Preview · the opening missionRead this to the class:
Tomás left his toy rabbit in a box in the garden. In the night it rained. In the morning the rabbit was soaked and the box had gone soft and floppy. "I need a roof for the rabbit's box," said Tomás. He looked around the kitchen: a tea towel, a paper bag, a roll of foil, a plastic bag, a cereal box. "Which one will keep the rain out?" Your job: test the materials and find the best one for a roof.
Children work in pairs with two jobs that swap after each test: the Dropper puts the drops on, and the Looker looks inside the cup and says what got through.
Look inside the PDF
Sample pages, stamped “preview”. The download is the clean, full lesson.
In the full lesson PDF
- Predict (5 min)
- Hunt (20 min)
- Reveal (10 min)
- Act (10 min)
- Background for the teacher
- Assessment
- Student sheet
- Worksheet: Label it
- Worksheet: Try it at home
On the student sheet
- My guess
- What happened
- Sort them
- My roof
- Label it
- Try it at home
US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white. The student sheet is on its own page, ready to photocopy.
Free with an account (any 3 lessons), or US$19 / C$25 for all 3 lessons in this unit.
What students show by the end
- Runs a fair test
- Reads the results
- Chooses with a reason
From the lesson’s rubric, which scores each one as not yet, getting there or got it.
Questions teachers ask
How long does “Which material keeps the rain out?” take?
45–55 min. Group size: pairs (two jobs that swap).
How much prep does it need?
15 minutes: cut squares about 10 cm (4 in) across of each test material, one set per pair. Add one drop of food colouring to a jug of water so the drops are easy to see. Fill one small cup of coloured water and one dropper per pair. Put a tray or a towel under each pair's cups. For the Act, find a small box per pair and a toy that can get wet.
What materials do I need?
Clear plastic cups; elastic bands that fit over the cups; squares of cotton cloth (an old T-shirt), paper towel, kitchen foil, a plastic bag and thin cardboard (a cereal box), each about 10 cm (4 in) across; dropper or pipette (a teaspoon also works); water with a drop of food colouring; tray or towel to catch spills; and 1 more. Cost: about $5 for a class of 30.
Which curriculum standards does it cover?
NGSS (US): 2-PS1-1, 2-PS1-2 and K-2-ETS1-3 (partly). It also matches England National Curriculum, Year 2 and Cambridge Primary Science, Stage 2.
What’s in the lesson PDF?
A teacher guide that walks you through predict, hunt, reveal, act, background for the teacher and assessment, then a student sheet (“My guess”, “What happened”, “Sort them”, “My roof”, “Label it” and “Try it at home”) on its own page, ready to photocopy. It’s US Letter and prints cleanly in black and white.
Can I try it for free?
Yes. A free account includes any 3 full lessons of your choice, and this can be one of them. After that, this unit is US$19 (C$25) for all 3 lessons, yours to keep, or every lesson is US$79 (C$109) a year.