Do you enjoy teaching data and graphs in your classroom? It’s definitely one of my favorite skills to create lessons for. The options are truly endless when it comes to what students can graph. We’ve got interests, seasons, food, school supplies, and so much more to work with! I wanted to share some of my favorite ways to enhance engagement in your classroom when it comes time for your students to collect data and create graphs with my favorite graphing activities.
One of the best ways to start your math block during graphing is with a whole class graph. Students get to learn about each other, share a little about themselves, and it’s a great time for modeling how to analyze the data. Here you can see that the class gathers data about the length of thumbs. Each student measures their thumb and then adds the length to the class graph.
One of the important aspects of graphing is collecting data. Often times we give students a set of data that is already provided for them, but gathering that data is so important. Your students can create a simple survey to see if they prefer sweet, salty, or sour treats. Then students take the data from their survey and create a picture graph.
I’m always looking to get the most bang for my buck. One way to do that is by integrating other math skills with graphing. Can you graph shapes, times, addition facts, etc? How can you practice the skill of graphing AND review something you’ve already introduced? Students can simply measure different objects in the classroom and graph the lengths. You can print out images and have students do the same thing!
You’ll notice we like to graph with food around here, ha! Goldfish are fairly inexpensive and easy to come by. Students can create a graph based on their collection of goldfish. In this booklet, students create their line plot and generate questions about their data.
We can also use those higher order thinking skills to create graphs from a given word problem. Here you can see that the students were given certain information but then also had to solve to find the missing information. Making a picture graph to solve also allows for students to visualize the word problem.
Think about all of those school supplies you have in your classroom! Place some school supplies into a baggie. Students reach in to grab one item at a time. Then students collect and analyze the data as they are grabbing/graphing!
Sometimes our students also need to analyze a set of given data. I prefer having graphs that the students can glue into their interactive notebooks. This allows us to have a resource for the different types of graphs we have learned about.
Here’s a way to get your kids moving AND graphing all at once… but don’t worry… they are very little and quiet movements! Students get with a partner. They each toss a pom onto the Target board. Students draw tally marks to show the colors that they landed on. Then, students analyze the data of their tosses.
Now that we’ve talked a lot about graphing, I have a FREEBIE for you! Students spin to color a heart on their jar. Then students will gather and analyze their data on a bar graph.
If you aren’t on my email list, subscribe below to grab your FREEBIE! Once you subscribe, check your email (make sure it isn’t in SPAM), and click “Confirm Subscription” The document will download immediately after! If you are using a school email address, it may not work. Many districts block emails such as these! Use a personal email address, and you should be good to go! It’s also best if you put this email on your SAFE/NOT SPAM list: [email protected].
Rock Paper Scissors Graphing: FREE
Let’s Graph with Bar Graphs and Pictographs
Deck the Halls FREE
Basketball Graphing FREEBIE
Don’t want to forget these activity ideas? Pin this image to your Pinterest boards!
Hey, y’all! My name is Amy Lemons and I am passionate about providing students with both engaging and effective standards-based Math and ELA lessons.
Sample a day of Rooted in Reading with these lesson plans and activities for Reading Comprehension, Vocabulary, and Grammar!
2 Responses
I don’t think the email for the freebie is working any longer. I tried this one and the valentine spin it to win it with 2 different email addresses and check the spam. No luck receiving the subscription confirmation email.
I actually just tried it on two different emails and it does work.