Percent Bar Graph

We are right in the middle of our statistics unit. Yesterday we started percent bar graphs.

Here is what I found is the most important thing about bar graphs--use data the students connect to. For this categorical data, I collected it from the students. The day before I had them fill out a google form and for each class I used their data--and a few from the other classes to make it 25 different people. I asked basic questions--favorite color, # of letters in first name, # of pets, # of siblings, etc.

We started with taking these notes I came up with the morning of. I rarely have a full page of notes like this without any foldables/cloze notes for my students with accommodations--but I didn't have time to print something.

HOWEVER, notes like this make me EXTREMELY happy. They are so pretty. Early in my teaching career, I had students just write out notes and every time I would have them admire my/their work.

For the class percent bar graph, we graphed for "How many letters are in your first name?"

After we did it as a class, I gave groups the print out of the data I had collected. They had to choose one question and make a relative frequency table and a percent bar graph. Here are some examples:

The students to that data and tried to find which line was theirs and got so excited about it. Instead of just giving them random numbers to make a graph with, giving them something they can connect to has made the difference. Nobody complained about doing this--the only complaints I got was that they didn't get to help enough. 

Writing and Graphing Inequalities

I had a good week last week, compared to last week. Things were clicking, the students were understanding and I was able to pull small groups on solving equations. 

We started with these cards. I wanted the students to connect the inequality signs with real world situations, so I made this inequality matching set. 

Day 1:

First Sort: I first gave students the cards without the signs. I asked them to come up with a way to sort the cards. They needed to have at least 2 groups and could have as many as they wanted. Some of the ways they sorted them.

• Numbers more than 50 and less than 50 (or some other number). --These groups didn't pay attention to the situations.
• Situations with more than one answer and only one answer. --I didn't expect this one and I was excited to hear it. 
• Situations the were positive or negative--really those that were less than or greater than. 
• Situations which were less than or greater than

I heard so many great conversations among my students as they sorted. 

After their initial sort, we talked about the word inequality and what it means. One girl said that an inequality has more than one answer--a wonderful response. 

Second Sort: After introducing them to each of the signs and learning the new less than/greater than or equal to --I asked them to resort the cards in 5 groups now. This was a little more difficult for them to distinguish when it was equal to and when it wasn't. But as I walked around I got to talk to the students about how to tell the difference by questioning them. 

Day 2:

I used this foldable to sort phrases into which sign they go with. I gave the students the cards back and asked them to look through them to find a phrase like "no more than" and identify which sign it goes with. 

Day 3:

We started writing the inequalities. We did some class practice and I called students to the board and the we added this page to their notebook and they practiced with their groups. 

Day 4: 

We started graphing inequalities. I had some examples on the board that students came up and practiced and then they finished the above page from their notebook.

I ended the week hearing students say this was so easy. Their exit tickets showed that they are understanding this. I know that when we start solving inequalities, it might be a different story though. 

The Inequality Sort Cards are available in my store now. 

Create a City--Coordinate Graphing

This was another project my students did. They had to create a city. I have seen this idea floating around Pinterest for a while. Like the last project, I liked how this had students word backwards then what normally do when practicing graphing. 

The requirements were to have at least four buildings, and one needed to cross the x or y axis. They had to tell me the corners of each building and name at least one point inside it. The could decorate it however they wanted and as much as they wanted. I know that some students don't enjoy being forced to be artistic. I hated that in school. 

Here are some colorful examples. 

Create a picture-Coordinate Graphing

I gave my students a project a few weeks ago and I love how it turned out. Instead of giving them coordinates to make a picture, they drew a picture and then gave me the coordinates. I was not sure what I would get out of them, but I was impressed. I want to tweak how I present the project to the students and once I do that, I'll share what I gave the students. 

They had to include at least 60 coordinate pairs, have at least 5 shapes, and graph in all 4 quadrants. 

Dr. Who anyone?

Interactive Notebook Pages

I have loved the notebook we are doing in class this year. I have a combination of foldables, handwritten notes, and practice. I am actually a little worried we might run out of room before the end of the year. I'm going to have to start watching my pages. 

Here are some of the pages we've done over the last few weeks. 

This was an idea from a co-worker. We use algebra tiles to teach integer operations and having this reminder is good for the students. 

This was one of my favorite lessons of the year. It kind of came together as we went through the lesson. I am going to do another post on it later.