Presentation

  1. 1

    Sort a basket of colored cubes into groups.

  2. 2

    Place each group in a column on the graphing mat, one cube per square, starting at the bottom.

  3. 3

    Count each column and write the number under it.

  4. 4

    Ask: 'Which color has the most? Which has the fewest? Are any the same?'

  5. 5

    The child colors one square on graph paper for each cube, making a bar graph.

  6. 6

    Class survey: the child asks classmates a question with two or three choices ('Apples or bananas?') and makes a tally mark for each answer.

  7. 7

    The child makes a graph from the survey and tells the result.

Extensions, easiest to hardest

  1. Surveys with four choices.
  2. Say how many more one group has than another.
  3. Display a graph on the classroom wall with the question written above.

Control of error

One object per square, starting at the bottom line, makes column heights comparable; the child recounts each column against the number written below it.

Ready to move on when the child…

  • Builds a graph with one object per square from the baseline
  • Says which group has more, fewer, or the same
  • Carries out a simple class survey

Try “pink tower”, “tummy”, “diaper”, “grace and courtesy”, or “October”.