My Big Book of Graphs - Project Based Learning


We just finished our graphing unit. The children were loving the activities we did throughout the unit but were dying…..I mean dying…..to make their own graphs. That is how My Own Book of Graphs was born. 

At the end of math on a Friday, I asked them to think about a question they would like to ask 8 friends in a survey. Immediately, they began turning to one another and sharing their thoughts. In knew they were going to love this project.

Before they walked out the door, I told them what we would be doing on Monday. My heart was singing when several said they couldn't wait for Monday! 

I decided we would publish the project as a book. Each kiddo picked his or her favorite color of construction paper then colored and glued the cover on the front. This little sweetie is very, very careful and didn't quite finish coloring. 


Page 1: Tally Chart - The kiddos wrote the definition of a tally chart in their own words and then wrote their survey question. 
The survey question for my friend here was What is your favorite flower? 
I asked them to come up with 3 choices. The choices for this question were tiger lily, rose, or sunflower. 
After everyone was ready, they surveyed 8 friends in the class. Loved watching them buzz around the room. 



Page 2 and 3: Picture Graph and Bar Graph - Each kiddo used the data they gathered during their survey and created a picture graph and bar graph with a title for each. 





Page 4: Line Graph Data Recording Sheet - We also learned about line graphs and how they show changes over time. I used jumping jacks to help the kiddos collect data for their line graph. 


Page 5: Line Graph- We used the data to create our line graph. Before labeling our Y-axis, we looked at our data  and decided what we would use for our scale. This kiddo knew his highest recording was 16 and that he could count by 2s for his scale. This line graph doesn't go with data above!


Page 7: Writing - The last page incorporated writing about their process. I gave them a First, Next, Then, Last frame. 
Before writing, the kiddos verbally helped me with the process. Next, they turned to a neighbor and shared what they would write. Then, they were off to write. I feel it is very important for them to communicate the process in order to solidify the concepts in their mind. 


I love what this little sweetie wrote….."I wrote, and wrote, and wrote eight sentences…"..They are so honest!


I am so proud of their work, and they loved having choice in their survey question. 

Check it out in my TPT store! 





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