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Line 'Em Up! (Grades 3-5)

Master Teacher

Dr. Elaine McClure

Time Allotment

Four 45-minute periods

Overview

In this lesson students will learn to find

Coordinate points on a grid and create a line graph with those points. This lesson should ideally be used during a unit on various types of graphs. A line graph is generally used to show changes over time and can be very simple or progress to double line graphs.

Cyberchase, a daily, animated adventure television series and multimedia project for students aged 8-11, is about a team of kids on daring missions in Cyberspace. In the lesson Return to Sensible Flats, the kids must use math and brain power to keep the town from drying up. Students are introduced to the concept of line graphs and their usefulness in showing changes over time.

Subject Matter

Mathematics

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

Collect data using experiments and surveys;
Find coordinate points on a grid;
Represent data using a line graph.

South Carolina Standards

Visit SC Standards Web site

Geometry Grades 3-5

Standard II. Specify locations and describe spatial relationships using coordinate geometry and other representational systems.

B. Make and use coordinate systems to specify locations and to describe paths.

Data Analysis and Probability Grades 3-5

Standard I. Formulate questions that can be addressed with data and collect organize and display relevant data to answer them.

B. Collect data using observations, surveys and experiments

C .Represent data using tables and graphs such as line plots, bar graphs, and line graphs.

Standard II. Select and use appropriate statistical methods to analyze data.

C. Compare different representations of the same data and evaluate how well each representation shows important aspects of the data.

Media Components

Video

Cyberchase, Lesson 117: “Return to Sensible Flats.” Sensible Flats is becoming a ghost town because all of the town’s water is disappearing from the reservoir. The kids must find the source of the problem to save the town. At the end of the program is a “real life” application of the concepts presented in the video. It shows a man using his bicycle to go visit his grandmother, using graphs to predict at what time he will arrive at her house.

Web Sites

Chameleon Math
This site provides a step-by step introduction to making a line graph. It uses Sam the chameleon as an instructional tool to teach the basic concepts of line graphs.

What’s the Point
This interactive Web site allows students to match a set of coordinate points to a sample grid. Beyond the “easy” level, knowledge of negative numbers is required.

Graphing 1
This site requires that you obtain a free membership to access lessons. The site provides an excellent step-by-step lesson on line graphs. The site provides animation and numerous games.

How to Construct a Line Graph On Paper
This site provides directions for constructing a line graph as well as practice pages and graph paper for student use.

Materials

Stop Watch
playground ball
notepad and pencil
transparency with a blank table
Vis-à-vis pen
transparency with a blank graph grid
weather data for 10 days

Equipment

computers with Internet access
overhead projector
TV and VCR

Prep for Teachers

Prior to teaching this lesson, bookmark the Web sites used in the lesson on each computer to be used.
Collect newspaper or television weather data for 10 days. Make copies for each group of four students.
Prepare a transparency with a blank table and one with a graph grid.
Collect a stopwatch, vis-à-vis pen and playground ball.
When using media, provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction, a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites, or other multimedia elements.

Introductory Activity (DAY 1)

Step 1: Tell students that today you are going to test the time needed to pass a ball around a circle.

Step 2: Assign a timekeeper and a recorder. Give the timekeeper the stopwatch and the recorder the notepad and pencil.

Step 3: Start with two students standing across from each other (Note to Teacher: You will eventually have all students in the circle so this activity is best done in an open space or outdoors).

Step 4: When the timekeeper says “go,” the student holding the ball hands it to the second student. The timekeeper will give the number of seconds to complete the activity to the recorder. The recorder will record the number of students involved and the number of students in the group on the notepad.

Step 5: Add two more students to the circle and repeat the process. Record that time.

Step 6: Continue the experiment adding two students at a time and recording the time elapsed each time the ball reaches the last student until everyone has been added to the circle. If the ball is dropped, simply start over and disregard that time.

