MY FAVORITE BIRTHDAY/PARTY PLAN(Managing Data)
Grades K-2

Skills and Objectives:

*  Students will learn about collecting data.
*  Students will see how data can be organized and displayed in a simple chart.
*  Students will understand how to use data to plan for a class party.

MY FAVORITE BIRTHDAY

Suggested Groupings-Small groups

Getting Started:

*  Explain to students that by taking a census, the government collects information.  Students will
   have a chance to collect information too.  The information they collect will be about each
   student's birthday.

Using the Activity Worksheet:

1. Distribute copies of the Lesson 5A Activity Worksheet (page 16) to your students.
   *  Discuss with students the many different ways to celebrate someone's birthday.  Ask them to
      draw and color in a picture of a favorite birthday party, either their own or a celebration
      they've been to, or one that they can imagine.

2. Take a survey of student birthdays.  Explain that a survey is when you ask the same question
   of many people and then add up their answers.  Discuss that the census is a type of survey.
   *  List the twelve months of the year on the board and, as you go around the room to each
      student, tally their responses.

3. Use the birthday data that you have collected to create a birthday chart or calendar on a
   bulletin board or poster board.  Have students help by making a symbol (a balloon or birthday
   candle) to represent each student's birthday.

Wrapping Up:

*  Review the chart you have created with your students.  Reinforce how charts make it easier to
   understand information about a number of different people or things.


PARTY PLAN

Suggested Groupings-Whole class, individuals

Getting Started:

*  Discuss with students that the census helps us plan what we will need in the future by asking
   people about their lives today.  The art exercise they are about to begin will help the class
   plan and be ready for an all-students' birthday party.

Using the Activity Worksheet:

1. Photocopy and distribute the Lesson 5B Activity Worksheet (page 17) to your class.
   *  Direct students to color and decorate the party hat according to your instructions.  For each
      of the twelve months, tell those students with birthdays in that month to color and decorate
      their hat in a particular way (i.e. January birthdays make blue hats with red stars; June
      birthdays make yellow hats with orange stripes).

   *  Take a "hat census." Go through the list of twelve different hat designs and tally on the
      board the number of students that now have each type of hat.

Wrapping Up:

*  Explain that the class will choose one day for a party to celebrate all of the students'
   birthdays.  You can use the data from the class "hat census" to make real party hats for the
   celebration.  The colors you use will represent all the different months in which students
   celebrate their birthdays.

Chalkboard Definition

chart: a drawing, graph, or picture that shows information in a way that makes it easy to
       understand.



Lesson 5A Activity Worksheet

MY FAVORITE BIRTHDAY

*  Draw a picture of a favorite birthday party-yours or a friend's, or one that you've imagined.

My birthday is on _____.



Lesson 5B Activity Worksheet

PARTY PLAN

*  Here's a birthday pary hat.  Your teacher will ask you for your birthday month and then tell
   you what color your had should be.  Next, use a crayon or marker to color in your hat.



GETTING THERE(Managing Data)
Grades 3-4

Skills and Objectives:

*  Students will use whole-number addition to interpret a pictograph.
*  Students will collect data and present it in their own pictograph.

Suggested Groupings-Individuals, partners

Getting Started:

*  Introduce the lesson by telling students that the Census Bureau counts the number of people
   in this country, then tallies the information and displays it in charts and graphs.  If
   possible, show them the actual census form to demonstrate the kind of information that is
   gathered.

*  Explain that, in this lesson, students will practice reading a certain kind of graph, a
   pictograph.  They will then gather information and create their own pictograph.  Ask your
   students:
   *  What kind of information does the census gather? (Possible answers: data on families,
      homes, jobs, etbnicity, etc.)

Using the Activity Worksheet:

1. Distribute copies of the Lesson 6A Activity Worksheet (page 19) to your class.
   *  If necessary, go over the pictograph to make sure students understand it.  Then have
      students work by themselves or with a partner to answer the questions.

2. Explain that students will be taking a survey to discover how students travel to school.
   You may wish to write the survey totals on the chalkboard.  Use the most popular answers to
   help students select three travel symbols to draw for their graphs, such as "subway," "bus,"
   and "bicycle." The fourth label should be "other."  Ask student volunteers to name some kinds
   of transportation that belong under the label "other." Explain that the kinds of transportation
   that are practical and available can vary greatly depending on the region, town, or city in
   which students live.

3. Distribute the Lesson 6B Activity Worksheet (page 20) to individual students or partners.
   *  Direct students to illustrate their rows in a way that is similar to the pictograph on
      page 19.  Encourage them to come up with creative symbols to represent a student in their
      class.

Wrapping Up:

*  Have students compare their pictographs.  What is the same or different about everyone's
pictograph?

*  How does a pictograph make it easy to compare numbers? (Instead of totaling numbers, you can
   just look to see which row has the most pictures.)

Extension Activities:

1. Have students find examples of pictographs in books, newspapers, and magazines and present
   them to the class.

2. Invite students to gather other types of information and display them in pictographs.
   Suggestions include class birthday months, sports students play, or the type of pets students
   have.

3. Have students send a survey to students in another part of the country.  After they tally the
   results, they will be able to compare methods of traveling to school in different parts of
   the country.

Answers:

Pages 19:
1. Two students in Ms. Rivera's class.
2. Most students traveled to school on foot.
3. 27.

Page 20:
Graphs will vary.

Chalkboard Definition

pictograph: a graph that uses pictures to stand for a number of people or things.



Lesson 6A Activity Worksheet

GETTING THERE

*  How do students get to school?  The pictograph below shows how the students in Ms. Rivera's
   class travel to school.  In a pictograph, pictures stand for a certain number of things or
   people.


How Ms. Rivera's Students Travel to School

On Foot(six smiley faces pictured)

By Car(three and a half smiley faces pictured)

By Bus(four smiley faces pictured)

Pictograph Key

(smiley face pictured)= 2 students in Ms. Rivera's class

Use the pictograph to answer the questions.

1. What does a (smiley face pictured) stand for on the pictograph?

2. How do most of Ms. Rivera's students get to school?

3. How many students are there in Ms. Rivera's class?


*  How do you and your classmates travel to school?  Your teacher will help you find out.  Then
   use that information to make a pictograph.

Create your pictograph below.  First label the left column with pictures of the different kinds
of transportation.  Next draw a picture to represent one student from your class.  Put it in the
key.  Then fill in each row by drawing in the correct number of pictures.

(graph and key drawn)

How My Class Travels to School

Key