• Observe and informally assess students as they use the think-pair-share approach with the math journaling and field-trip voting activities.
• Observe and informally assess students as they create and answer questions about both field-trip voting graphs.
• Use the Favorite Sports Graph activity (M-2-6-1_Favorite Sports Graph and KEY.doc) to formally assess all students understanding of bar graphs.

As an introductory activity, read the book The Best Vacation Ever by Stuart J. Murphy to your students. (The Best Vacation Ever can be ordered online (www.stuartjmurphy.com) or found at most teacher supply stores.) If it is unavailable, alternative books are Tally O’Malley by Stuart J. Murphy or a different graphing book appropriate for your grade level.

The Best Vacation Ever book summary: A family wants to go on vacation but can’t decide where to go. A little girl asks some key questions and charts the answers. Mom wants to go some place quiet and cool. Grandma and brother are looking for fun. And everybody but Dad wants the cat to join them. Finding a place to make everyone happy is not an easy task. Learning to organize and interpret data develops the ability for critical thought.

“Before we begin our graphing activity, I will read a book to you. Let’s look at the cover. The title of the book is The Best Vacation Ever. The author is Stuart J. Murphy. He is an author who writes children’s math books. What do you think our book will be about?”

Allow students to make suggestions and predictions about the book. “Those are great predictions! Now turn and talk to your partner about the best vacation you’ve ever had.”

“Have any of you ever had a time when your family couldn’t decide where to go on a family vacation or trip? How did you decide?”

Read the book to the students. Ask students questions about the book after you read. Sample questions could include

• “What did you learn from the book?”
• “What was the problem in the story?”
• “How did the family keep track of their responses?”

As you read the story with the children, point out how the family solves their problem. Have a discussion with students about the story and how it relates to your graphing unit.

“We will make graphs, look at data from graphs, and answer questions about graphs. What words do you know about graphing? On your whiteboard, write down what you know about graphs, using as many words about graphing as you know. You can use words, numbers, and pictures on your whiteboard.”

Allow students 3 minutes to write on their whiteboards and 2 minutes to share. Have students talk with a partner about their entries and then share with the class (Think-Pair-Share). Have students brainstorm a list of words that have to do with graphing (tally, bars, data, survey, etc). Be sure to clear up any misconceptions. Students can write down these words in their math journals.

Let’s Vote Activity

Provide each student with two sticky notes. Students should write their name on each sticky note.

“Keeping track of information is very important. Just as the girl in our story did, we are going to collect data and see what the data tells us. I am passing out two sticky notes to each of you. Please write your first name on each sticky note. I need your name big enough to read from the back of the classroom.”

As students are writing their names on the sticky notes, set up your whiteboard to look like this:

Example:

(Depending on the needs of your students, you can adjust the number of labels you use for the graph. You could choose only three or four labels.) After all students have written their names on the sticky notes, continue.

“We are going to pretend that we are going on a field trip. Each of you will get to vote for your favorite place to go for the field trip. You will use one of your sticky notes to vote. You may choose one of the places on our chart. When I call your name, you will place one of your sticky notes on the graph to show where you would like to go on a field trip.”

Allow time for students to place their sticky notes on the graph. Help students line up their sticky notes correctly. When students are finished with the graph, help them create the graph on inch grid paper (M-2-6-1_Inch Grid Paper.pdf). Ask questions about the graph as students create the graph on the grid paper, helping them understand where to write the title and the labels.

Sample questions may include

• “What is the title of the graph?”
• “What does the title tell us?”
• “What are the labels on the graph? What do they tell us?”
• Now ask students to determine how many people voted for each field trip choice. Model coloring in one box on the grid paper for each student who voted for Airport and for Art Center. Then, ask students to shade in the appropriate number of boxes for the remaining choices: Farm, Park, and Zoo.
• Explain to students that the Field Trip Votes graph is called a bar graph because it uses bars to indicate how many people voted for each field trip. Now, ask students to use their bar graphs to answer more questions focused on interpreting the graph.

Sample questions may include

• “How many students voted to go to the _____?”
• “How many more students voted for ____ than ____?”
• “If we were going to go on a field trip next week, based on the data from our graph, which place should we visit?”

Continue with the questions until you feel students are ready to move on to the next activity.

