5.9(A): Represent categorical data with bar graphs or frequency tables and…
Represent categorical data with bar graphs or frequency tables and numerical data with dot plots or stem-and-leaf plots. Students draw bar graphs of class reaction times.
The Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Mathematics outcome 5.9(A) (Data analysis) for Grade 5 says: “Represent categorical data with bar graphs or frequency tables and numerical data with dot plots or stem-and-leaf plots. Students draw bar graphs of class reaction times.” This Fieldbook unit teaches it hands-on, with everyday materials and a printable teacher guide and student sheet for every lesson. Official wording: Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) for Mathematics.
Data Detectives Grade 5
How fast are our reflexes? Which graph is telling the truth? Do taller people really have bigger hands? Three lessons where students collect their own measurements and find out what numbers can and can't tell you.
- How fast are our reaction times? 50–60 min
Partners drop a ruler and catch it, five times with their writing hand and five times with the other hand. Students find the mean, median and range of their own catches and the class's, then decide whether our writing hand really is quicker.
- Which graph tells the truth? 50–60 min
Teams take the class's reaction-time results and draw two bar graphs of exactly the same numbers: one honest, one built to exaggerate. Then they hunt for the same tricks in a set of sneaky graphs and fix an advertisement's chart.
- Do taller people have bigger hands? 50–60 min
Students measure height and hand span, plot every person as one point on a scatter plot, and draw a trend line by eye. They decide whether taller people tend to have bigger hands, and learn the difference between a trend and a rule.
More Texas Grade 5 math outcomes we teach
Every Texas Grade 5 math standards outcome we teach
Every unit matched to Texas's curriculum · All places and curricula
Three full lessons, free
Make a free account and download any three Fieldbook lessons as printable PDFs. No card needed.