Design for Learning

Instructor: Catherine Keeter

Lesson Title: Line Plot Review
Curriculum Area: Math

Grade Level/Cooperating Teacher: 3rd, Ingram

Date: April 15th, 2016
Estimated Time: 45 minutes

Standards Connection:
Generate measurement data by measuring lengths using rulers marked with halves and fourths of
an inch. Show the data by making a line plot where the horizontal scale is marked off in
appropriate units whole numbers, halves, or quarters. [3-MD4]
Learning Objective(s):
When given a series of questions about a line plot, students will interpret the line plot answering
at least six out of seven questions correctly.
Learning Objective(s) stated in kid-friendly language:
Today boys and girls, we are going to review line plots. We will discuss how to interpret line
plots to understand the information they are trying to tell us. At the end of the lesson you will
answer some questions about line plots and will interpret the information displayed on the line
plot.
Evaluation of Learning Objective(s):
Students will be assessed by their ability to correctly interpret a line plot. The students will be
given a line plot along with seven questions about the line plot. Students who correctly answer six
out of seven questions correctly will be considered proficient and will be placed in the yellow
group. Students who correctly answer seven out of seven questions will be placed in the green
group and will be considered for enrichment. Students who correctly answer five or less of the
questions will be placed in the red group and will be pulled aside for intervention.
Engagement:
Okay class, today we will be reviewing line plots! We have been talking about line plots all
week, who can tell me what a line plot is? Example student response: Line plots are a type of
graph. Youre right, great job! Line plots are graphs that display data on a number line. We
are going to interpret some line plots today. Can anyone tell me what interpret means?
Example student response: Interpret means to figure out what the plot is trying to tell us. Yes
that is a great definition! Today we will look at line plots and we will interpret them to
figure out what they mean. On Monday I asked you guys what you would like to know
about the Samford teachers here at Tarrant. I brought in some information about the
teachers and I am going to show you what I found. I am going to display some line plots on
the smart board. If you are not able to view the smart board from your desk you may
quietly move to sit in front of the board where you can see. Students move in front of smart
board or stay at their desks. Here is the first line plot I have for you. Teacher places line plot
under projector so students can see it. This is a line plot of the amount of siblings Samford
teachers have. I have three brothers. Where would I have drawn an x on this line plot?
Example student response: Above the three! Yes, you are right! How many other Samford
teachers have three siblings? Example student response: Two! Yes, good job! Here is the
second line plot I have for you. Teacher places line plot under projector so students can see it.
This is a line plot of the amount of pets Samford teachers have. How many teachers have
eight pets? Example student response: One. Yes, good job! Only one Samford teacher has
eight pets. Thats a lot of pets. The teacher who has eight pets is Ms. Bolt. Ms. Bolt has four