Voting Again

“Everyone did a great job voting, looking at the bar graph, and answering questions based on our data. We are now going to record our votes by placing the second sticky note on this graph. Please vote the same as you did on the first graph.”

Allow time for students to place their second sticky note on this graph. Make sure all students voted the same way they did on the first graph.

Have a discussion about this graph with students. Many students will notice that the graphs have the same labels and the same titles. Others will notice that the labels are in different places on the graph. You might want to ask why the labels are in different spots.

“Let’s take a look at this bar graph.”

Sample questions may include

• “What do you notice about this graph?”
• “What is the title of the graph?”
• “How many students voted to go to the _____?”
• “How many more students voted for ____ than ____?”
• “If we were going to go on a field trip next week, based on the data from our graph, which place should we visit?”

If students have not already shared that both graphs are similar, start this discussion.

Sample questions may include

• “What do you notice that is the same about both bar graphs? Explain what is different about the graphs.”
• “Let’s look at the number of votes for the farm on both graphs. What do you notice?” (same number, just a different direction)

Talk with students about the fact that we have a choice in the way we represent our data on graphs. However, changing from a horizontal to a vertical way of representing the data doesn’t change the data. It is important that students are able to identify the parts of a graph, and be able to read and compare data on the graphs.

When asking students questions about graphs it is important to remember to ask these types of questions:

• Read the Graph: Questions that ask students to get information directly from the graph. The student only needs to find the data on the graph in order to answer the question.

Example: “How many people want to visit the farm on a field trip?”

• Read Between the Data Items: Questions that ask students to use at least two pieces of data on the graph and do something with the two data pieces. Students might add them, compare them, etc. OR Students are asked to compare data between two different graphs.

Example: “How many more students voted to go to the zoo than the art center?” OR “How many students voted to go to the farm or the park?”

• Read Beyond the Graph: Questions that encourage students to infer something based on the data in the graph. Students can’t know how the data would look if the graph continued; they can only look for trends in the current data and then make predictions about future performance.

Example: “Based on the data from our graph, if we were going to go on a field trip next week, which place would we probably vote to visit?”

• Not on the Graph: Questions that students cannot answer using the information on the graph.

Example: “How many classes go to the farm on field trips each year?”

Favorite Sports Graph

Display the Favorite Sports graph (M-2-6-1_Favorite Sports Graph and KEY.doc). Discuss the title, graph, and data with students.

“We have talked a lot about bar graphs today. You are now going to complete a page about bar graphs on your own. If you have a question, please raise your hand and I will help you.”

Pass out the Favorite Sports graph and use this to evaluate student understanding of interpreting bar graphs.

Extension:

Use the following activities in your classroom to meet the needs of your students throughout the year:

• Routine: Question of the Day: Once a week, as students come in the door, have them answer a question you have posed. Students could use sticky notes or snap cubes to represent their vote. They could put the sticky notes on the board or stack the cubes on top of each other. Discuss the results of the question during the first five minutes of Math class.

Example: “What is your favorite type of cookie?”

Sticky notes or cubes could look like this:

Sample questions may include

• “How many people voted for their favorite type of cookie?”
• “Which type of cookie was the least favorite? How do you know?”
• “How many more people like sugar cookies than peanut butter cookies?”
• “If I brought two types of cookies for our class to eat, which two types of cookies would be the best to bring? Explain.”
• Small Group: In small groups, prepare other graphs that collect data about students. Other graphs that students could make include Number of Students’ Siblings, Ages of Students, Color of Students’ Socks, Favorite After School Snack, Favorite Color, etc. Work with the students to gather the data, using a tally chart. Ask questions of the group to help guide them through the process of creating bar graphs. Sample questions may include
• “What are the labels for this bar graph?”
• “How many bars will the graph have? How do you know this?”
• “How tall will each bar be? How do you know this?”
• Expansion: Consider having students who need a challenge measure the heights (in inches) of all of the students in the class, both in the fall and then again in spring. This activity would provide an opportunity to practice measuring using inches and to create two different graphs that change with time.

As an enrichment activity, have students create their own survey question and four answer choices. (Examples: What is your favorite sandwich? Peanut Butter and Jelly, Ham and Cheese, Grilled Cheese, Bologna; What is your favorite season? Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter.) Students will create a question and collect data by asking their question of their classmates. After gathering data, students will graph and analyze the results.