These graphing worksheets and activities are a huge help in my math instruction. I kind of don’t have a unit for teaching data analysis and graphing. Technically, I do have one (here it is), but I don’t teach it lesson by lesson. Instead, I incorporate the graphing worksheets and lessons within my other math units. The reason I do this isn’t because of some profound revelation in teaching math. Instead, it’s simply because I don’t have time for an isolated math unit.

I’ve found that the best way for me to teach data analysis and graphing is to integrate it in my other math units. This often results in me adding an additional lesson to each of my math units or embedding a lesson or two into our math centers. In this post, I’ll share some of the ways I teach data analysis through graphing worksheets and activities.

Graphing Vocabulary

I do make sure students know general graphing terms. Most of these are taught in the primary grades, so that aren’t completely new to students. If you feel the need to teach more basic graphic skills as a quick review, you can do something short and easy like this Favorite Flavor of Ice Cream lesson.

Students survey classmates and teachers on their favorite flavor of ice cream. Then, students use their tally chart to create a picture graph of the top ice cream flavors.

Another introductory lesson is the My Favorite Pet survey. This is a quick and easy graphing activity to review essential vocabulary and concepts.

Once again, students interview peers and/or adults to determine their favorite pet. Then, students use that information to create a bar graph.

Line plots are most likely to be new to students, so this is one introductory lesson I don’t skip. (BTW-These names, as always, are totally made-up. While I do teach these lessons, all names and student work are made outside my actual classroom.) 

In this graphing worksheet, we list how many hours a week, books a week, or even hours a month students read. Then, students make a line plot to represent the information. It’s helpful for students to create their line plots on graph paper, because it helps them keep their Xs lined up correctly.

Graphing Worksheets – Place Value

One way to incorporate place value and teaching data analysis is through the Place Value Tower activity, which is an incredibly fun graphing worksheet.

Students build a “Place Value Tower” out of base-ten blocks. Then, they determine the total value of the base-ten blocks, as well as graph the number of one, tens, hundreds, and thousands blocks used to build the tower. To incorporate graphing, have students create a bar graph to either show the total number of ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands blocks in their Place Value Tower, or create a bar graph to show the total value of ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands in their Place Value Tower.

Graphing Worksheets – Addition and Subtraction

In this graphing worksheet, students think of as many addition and subtraction number sentences as possible that equal a given number. (If you did this later in the year, you could use multiplication.)  I like to give my students a one minute time limit for each number, and depending on the group and their need for a challenge, I may add rules such as: you can only use each digit once or you have to use 2-digit numbers.

After students have played five rounds, they complete a line plot that indicates how many number sentences they were able to generate during each round.

Math Facts

This is a great way to have students track their progress in learning multiplication or division facts. This is not a one time graphing assignment, but rather a graphing tool that students can use to monitor their own learning. I have students complete this graph independently and don’t display the graphs, so students do not compare their results with each other.

Once a week, every other week, once a month, or any set time period, give students a 100 question multiplication or division quiz. If you use Option 2, and feel like 100 questions is too much for your students, you can absolutely reduce the number of questions! It’s just important to keep the number consistent, so that graph accurately displays the data.

• Option 1-Count how many questions students answered correctly during the 5 minute test.
• Option 2-To reduce the anxiety of having a timed test, have students take as long as they need to solve the math facts. Rather than recording the number of problems correct in a minute, record the number of minutes and seconds needed to complete the math quiz.

Have students complete one section of the bar graph after each time they complete the assessment. Use the data to encourage students to focus on growth and not perfection.

Graphing Worksheets – Multiplication

This array lesson can be taught after students have experience reading and creating arrays. In this activity,  students build all of the arrays possible seven different numbers. They record their arrays on grid paper and write a multiplication equation for each array. Once students have found all of the arrays possible, they create a bar graph to show how many arrays were found for each number.

Elapsed Time

Have students complete the Where Does the Time Go survey independently. The survey asks students to estimate how many minutes they spend each day reading, watching television, playing video games, playing outside, helping around the house, and practicing an activity such as sports or a musical instrument.