Step 7: Have students return to their seats. Using the overhead projector and the table transparency, record all data. Give students a copy of the table (see Activity Sheet 1). Have them copy the data to their own table. Point out to students that this process organizes their data into a simple, easy to understand format.

Step 8: Tell students that the next step will be to use the table to make a graph showing the results of their experiment. This will be done as part of the Learning Activity.

Learning Activities (Day 2)

Step 1: Insert the Cyberchase program, “Return to Sensible Flats,” and cue it to 3:33 where the kids say, “What’s the story sheriff?” They are standing on top of the reservoir. This is where you want to start the video with the class.

(Note to Teacher: Zero out the counter on your VCR to use the time cues indicated here. The timing mechanism on different brands of VCRs can vary; so, preview the video first to make sure you go to the right segments.)

Step 2: Provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction by telling them “You are going to see a video segment that involves a new adventure for the Cyberchase kids. Make a note of what the problem is in Sensible Flats.”(The town is running out of water.)

Step 3: START the video. The sheriff explains to the kids that the water in the reservoir has been dropping and the town is almost out of water. When they ask for details, they go to his office where the kids find an unorganized list of water levels. STOP the video at 5:08 after you hear “How can we use the dates to tell us the story?”

Step 4: Discuss the problem in the story. Ask for suggestions on the final question in the segment.

Step 5: Provide a Focus for Media Interaction by telling the students to watch the next segment to determine the Cyberchase kids’ solution to organizing the data.

Step 6: RESTART the video at 5:08. The Cyberchase kids plot the coordinates on the side of the water reservoir. STOP the video (6:38) after the sheriff says, “those there dots don’t tell me anything” and the deputy agrees.

Step 7: Place the transparency table from the Introductory Activity on the overhead.

Using a transparency with a grid superimposed (See Graph Paper Grid at the end of this lesson.), tell the students that they are going to learn about the coordinate plane. Point out the x-axis, the y-axis and the center (origin).

Step 8: Using the data from the Introductory Activity, plot the data on the grid. After a few points are graphed, have students come to the overhead and try out the plotting. (Note to Teacher: Do not connect the dots.)

Step 9: Provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction by telling them “In this segment, the kids will show you how they made sense out of the dots on the grid. Watch to find out when the water level started dropping in Sensible Flats.” (Around the 7th of the month)

Step 10: RESTART the video at the last cue (6:38). STOP the video at 7:30 when the graph is complete and one of the kids states “there’s the story, something major happened around the seventh.”

Step 11: Ask the students for their answers to the focus question. Using the overhead transparency with the coordinates plotted earlier, connect the points to make a line graph.

Step 12: Cue the video to 11:48 where the kids hear a banjo playing. Provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction by telling them “In this segment you will meet a new Sensible Flats character who has fish doing a rain dance to fill up the lake. Make a note of the two ways that a line graph can be used.”(to show changes over time and to predict the future changes)

Step 13: START the video and STOP it at 13:35 after the kids say that they still don’t know what’s happening to the water draining from the lake. Ask the students for their answers to the focus question.

Step 14: Complete the day’s activities by showing the video from 17: 00 when the kids think they have solved the problem.

Provide a Focus for Media Interaction by telling students to watch the conclusion of the mysterious disappearance of Sensible Flats’ water. How is another line graph used to predict and prevent a disaster? (The kids plot how fast the water is rising in the reservoir and prevent it from flooding the town.) STOP the video at 22:00 when the sheriff thanks the kids for saving the town. Allow students to answer the focus question.

Day 3

Step 1: Take the students to a computer lab or group them for classroom computer use.

Step 2: Tell the students that today they will learn more about plotting points on a grid, so that they can make line graphs. Tell them that they can locate the three sites Chameleon Graphing, What’s the Point? and How to Construct a Line Graph by looking in their bookmarks.

