- This lesson plan is designed for third grade and it involves creating a bar graph. I know that students at this point of their school years have many experiences with different kinds of graphs such as pictographs and tally charts. The students are already familiar with gathering data—for example, in class surveys, they have been asked to raise their hand if a dog is their favorite animal or if baseball is their favorite sport.
- They learned how to gather and organize data from such surveys into tally charts. Then, using the tally charts, they learned to display the data in picture graphs and bar graphs. Once the students have reviewed these skills, they will be ready to learn to analyze and compare data at a more advanced level. This lesson will be their first experiences using the interactive website to create a bar graph.
- We will ask questions such as:
What is a tally graph?
How is it used and how is it helpful?
What is a pictograph?
Why and how do we use it?
2. Plans Instruction
- Our lesson is based off two 3rd grade Arizona State Math Standards, S2C1PO1 and S2C1PO2, and one Arizona State Technology Standard, S6C2PO3. Our lesson plan lists all three standards and our two main objectives of the lesson.
- We will state our objectives before instruction begins; so that the students know what they should be able to do by the end of the lesson. Our goals for this lesson are appropriate for 3rd grade students because we are using 3rd grade standards, teaching through an I do, we do, you do format, and pairing students up for the ending activity, to support each other’s use of technology.
3. Designing Instruction
- Our instructional design is contextually and logically organized because our lesson plan flows from stating our objectives, to our anticipatory set, to reviewing bar graphs, to creating a bar graph together as a class, before lastly assigning students to create their own bar graphs in pairs. We will check for understanding and correctness of work while students are creating their graphs whole class as well as in pairs.
- Our assessing prior knowledge and anticipatory set will engage students in answering questions through the use of higher order thinking skills. Students will work on the first graph as a whole class and their second graph and question worksheet as pairs. Our instructional method will follow the I do, we do, you do format. Individual needs will be met as needed, we have pre-determined our differentiated instruction for our ELL students, gifted students, special education students, and at-risk students.
- Our lesson integrates technology from a constructivist perspective through the interactive graph generator website we will be using. Students are creating their own graphs to show what they have learned, instead of just answering question on graph definitions, vocabulary, and uses.
4. Planning Assessment
- Informal assessment will be happening throughout the lesson, observing students as they are working on their bar graph and other assignments.
- Our provided questionnaire will provide some overview and comparison of the bar graph for the students. Answering these questions will help them to analyze and compare their findings. We will check if the students completed the questionnaire and if they answered them correctly according to their bar graphs.
- Another way to assess students overall performance is by our provided rubric. Rubric is a great tool to give students a detailed feedback on their assignment.
