Lesson plan Kindergarten Science

Gooseberry Bend's Water Tower: A Kindergarten Height Lesson

A 40-minute kindergarten lesson where students build a tall block water tower and a short one, test which sends water farther down a tube, and count the blocks in each.

Grade: Kindergarten
Subject: Science
Material: Lesson plan
Time: 40 min
Prep: Low prep
Materials: Wooden or foam blocks, at least twelve, Two paper cups with a small hole poked near the bottom, A bendable drinking straw for each cup, Tape, A shallow tub or tray to catch water, A pitcher of water, Crayons and the printed handout, Chart paper and a marker

Standards

K-2-ETS1-2 NGSS

Develop a simple sketch, drawing, or physical model to illustrate how the shape of an object helps it function as needed to solve a given problem.

How this material aligns: Students build and then sketch a block tower with a tank on top and label why the tall stand lets water run down to the tap, showing how the shape helps it work.

All materials for K-2-ETS1-2 →

K.MD.A.2 Common Core Math

Directly compare two objects with a measurable attribute in common, to see which object has 'more of'/'less of' the attribute, and describe the difference. For example, directly compare the heights of two children and describe one child as taller/shorter.

How this material aligns: Handout item 3 has students set the two block towers side by side and say which one is taller, the direct comparison of a shared attribute this standard names.

All materials for K.MD.A.2 →

K.OA.A.2 Common Core Math

Solve addition and subtraction word problems, and add and subtract within 10, e.g., by using objects or drawings to represent the problem.

How this material aligns: Handout item 4 asks how many more blocks the tall tower holds than the short one, a take-away word problem within ten solved with the blocks themselves as objects.

All materials for K.OA.A.2 →

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This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-09-03.

Objectives

Students will build a tall tower and a short tower and tell which one is taller.
Students will count the blocks in each tower and find how many more blocks the tall tower uses.
Students will draw a water tower and explain that the tank sits up high so water can run down to the tap.

Vocabulary

Water tower: A water tower is a big tank raised high above town that stores drinking water. Its height is what pushes water through the pipes, keeping the pressure steady even when the power goes out.

Also: tank, tall, short, pipe, tap

Teacher overview

The town of Gooseberry Bend is a fictional community invented for this lesson, and its water tower is the tallest thing on its main street. Students build two block stands, one tall and one short, set a cup of water on each, and watch which one pushes water farther down a straw into a tub. The point of the build is that the tank has to sit up high for the water to travel down to the taps in the houses below. Some students will say the tower is tall so that more water fits inside it, which is a fair guess about size yet not the reason a utility puts the tank on legs. The side-by-side test in the third step addresses that, because both cups are the same size and only the height changes.

Set up the two cups before class. Poke one small hole near the bottom of each cup, push a bendable straw into the hole, and tape around the joint so water runs out through the straw instead of leaking around it. Before copying the handout, draw a tower of 8 blocks and a tower of 3 blocks side by side at the top of the page for items 1 and 2.

Procedure

Hook (5 min): Show a picture of a water tower or draw one on the board: a round tank sitting on tall legs. Ask the class what is inside the tank and where they think that water goes next. Record two or three answers on chart paper.

Build the two towers (10 min): Split the class into two groups. One group stacks 8 blocks into a tall stand and the other stacks 3 blocks into a short stand, both on the same table beside the tub. Have each group count their blocks out loud, touching one block per number, and then stand back so the whole class can see the two stands together.

Test which sends water farther (10 min): Set one prepared cup on top of the tall stand and the other on the short stand, with the straw ends pointing over the tub. Fill both cups from the pitcher at the same time and let the class watch where each stream lands. The stream from the tall stand arcs out farther and reaches the far side of the tub. Ask what was the same about the two cups and what was different, and steer the class to the answer that only the height changed.

Handout (8 min): Pass out the handout and read each item aloud, one at a time, giving students time to count the blocks in front of them before answering. Students may point to the towers, use the real blocks, or draw to work out an answer.

Sketch and formative check (7 min): Ask each student to draw the tall tower with a tank on top and a line from the tank down to a house tap, then tell a partner one sentence about why the tank is up high. Listen to at least six partners. If fewer than four of them mention the water running or falling down to the house, gather the class and run the two-cup test one more time before dismissal.

Gooseberry Bend's Water Tower: A Kindergarten Height Lesson — Kindergarten Science

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Handout

The tall tower in the picture is built from 8 blocks. Touch each block and count. How many blocks are in the tall tower?
The short tower in the picture is built from 3 blocks. Touch each block and count. How many blocks are in the short tower?
One tower has 8 blocks. The other tower has 3 blocks. Which tower is taller?
The tall tower has 8 blocks. The short tower has 3 blocks. How many more blocks does the tall tower have?
Draw a round tank on top of the tall tower. Why does the tank sit up high?
Water runs down from the tank through a pipe to a tap. One tank sits on 8 blocks. One tank sits on 3 blocks. Which tank can send water farther down?

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: 8 blocks. Counting the stack one block at a time from the bottom to the top gives 8, and the last number said names the whole tower.
Answer: 3 blocks. Counting the short stack the same way gives 3.
Answer: The tall tower with 8 blocks. Standing the two towers next to each other shows that the 8-block tower reaches higher than the 3-block tower.
Answer: 5 blocks. Taking the 3 blocks of the short tower away from the 8 blocks of the tall tower leaves 5, and students may also match the towers block for block and count the 5 blocks left over at the top.
Answer: So the water can run down to the tap. Accept any answer that says the water goes down, falls, or flows to the houses below.
Answer: The tank on 8 blocks. The taller stand gives the water a longer way to fall, so the stream from the tall tower reached farther across the tub in the class test.

Differentiation

Support

Give these students the real blocks to hold while the handout is read aloud so counting is a touching task rather than a picture task. For item 4, line the two towers up side by side on the floor and let students point to and count only the blocks that stick up above the short tower.

Extension

Ask students to build a third stand of 6 blocks, predict where its stream will land compared with the other two, and then test it. Have them order the three streams from shortest to farthest and say the order out loud using the words shorter, taller, and tallest.

ELL supports

Pre-teach tall, short, tank, and tap by pointing to real objects in the room, then to the two block towers, before any counting begins. Accept pointing at a tower as a full answer for items 3 and 6, and provide the sentence frame "The tall tower sends water ___" with the words farther and not as far written beside small arrow drawings.

Extensions

Walk the class outside and look for the tallest structure they can see from the schoolyard, then ask whether it might hold water and how they could find out. If the school is served by a real water tower, invite a distribution operator from the utility to bring a photograph of the tank and describe the route water takes from the tank to the school drinking fountain.