Use the survey organizer to collect and display students’ data from the Student Survey. This organizer will allow students to consolidate the data and see the data as a whole. Then, have students work in groups to create a line plot that displays the data from one of the activities from the survey. Have students create their line plots on chart paper, so it can easily be viewed around the classroom.

After each group has completed their line plot, post the line plots in a central location and meet back together as a whole group to discuss the data represented in the line plots. The results are usually very surprising to students, and this is a great time to discuss goals and how it is important to use our time wisely to help us achieve our goals.

Fractions

Before beginning this lesson, students should multiple experiences using a ruler. Have students use a ruler to measure the length of ten pencils to the nearest ¼ inch and record their measurements. Then, have students create a line plot to show the length of each pencil measured.

You can complete a similar activity with paper airplanes and tie that into a STEM lesson. Give students time to create their paper airplanes and a few minutes to practice flying their airplanes. Break students into groups of four and have students take turns measuring the distance each plane flies. Each group needs masking tape to mark the starting and end point, a ruler to measure the flight, and a recording sheet. Then have students use the data in their recording sheet and the other groups’ recording sheets to create a line plot representing the data.

Graphing Worksheets – Area

Have students use cm cubes find the area of their hand. Another option for finding the area is for students to trace their hand on cm grid paper. Have students to work in groups of 4 to create a picture graph (using hands as their picture) that represents the area of each student in the group’s hand.

Groups will need to determine how many square centimeters each hand on their graph represents. Students can use the color coded hand pictures to help them create their picture graph. After students complete their graph, have them write questions that can be answered using information from their graph.

Geometry

Have students go on a geometry scavenger hunt! Students tally how many of each shapes they find and create a bar graph to show how many they found. Naturally, have students be ready to tell you what their examples are. Otherwise, the quantity of examples tends to be a bit skewed!

Each of the lessons in this post can be found here! These lessons has inspired me to think of even more ways to incorporate data analysis and graphing into our math units.

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These number sense activities are a blast for students! Most upper elementary teachers notice a lack of number sense in their students, and that lack of number sense makes high levels of math extremely difficult for children. We’ve all seen the blank stares when students are not able to grasp or connect to the concept we’re teaching. Maybe you’ve had students answer math questions with numbers that seemingly come out of thin air that are not even remotely reasonable. This is typically due to a lack of number sense.

Number sense isn’t something you can teach in a single math unit. Instead, students must be exposed to opportunities that allow them develop number sense. In this post I’ve shared a few of my favorite number sense activities.

I’ve always been a teacher who is laser-focused on the standards. I could easily attach every activity my students completed to a specific standard. But, I finally came to the understanding that I could not limit myself to just the written content standards. Sometimes we have to provide students with the instruction they need before students can access those standards.

Number Sense Activities – The Essentials

Below are essential components to upper elementary number sense. This isn’t an all inclusive list. This is just the areas where I’ve observed the greatest weaknesses and the areas that allow students to make the greatest gains. I’ll keep the overview extremely brief, so you can get to the fun stuff!

• Unitizing – the understanding that you can count a large group of items by counting equal groups of items from within the large group. Multiplication begins with students’ ability to unitize. Unfortunately, unitizing is area of struggle that often goes undetected, and students become stuck as additive thinkers and never progress to thinking multiplicatively.
• Spatial Reasoning – Spatial relationships give students the ability to manipulate numbers in ways they may not yet be able to do with abstract numerals.
• Benchmarks-Benchmark numbers are not limited to five and ten. In upper elementary, students begin to work with one and one-half as a benchmark number.
• One/Two More or Less (Units) – Knowing one/two more or less allows students to be flexible thinkers and aides in mental computation. It’s important to incorporate this with multiple units. For example what is 2 ten thousands less than 431,388, or what is 2 unit fractions more than 4/5?
• Parts and Wholes – Students recognize that a number can be decomposed into many different parts.

Number Sense Math Centers

These number sense activities are perfect for math centers and are not your traditional math centers. Instead of being focused on a specific standard, these centers are designed to provide opportunities for developing number sense.

I included an optional booklet which students can use to record all of their responses. I love having students keep everything in one place, and this seems to simplify recording sheets. Of course, I also included traditional recording sheets if that’s what you prefer.

You can find the 4th grade math centers here and the 3rd grade math centers here.