dogs, one cat, and three fish. Teacher places line plot under projector so students can see it.
Here is the third line plot I have for you. This is a line plot of the Samford teachers favorite
sports. Teacher places line plot under projector so students can see it. What sport or sports are
the most popular among Samford teachers? Example student response: Football and softball!
Thats right! The Samford teachers also like rowing, cross country, swimming, basketball,
and volleyball. Here is the last line plot I have for you. Teacher places a piece of paper with
numbers under the projector. This is the data from the last number plot. Teacher transitions to
teaching.
Learning Design:
I. Teaching:
Uh oh! We have all of these numbers and no line plot! Lets make a line plot together using
this data! Everyone is going to receive a white board and a marker. You will also receive an
eraser. If we run out of erasers you will receive a tissue. A tissue works just as well as an
eraser! Student A will you please give everyone a white board? Student B will you please
give everyone a maker and eraser? If you are sitting in front of the smart board please
quietly make your way back to your seats. Students begin passing out supplies to the rest of the
class. Students move back to their seats. Once you have received all of your supplies give me a
thumbs up that you are ready to go. Teacher waits for students to get settled and scans the
classroom for thumbs up. Okay, the first step in making our line plot is to create a title. The
numbers you see on the smart board are the number of letters in the Samford teachers
names. What do you think a good title for our line plot would be? Example student response:
Letters in the Samford Teachers names. Yes that sounds great! Lets write the title at the top
of our whiteboard. I am going to write this on the whiteboard at the front of the classroom
and I want you to write the title at the top of your mini whiteboard at your desk. Teacher
and students write the title on their whiteboard. Next we need a line for our line plot! Lets all
draw a line at the bottom of our whiteboards. Teacher and students draw a line on their
whiteboards. Okay we have a title and a line so we need to start placing our numbers! Before
we draw xs to show how many of each number we have we need to put all of the numbers
on the number line. We need to start with our lowest number on the number line. Raise
your hand if you can tell me the lowest number from our data on the smart board. Example
student response: Four! Yes youre right it is four! Lets write the number four on the far left
of the line on our whiteboard. Make sure you put a tally on the line and then write the
number four below it. Teacher models placing a tally on the line and then writes the number
four. Writing the number directly below the tally will help to keep our line plot organized!
Teacher gives student time to write the number four on their white boards. Now lets place our
highest number at the end of our number line. Who can tell me the highest number from
our data? Example student response: Nine. You are right it is nine! Lets write the number
nine at the end of our lines. Teachers and students write the number nine on their whiteboards.
Now we need to fill in all of the numbers in the middle! If you look at our data you will see
there are no eights. No Samford teacher has a name with eight letters. Even though no one
has eight letters in their name we will still include the number eight on our number line. So
between the numbers four and nine we will be filling in the numbers five, six, seven, and
eight. Lets write these numbers in on our whiteboards. When you are done writing the
numbers on your number line hold your white boards in the air for me to check them.
Teacher and students write on the whiteboards. Teacher checks white boards that students have
held up and corrects any student misconceptions. Great job so far guys! Now we need to mark
how many names are made up with how many letters with xs! Remember that each x
equals one name. How many names had four letters? Everyone take a moment to look at
our data on the smart board to see how many fours there are. Teacher gives students time to

look at the data. How many names have four letters? Example student response: Two. Yes,
great! So we will draw two xs over the number four. Teacher and students draw xs on their
whiteboards. Who can tell me how many Samford Teachers have five letters in their name?
Example student response: One! Correct! Lets draw one x above the number five. Teacher
and students draw xs on their whiteboards. Who can tell me how many Samford teachers
have six letters in their names? Example student response: Three! Yes good job! Lets draw
three xs over the number six. Teacher and students draw xs on their whiteboards. What about
seven letters? Who can tell me how many Samford teachers have seven letters in their
name? Example student response: Three! Yes, great job! Lets draw three xs over the
number seven. Teacher and students draw xs on their whiteboards. How many Samford
teachers have eight letters in their names? Example student response: Zero. Youre right! If
no Samford teachers had eight letters in their name, how many xs will we draw over the
number eight? Example student response: None! Thats right. No one had eight letters in
their name so we will draw no xs over eight. How many Samford teachers had nine letters
in their name? Example student response: One. Yes! Lets draw one x over the number nine.
Teacher and students draw xs on their whiteboards. Everyone hold up your whiteboards so I
can see your line plots! Students hold up their whiteboards and teacher scans for student
understanding and corrects any mistakes she may see. Lets double check our line plots! There
are ten Samford teachers at Tarrant Intermediate. If we add all of our xs up will we get
ten? I am going to count my xs in each column and write how many there are above the
column. Each x equals one person. Two people had names with four letters, one person had
a name with five letters, three people had names with six letters, three people had names
with seven letters, zero people had names with eight letters, and one person had a name
with nine letters. Teacher counts the columns and writes the numbers on her white board as she
counts aloud to the students. Lets add up each column. This would be 2+1+3+3+1. Everyone
solve this on your whiteboards and hold up your answer when you are done. Students solve
the problem and hold up whiteboards. Great! You are all correct! It is ten, so we placed xs for
each of the Samford teachers at Tarrant Intermediate! Now lets interpret our line plot!
How many letters did the most amount of Samford teachers have in their name? Example
student response: Six and seven! Yes, how were you able to figure this out? Example student
response: I looked at the line plot. Good job! To figure out how many letters most of the
Samford teachers have in their name we would look to see which line or lines has the most
xs. How many letters did the least amount of Samford teachers have in their name? If you
think you know write the number or numbers somewhere on your white board and circle it,
then hold it up for me to see. Students write answers on white boards and display them for the
teacher to see. The least amount of Samford teachers had five or nine letters in their name.
We know this because there is only one x above our five and one x above our nine. No
teachers had eight letters in their name so eight does not count. We are looking for the least
amount of xs. How many more teachers had seven letters in their name than five letters in
their name? How would we solve this problem? Example student response: We would have to
subtract the amount of teachers who had five letters in their name from the amount of teachers
that had seven letters in their name. Yes, youre right! Work this problem on your
whiteboards and put your whiteboards in the air to show me your answers. Students work
problems on the white board and put them in the air to show the teacher. Two more Samford
teachers have names with seven letters than the teachers with five letters. We figured this
out because three Samford teachers have seven letters in their name and one Samford
teacher has five letters in their name. So we did three minus one and got two. How many
Samford teachers have either nine, six, or four letters in their name? Work this out on your
whiteboards and show me your answers in the air when you are ready. Students work
problems on the white board and show the teacher in the air. Student C, you said six Samford
teachers had either nine, six or four letters in their name. How did you get your answer?