Step 3: Chameleon Graphing is located at http://mathforum.org/cgraph/cplane/intro.html. This site uses Sam, the chameleon, to guide students through an introduction to understanding plotting coordinate points. Provide students a Focus for Media Interaction by telling them that they are to read the computer lesson and focus on the graphic displays to reinforce the vocabulary they have learned as well as the steps in plotting coordinate points. Allow students 10 minutes to complete the activity.

(Note to teachers: Math Dork Interactive Math provides an excellent substitute for the above site, but does require registering for a free membership in order to access all of their math lessons and games.

Some facilities allow students to each register or you could register and use your user name and password for all students. This site is animated and more interactive than Chameleon Graphing.)

Step 4: What’s the Point? This site provides practice for students to master plotting coordinate points. At the “easy” level, only positive numbers are used. “Harder” and “challenging” levels use negative numbers. Provide a Focus for Media Interaction by telling students that they are to begin at the easy level. If they get all questions correct, they may try easy again or proceed to harder coordinates.

Step 5: Allow students 15 minutes to complete the activity.

Step 6: Provide students with a blank table worksheet and blank graph grid (Activity Sheet 3 and Graph Paper Grid) for the next Web site. How to Construct a Line Graph is located at http://www.howe.k12.ok.us/~jimaskew/bgraph.htm. This Web site will give students step-by-step directions for plotting points and constructing a line graph. Provide a Focus for Media Interaction by telling students to follow directions carefully and to complete one table or graph from Practice 5a, 5b or 5c.

Step 7: Collect student practice tables and graphs after 20 minutes.

Culminating ActivitY (Day 4)

Step 1: Announce to students that today they will become weather forecasters. Each group needs a recorder.

Step 2: Distribute copies of the past 10 days weather reports and Activity Sheet 2 to each group.

Step 3: Tell each group to arrange their weather reports in order by date.

Step 4: Assign a different weather fact to each group (high temperature, low temperature, precipitation, humidity, barometric pressure, UV Index, wind speed etc.).

Step 5: Using the overhead projector and a blank table, model inputting heat index over the past 10 days into the appropriate areas of the table (wind chill will be more appropriate for colder seasons).

Step 6: Using the overhead projector and the blank grid, model finding coordinate points for each of the daily indices. Be sure to use appropriate vocabulary and demonstrate how to determine the correct variables for the x and y axis, as well as proper intervals for the y-axis. Give your graph a name.

Step 7: Remind students that a line graph is most used to show changes over time. The recorder for each group should enter the appropriate data on their table.

Step 8: Tell each group that they will produce a line graph to illustrate the data from their table. In order to show the ability of a line graph to allow prediction, tell the students to predict the next two days data and plot it on their graph as well. Students may make their graph as colorful as possible.

Step 9: Collect graphs at the end of the class period, mount on construction paper and display on a bulletin board.

Cross-Curricular Extensions

Science: Almost all scientific investigations use line graphs to report data. During a study of plant growth, for example, students may record weekly growth statistics and graph them at the end of the study.

Language Arts: Students can graph the number of books read by each member of the class during a month or grading period. The school’s media specialist can provide statistics for the number of books checked out by grade level over a month’s period. These can be used for producing a line graph to compare media center usage among grade levels.

Technology: Students may use Create a Graph located at http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/graphing/ to produce a line graph of data graphed earlier which can be printed, matted and posted in the classroom.

Social Studies: Students may use population data from their social studies book to show how the population of the U.S has grown since the 1600s.

Community Connections

Invite a meteorologist to visit the class and discuss how the past can be used in predicting future weather.
The owner or manager of a business could be invited to bring and show models of line graphs used to track sales records.
A representative of a recycling agency could be available to discuss not only the benefits of recycling, but could also share information on the increase in the amount of materials being recycled.

Student Materials

Copies of Activity Sheets 1, 2, 3 and 4
Copies of 10 days weather reports
pencils
straight edge ruler
crayons, markers