Hundreds Chart

In the first activity, students complete four sets of hundreds charts. In the first chart students work with numbers 400-500, and then each hundreds chart has students work with progressively larger numbers. By the last hundreds chart, students work with numbers 703,500-703,600.

Difference to 100

This number sense activity lets students develop their spatial reasoning and benchmark number sense. They take turns rolling two dice to build a number. Students shade in the total amount rolled. Then, they use the grids to determine the difference from 100. The 10 by 10 grids are outlined into four quadrants of 5 to allow for easier visualization.

Find the Number

This activity also allows students to focus on spatial reasoning. Player 1 secretly chooses a number between the two whole numbers on the number line and places a star on the number line where the number would most likely be found. Player 2 tries to guess the mystery number. After each guess, Player 1 writes the guessed number on the number line in the correct location. When the mystery number if found, students change roles.

Picture Puzzles

Picture puzzles are a great activity for developing number sense. I had always assumed they would be too easy for students, but I tried them out at home with my own kids. It was really surprising to see how challenging this was for them. I tried to use pictures that older students would find humorous, because I always want to make it fun.

In this particular puzzle, students are looking for numbers that are one ten more than the previous number.

Line ’em Up

The object of this number sense activity is for students to be the first player to play all of the cards. Players take turns laying out one card at a time to build four rows of cards in the middle of the table or floor. If Player 1 puts down 5 groups of 10, player 2 can then play the 6 groups of 10 or the 5 groups of 100, 5 groups of 1,000 or 5 groups of 10,000. When the player lays down the card, s/he must say the total “5 groups of 10 is 50”. All numbers must be placed in order in each row. If a player does not have a card that can be played, they must skip their turn.

I love to mix these number sense activities with more traditional standards-based math activities.

Number Sense Activities – Roll and Review

Calculator Cards

Number Sense Activities – Vocabulary

Math Journal Prompts & Number of the Day

Your students will love these number sense activities! You can find the 4th grade math centers here and the 3rd grade math centers here.

You can read about developing number sense through math warm-ups here.

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For your math workshop or guided math class to run smoothly, it is essential to explicitly teach your students the procedures you will use within your math instruction. However, before you begin teaching content area procedures, I recommend teaching general classroom procedures first.

The very first day or two of school, I focus on more general classroom procedures and not content specific procedural lessons. To be perfectly honest, these procedures can be boring to teach. I obviously don’t want my students bored and tuned out of my instruction, so I’ve created a few interactive notebook forms that I’ll use to review several of these routines and expectations. You can get a free copy of the forms here!

In this post:

• Math Workshop Procedures
• First Days of Math Workshop
• Math Manipulatives
• Problem Solving

Math Workshop Procedures

Once I started making these interactive notebook activities for the beginning of the year. I couldn’t stop thinking about how I could use them in math workshop. If you’ve ever taught math workshop or guided math, you know the importance of additional routines and procedures specific to your math instruction. I think that is one of the biggest mistakes I made when I transitioned from teaching math in a more traditional style of a workshop style. I did not spend enough time teaching procedures, and math became stressful and hectic. It didn’t take long to realize that students have to be taught how to behave in math workshop with specific management lessons. I cannot just expect students to follow my lead or assume they know I expect of them during this time.

First Days of Math Workshop

This issue lead to a lot of research and trial and error on teaching procedures in the upper elementary math classroom. In fact, one of the very first TpT products I ever created was The First Days of Math Workshop, which is a ten day guide to help teachers get started with math workshop. I have used this guide for the past several years in my classroom, and it is a lifesaver for me! The simple breakdown is just what I need those crazy first days of the school year!

There are ten days worth of procedural lessons that introduce the format and routines of math workshop. Since every classroom is different, the lessons are all editable, so that you can tweak and make changes as necessary. In addition to the ten procedural lessons, I included the procedural anchor charts I use in my classroom to introduce math workshop.

Since I love finding ways to make these ritual and routine lessons interactive, I thought it would be fun to also include interactive activities that each correlate with the day’s procedural lesson. These entries can be added to the beginning of students’ math notebooks. If students don’t have a math notebook, they can place ten sheets of notebook paper between a large, folded sheet of construction paper to make a math procedures book.