Example student response: I added up the amount of teachers who had nine, six, or four letters
in their name. Great job, six is the right answer! One teacher had nine letters in their name,
two teachers had four letters in their name, and three teachers had seven letters in their
name, so we did 1+2+3 to get six! Great job working on this line plot you guys! Please erase
your whiteboards now. Student A please gather the whiteboards and Student B please
gather up the dry erase markers and the erasers. Teacher transitions to practice.
II. Opportunity for Practice:
Okay class. We are now going to practice interpreting line plots with a partner! We will be
playing a game called Lucky Number Roll! Every partner pair will receive a dice and this
sheet of paper. Teacher holds up the Lucky Number Roll sheet for students to recognize. This
sheet explains all of the instructions! Each partner pair will be given one dice and each
person in the pair will receive the Lucky Number Roll sheet. You and your partner will take
turns rolling the dice. You will each record the numbers you roll on the Lucky Number Roll
sheet. As you can see there is a line plot on this sheet with no recorded numbers. Teacher
points to blank line plot for students to recognize. After you roll the dice you will mark an X on
the graph to represent the number you just rolled. For example, if I were to roll a three I
would mark an X above the line that says three. Teacher draws a line plot on the white board
and marks an X over the three for students to see. The dice will be rolled fifteen times and each
time it is rolled you and your partner will record the number the dice lands on on your line
plot. After you have rolled the dice fifteen times and have plotted the numbers the dice
landed on you will answer the questions at the bottom of the page. These questions ask
specifically about the line plot that you can your partner made. Everyone will have different
answers because everyone will roll the dice differently and will create a line plot that is
different from the other partner pairs. Does anyone have any questions? Teacher answers
any questions that the students may have. Okay, I am now going to start dividing you into
pairs. When you have your partner you may work anywhere in the classroom as long as you
are being respectful of others around you. Student A, will you please pass out the Lucky
Number Roll sheets? Student A begins passing out the sheets. Once you receive your sheet and
your partner you may grab a dice and get started. Please turn in your papers to me, put up
your dice, and return to your desk when you are done. If you get done early you may work
on memorizing your multiplication facts. Teacher begins to divide students into pairs and
students gather supplies and begin working. The teacher walks around the classroom as the
students are working to monitor their understanding of line plots. Teacher transitions to
assessment.
III. Assessment
Okay class, I now want to see how well you can interpret line plots on your own! I am going
to be giving everyone this sheet of paper. Teacher holds up assessment paper for students to
recognize. There is a line plot on this paper along with seven questions about the line plot.
You will use your knowledge of line plots to interpret the line plot and answer the questions
about it. Every question on this page can be answered by looking at the line plot. Does
anyone have any questions? Teacher answers any questions that the students may have. I am
going to start handing out the line plot sheets now. Remember your work on this sheet is
independent. As soon as you receive your sheet you may start working. When you have
finished you will turn your sheet in to me. You will have ten minutes to complete this. If you
get done early you may work on your multiplication facts. Teacher passes out assessment
sheets and students begin working.

