Unit 2 - Graphs and Line Plots

Activities to Try at Home 

Guess My Rule During this unit, students collect data and learn about how to sort and classify these data. One way to build on this work is to play a guessing game about attributes and categories. One player lists things that belong to a category, and other players try to guess the category. For example, if the secret category is “things that are green,” the person may say “grass, inchworms, dollar bills . . .” 

You can also play Guess My Rule by gradually sorting a collection of 15 to 20 items (such as objects from the kitchen) into two groups. In one group, have objects that fit the rule, and in the other, have objects that do not fit the rule. A rule might be “is made of metal” or “is red.” Start with just a few objects. As you continue to put objects into each group, your child tries to guess your rule. 

Investigate a Topic Think of a question you want to answer about something in your house or your neighborhood. Collect data that will give you some information about your question. One investigation might be “How many times a day does our family use water?” 

Together with your child, plan your data collection method. Make predictions about what you will find out. After you have collected your data, take some time to look closely at it. Does anything surprise you about the data you have collected? Do the data communicate any useful or interesting information about water use in your family? Your child may want to create some sort of representation of the data. Other questions you might investigate include “How much do we watch television?” or “Do cars stop at the stop sign at the end of our block?”

 Data in the Media Look for examples of graphs in newspapers and magazines. Talk with your child about what these graphs represent. What do these graphs communicate? Discuss what choices the graph maker made and why the graph maker might have made these choices. What other choices might you make if you were creating a graph that represented these data?