I teach students about the parts of math workshop and their purpose. I discuss my expectations for each part of math workshop, because each portion of math workshop has a different set of expectations.

We spend time discussing good habits of math students. As I teach these procedures, I explain them, model them, and we practice them. It’s so easy to skip the practice portion of routines, but it’s so helpful for students.

We also spend time discussing accountable talk, active listening and the importance of using appropriate math vocabulary. I love the fact that these lessons also relate to other subject areas.

Math Manipulatives

One of my most referred to lessons is how to use manipulatives appropriately. I learned the hard way that I first had to teach this lesson before allowing students to use math manipulatives. Otherwise, it can get crazy!

Problem Solving

I also begin talk about problem solving strategies. At this point of instruction, I don’t focus on content. Instead, we begin discussing how to approach a problem, growth mindset, and multiple representations. I like to introduce these concepts BEFORE my students need them.

I feel like the interactive activities will make teaching the procedures so much more fun for both my students and me! Plus, it will be a great introduction to interactive notebooks and how to correctly use interactive notebooks. The picture below shows the full size version of the included anchor charts. I also made a traditional paper size version.

You can click here for a preview of the product! If you already have it, be sure to download it again for the newest version!

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Since my first year teaching I’ve loved teaching through reading workshop and writing workshop, but I never saw a way to transfer that method of teaching to math. However, I wasn’t too worried about it, because my students appeared to be learning and my test scores looked good.

Fast forward three years later and my state (Georgia) has just adopted new math standards that were much more rigorous and had a much greater emphasis on conceptual understanding and multiple representations of math. Then, bring in a new district initiative for all teachers to implement math workshop and an “expert” in math workshop. At first I resisted the change, I was happy with the way things were and really didn’t believe that the workshop approach would work. However, I soon began see the light. Yes, my students were good at basic skills and what I now call naked math (computation without any context), but was I teaching problem solving, conceptual understanding, and application of skills? Did I teach my students to think, talk, and write about math? Could they show their reasoning with multiple representations? Did math math lessons have a real world application? The answer to all of the above was-no. I knew I had to make the change. Fast forward 5 more years-I’m now a huge fan of math workshop and wouldn’t want to teach any other way. I admit that it was a difficult process with a lot of trial and error for me, but I finally feel confident in this form of instruction. My math workshop follows a similar format to reading and writing workshop, with a few changes here and there.

Mini-Lesson

My mini lessons are usually about 10 minutes long, and I do a variety of activities during this time. I might review previous skills or introduce new skills and vocabulary. Some days I’ll read a picture book that relates to the concept we’re studying or we might play a quick whole group game such as ‘I Have Who Has’. I’m slowly creating and finding Smartboard lessons for this time as well (I just got one in January). I also use this time to model, model, model my expectations for routines, behavior, and quality of work.

Work Time

This is when students actually do the math through a variety of math tasks, and I personally believe that the tasks are the heart of math workshop. Good workshop tasks require students to problem solve and apply what they have learned. They also require students to think outside the box and to use multiple representations and accountable talk. I like to have all of my students work on the same basic task, but I differentiate the task for my different ability levels. For example if we are doing a place value sort, I may have the majority of my students working through the ten-thousands place, but one group may only have cards through the hundreds place, and another group may have cards through the hundred-thousands place. As I mentioned in previous posts I am going to try to incorporate work stations 2 days a week this year. I want to make the change to add a little more spice and variety to my day.

My favorite way to group students for math workshop is to group my very highest students together for their own group, which is not always a popular practice. I found that they did not relate well with my other students and made much larger gains when working with students with a similar ability, and it made it much easier to differentiate. I then have mixed ability groups for the remaining students, and I was surprised to find that new leaders emerge in those groups. During work time students can work with groups, partners, or individually, and the I monitor the class, work with small groups, or meet with individual students.

Closing

This is the time for students to share what they learned, struggled with, or would like to learn more about. They should share HOW they completed their task and allow other students to ask questions and make comments. It is important to focus on the process rather than only if the student got the answer right (which of course is important too). I have learned that I have to have some questions prepared in advance for this time, because the questions asked should promote a deeper thinking and understanding of the concept. It is also important that I clear up any misunderstandings or misconceptions during this time.