IV. Closure:

Great job working today class! To review what we learned today I am going to play you the
This is Why I Graph song. You can dance and sing along to the song if you want. The
words will be displayed on the smart board. If you are sitting in row one you may quietly
walk and stand in front of the smart board. Teacher continues to call rows three, four, and five
and students walk to stand in front of the smart board. As you listen to the song, think about
reasons why someone may want to create a line plot. Teacher plays the This is Why I Graph
song for students. Students dance and sing along to the song.
Materials and Resources:
Dice
Luck Number Roll practice sheets
Dry erase markers
White board
Spelling Test Scores assessment sheets
Pencils
Smart board
Projector
Mini white boards
Erasers
Tissues
Pan
Magnets
Line plot outline
Paper
Samford Teacher Data engagement line plots
Samford teacher letter numbers
This is Why I Graph closure song
o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj2CF1XQDMY&nohtml5=False
Differentiation Strategies (including plans for individual learners):
Red: The students in the red group will be pulled aside individually by the teacher. The teacher
will have a metal pan and a magnet line plot outline. The student and teacher will create the range
of the line plot by adding number magnets to the bottom of the plot online. The student and
teacher will discuss that the line plot scores cant go outside of this range. The teacher and student
will add x magnets to the line plot to represent the amount of each number scored. The teacher
and student will discuss that each x magnet equals one of the number it is placed above. The
teacher will create a number plot on the pan and will ask the students interpretation questions.
The students will be able to use the magnets as maniuplatives to understand and solve the
questions.
Green: The teacher will challenge students in the green group by giving them qualities of a line
plot (ex: the range is 1-6, three more kids are in sixth grade than in first grade, there are thirty
students at the school) and the students will be asked to create three different line plots that
represent the characteristics given. Each line plot must be different from each other but they all
must match the teacher given characteristics.
Data Analysis:

12 out of 24 students were proficient on the assessment. Ten of the students correctly answered
six out of seven of the questions and two students correctly answered seven out of seven
questions. Twelve students answered five out of seven or less of the questions correctly. On the
assessment the students struggled with questions 5 and 7. These questions asked students to
compare scores and asked how many more people scored a certain score than another. The
students were able to correctly answer questions that asked how many people scored a certain
score and what score was scored the most.
Reflection:
I think this lesson went well! The students really enjoyed writing on their dry erase boards. I feel
as if everyone was engaged and involved throughout the entirety of the lesson. The students were
also excited to see the answers to the questions they asked me graphed for them and enjoyed
working in partners. Based on the results of the assessment I feel as if a good portion of the
students understand line plots but I feel as if the class as a whole needs for instruction and
practice on comparing line plots.

Samford University
Design for Learning

Name______________

Lucky Number Roll

Instructions:
Roll a six-sided die 15 times
Record the number rolled on the line plot graph
Remember to put the X symbol to show the
number of times values occur
Answer the questions about the line plot you have
created
Have fun!!

1. What number did you roll the most? ___

2. How many times did you roll this number? ___
3. How many times did you roll a three? ___
4. What number did you roll the least? ___
5. How many times did you roll a number more than twice? ___
6. What is the sumof all of the numbers that you rolled? ___