In the following lessons, students participate in activities in which they analyze information represented
graphically. Students are asked to discuss, describe, read, and write about the graphs and the information they contain. The emphasis on using components of language is natural for students and helps them clarify the
information depicted. The grade levels for the three activities are: Pre-K-2, 3-5, and 6-8. These lesson plans were adapted from the article "Ideas: Information Represented Graphically," by Calvin Irons and Rosemary Irons, that appeared in The Arithmetic Teacher, Oct. 1991, vol. 39, no. 2, pp 26-33.
Individual Lessons
Lesson 1 - What's the Weather? In this lesson, students analyze information represented by pictographs. Students are asked to discuss, describe, read, write, and make predictions about the graphs and the information they contain. Lesson 2 - Name Your Tune The activities in this lesson focuses on studying information displayed in pictographs that report the sales of records, tapes, and compact discs for one week at a music store. The students are asked to discuss and then describe the information and to explain the numbers sold in each category. They are asked to defend their explanation.
Lesson 3 - History of Populations The activities at this level focus on studying a series of circle graphs that report the population of the United States and of selected states–Massachusetts, New York, and Pennsylvania–in fifty-year intervals from 1800 to 1950. The students are asked to discuss and describe the information and to explain why the percent of the total population changed for the three states. They are asked to write a justification for their explanation.
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