It took a while but I finally feel very comfortable with math workshop, and I actually couldn’t imagine teaching any other way! I enjoy working with other teachers to help them implement math workshop in their own classrooms, and I hope to help make the transition much easier for others. When teaching with math workshop my students are engaged and on task, because they too begin to love math. With math workshop, students are able to have meaningful conversations about math and discuss strategies with each other. In this format, teachers can provide extra support to students who need the extra help and can easily challenge those who need to be enriched. I’ve recently listed The Math Workshop Guide on my TpT store, and it includes more than 100 pages that describe and give directions for effectively implementing math workshop in an elementary classroom. This guide explains how to organize your classroom for math workshop, and how to begin math workshop each year. You’ll learn how to form flexible small groups, manage math work stations, and plan for the year. It also explains the parts of math workshop, math workshop resources, self-assessment forms, manipulative labels, and Common Core Standards checklists for math!

I’ve added lots of descriptions about math workshop. I explained each of part of math workshop and gave several different scenarios or examples of mini lessons, work time, and closing. I’ve also included a Word version for any page that you may want to edit or use as a classroom form. There are several rubrics, pacing guides, and lesson plan formats that should be very useful.

I also included LOTS of pictures! I know that sometimes I need to see an example, so I tried to add as many pictures as possible. There are several pages of book lists organized by topic that suggest literature that can be used to teach math, which is great for a mini lesson! There is an entire section devoted to math workstations, which I absolutely love!

There really is more included than I can possibly write about! Along with this product, I’ve included three versions of different math manipulative labels and a projectable math work stations board.

If you have this file and still have questions, please don’t hesitate to send me an email! I know there’s a lot to math instruction, and I want to help as much as possible! I’ve also included a link to a Facebook group you can join where other teachers using my math and reading units will be available for additional support! I’d love to hear about how you teach math and any advice you can give! I feel like there is always room for growth and improvement, which is one of the reasons I love all of my blogger friends! I would have never even considered something like work stations or many other new things without your input.

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I finally finished my new measurement unit where students measure to the nearest one-fourth inch, and it may very well be my new favorite unit.  I’ve always loved teaching measurement, but I didn’t feel like I had a good written plan for teaching it.  I always taught piece by piece, but I wanted to have everything together in one document. Now that it’s summer and I actually had time to sit and develop the unit, I’m more excited that ever about teaching linear measurement.  I’ve upgraded all of my tried and true lessons that I’ve been using for years, and I added several new activities as well.

There are six hands-on lessons where students use a ruler to measure to the nearest one-fourth inch. One of the lessons include Parrot Measurement, where students make parrots (out of paper) and measure how far the parrots can fly. Students will also go on a scavenger hunt and make large cut-outs of their body to measure.

Two of my FAVORITE lessons are the Treasure Map and Build a Pirate Ship. Every year, my students absolutely LOVE these two measurement activities!

There are also several skill building lessons where students practice reading a ruler, converting measurements, completing sorts, and more!

I also added a few lessons where students create and and read a line plot. I integrate graphing all year, but I do emphasize line plots in this unit.

No math unit would be complete without a few games, so I added a couple measurement games. My favorite is Measurement War, where students convert measurements. This skill isn’t explicitly stated in the Common Core Standards, but I’ve found that it helps students understand the subject a little better, and it gives them mental math practice!

If you’re interested, you can check the unit out in my TpT Store!

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Geometry for 3rd graders is such a fun unit to teach, because it easily lends itself to hands-on activities. In my Third Grade Geometry Unit there is a major emphasis are the properties and features of quadrilaterals.

Like most geometry for 3rd graders resources, there is a heavy emphasis on vocabulary. In the unit, I included a vocabulary booklet, with all required key terms. You can print all of the vocabulary words or just the words you want to focus on. I like having students refer to the vocabulary books on a regular basis.

After I’ve taught the basic vocabulary of symmetry, angles, and lines, I teach types of polygons. I like begin by reading Grandfather Tang’s Journey and have students experiment building different shapes with tangrams. I encourage students to embrace the struggle in this activity, because even after teaching this lesson many years, I still can’t build all of the shapes. The purpose of the lesson is in the process and the exploration, not an end result.

