk the class around the school building and have students draw a chalk circle around any wet ground they find, then check the same circles the next morning to see which ones are still wet. Have the class compare what it found with the fictional Quillmarsh notes on this worksheet, and decide which of the real circles are worth reporting.