Graphing with Dice!

By the time this post is published, I will officially be on summer vacation! I can barely believe it! This school year really flew by. I will also be 25 years old by the time this post is published! My birthday is May 22nd. I am looking forward to my car insurance going down! (and other things of course!)

Anyways, we keep going with our RTI groups until the very end. I wanted to continue reviewing graphing with my fourth graders, but I also wanted to add an element of fun. So I decided to make a little game out of it! I gave students dice, and they recorded the results of their dice rolls on a data table. After recording the data, we created a line plot and a circle graph. My students are getting much better at making reasonably sized portions for the circle graph. This can be a tricky skill, which requires a strong number sense. Repetition is key.

Next, we created a bar graph and a line graph. With all of these types of graphs, we continued reviewing how to label the x- and y-axis and making sure we included a title.

After completing all of the graphs, we answered a few questions about the data together. First, we identified the mean, median, mode, and range. Then, we answered a couple of short answers. Since it was almost the last day, I didn't make them write in complete sentences. (For the first time ever! You should have seen the looks of pure joy on their faces!) My favorite question is about which number is most likely to be rolled. My students really had to think on that one. I didn't give them any clues. I have really been working on perseverance with my students this year. After awhile they figured it out! You have to throw in a little trick question every now and again. All of the numbers are equally likely to be rolled on dice!

If you would like your own copy of the dice activity, click on the images above or here. How do you spice up graphing? What other ways do you incorporate dice into math instruction? I am sure you have plenty of ideas!

Graphing with M&Ms!

With the state tests coming up, my fourth graders were needing a little overview of graphing. They have been doing a lot of test prep in their classrooms and were in desperate need of a pick-me up. Cue the M&Ms! We are supposed to be trying to be more healthy at my school, so I don't use candy too often.  This was an extra special treat!

I started by separating the M&Ms into individual baggies for each student in my intervention group. For this group, I wanted to go through the activity together, so I gave each student the same assortment of M&Ms.

Students began by sorting the M&Ms by color and recording the amounts in the data table. We created the bar graph first. We made sure to add a title and identified the labels for our x- and y-axes. Then, we choose our scale for the graph and filled in the data. For our second graph, we completed the line plot. Once again, we made sure to add our title and labels. Then, we plotted our data. We completed the pie graph last. This required some reasoning to create the correct sized sections.

After completing the graphs, we identified the mean, median, mode, and range using our data table. (I chose to focus on the amounts - ex. 4, 6, 7, instead of the colors themselves.) Since there are six M&M colors, there are an even amount of numbers. You could remove a color to make an odd amount if your students are not ready for finding the mean of data with an even amount of numbers.

Then we answered four questions about the data. With the first two questions, I wanted to make sure my students understood more than just how to find mean, median, mode, and range. I wanted them to explain what exactly the concepts stood for. The last two questions focus on analyzing the data.

If you would like a copy of this activity, click here, or on the images above. Do you have any fun ways you review graphing with your students?

Also be sure to check out this great giveaway I am participating in, hosted my blogging buddy Jivey!