Another great geometry for 3rd graders lesson is this activity where students go on a Geometry Scavenger hunt. This always makes learning so much more relevant and memorable to students. You can even have students complete this digitally.

Irregular Polygons

Irregular polygons tend to confuse students, but they’re useful in making sure students truly understand the properties of polygons. In this activity students draw irregular polygons, and it forces students to think outside the box and not to rely on traditional images they have memorized. Instead, students have to focus on the attributes of each shape.

To help students further develop their geometric understanding, students make geometric observations, where they choose two shapes and list what the shapes have in common and the differences between the shapes. Once again, students are required to think about the properties of quadrilaterals, and I like that there is an element of choice in the assignment.

Students also enjoy these geometry riddles, which are always challenging! They’re fun, because students can come up with the criteria for the riddle.

Hierarchy of Quadrilaterals

The hierarchy of quadrilaterals is a complex concept for students. This graphic organizer allows students to see how shapes can have more than one name and which name is the most specific, which is essential for teaching geometry for 3rd graders.

Geometry for 3rd Graders Games

Geometry Concentration

Geometry Culminating Task

Geometry For 3rd Graders – Task Cards

Students continuously review through geometry task cards (included in the unit) and other games such as geometry riddles.

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I’ve created two different Valentine’s Day activities to help make the day fun for your students and a little easier for you!

One fun activity is the Valentine’s Math Activities and Centers Board.

Students are given a Valentines Choice Board where they can complete three activities in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Each of the activities allows students to focus on a different math skill: measurement, geometry, problem solving, etc.  I particularly enjoy the fact that there is little prep work needed. I don’t like to spend tons of time laminating and cutting out a resource  I only use once a year. This time of year my motto is to keep it simple.

Valentines Activities for Big Kids

In this activity, students use Sweetheart candy to make different geometric shapes. For this activity you need several pieces of Sweetheart candy, construction paper, and glue. To complete the activity, choose 5 of the shapes below and create the shape by gluing down the candy. Of course, you could also omit gluing down the candy and let students make the shapes and maybe take a picture of the shapes.

Valentine’s Activities For Big Kids-Memory

Another game is a heart memory game where students match written and numerical versions of three, four, and five digit numbers. Students cut out the hearts and place them face down in the middle of the group. Then, they take turns turning over two hearts at a time until they have a match. If a student finds a match, they keep the cards and go again.

Valentine’s Day Activities for Big Kids-Fractions

You have to have flowers on Valentines Day, so why not let students create some fraction flowers. In this activity, students draw a color a bouquet of flowers with given requirements. For example, three-sixth of the flowers are red. Students must understand there is a total of six flowers. The questions increase in difficulty where students must apply their understanding of equivalent fractions.

Problem Solving

I’m all about problem solving, so I was sure to include an activity that allowed students to apply different problem solving strategies. We’ve worked on these strategies all year, and you can read more about how I teach those strategies here.

Valentines Day Activities for Big Kids-Word Problems

Of course, I didn’t leave out word problems. Those are a must! I like to keep students challenged, so I have students WRITE examples of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division word problems.

Dice and Numbers

This is a fun game for students. Students take turns rolling six dice. Both partners should use the digits rolled to create as many number sentences as possible. Use any operation (addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division). You do not have to use all 6 digits for every problem-you just have to make sure every digit in your number sentence is from one of the dice. Whoever writes the most number sentences wins.

Valentines Day Activities for Big Kids-Graphing

Here’s an activity you can do with some of your extra candy. Have students count the M&Ms and fill in the graph to represent how many of each color M&M are included in the bag. There will be more M&Ms of each color than there are spaces, so students will have to determine the best increment for the graph. Be sure to have students label all parts of the graph.

Valentines Measurement

You can also download a Valentines Measurement packet for FREE! This activity focuses on linear measurement and measurement conversions.

Valentines Village

You are going to LOVE this one. I know I do.

One Last Thing

We have some type of  federal grant so that every student gets a snack each day.  On Valentine’s Day our snack was bananas, and this was what one of my students found.  I thought that was just too cool!

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