The activities in this lesson focus on studying a graph that reports the number of students who wore sweaters to school each day for one week. The information is shown in a pictograph. The students are asked to discuss and describe the information and then predict what happened on the basis of the given information. They are encouraged to write an explanation to defend their predictions.
Prior to distributing the activity sheet, ask students if they know what a pictograph is. You may wish to share examples of pictographs, such as those found in math textbooks or ones you have created. Ask students questions such as:
- How is data represented in a pictograph?
- What does each picture or symbol stand for?
- How are pictographs useful for looking at data?
Distribute the What's the Weather? activity sheet to each student.
Individually, students should read the title of the graph and the words and numbers along the bottom and the side of the graph. As a class, students should describe the information in the body of the graph.
Put students in groups of two or three. Within each group, read and discuss question 1. Ask the students to explain why:
- the number of sweaters on Monday was small,
- the number of sweaters increased on Tuesday, and
- the number of sweaters decreased on Wednesday.
Allow enough time in the discussion for every student in the group to offer a suggestion. Repeat for questions 2 through 5. After they have completed these questions, the students can also ask their own questions about the graph and select other members of the class to answer their questions.
Possible Solutions for the Activity Sheet
Question 1. The temperature changed.
Question 2. The weather was colder than the other days, as more students wore sweaters on Tuesday.
Question 3. No, I do not think someone needed to wear a sweater on Saturday. After Tuesday, less and less students were wearing sweaters, as the temperature was getting warmer.
Question 4. Friday.
Question 5. 5 sweaters (7 - 2 = 5).
