Lesson Plan: Math K-2 Sorting and Graphing Animals

ProQuest Standards-Based Learning Activity

Sorting & Graphing Animals

Teacher Procedures

Appropriate For: Science, Grades K-2

Timeline: Two to three class periods

Science Standards Addressed Through This Lesson

National Standards | Mathematics Level I (Grades K-2)

Understands and applies basic and advanced concepts of statistics and data analysis.
Understands that observations about objects or events can be organized and displayed in simple graphs.

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Learning Expectations/Objectives

Students will use SIRS Discovereror eLibrary Elementaryto find pictures and information about animals.
Students will sort the animals in various ways.
Students will learn to use graphs as a way to organize information.

Materials

Computer with access to SIRS Discoverer or eLibrary Elementary and a printer
Printer paper
Pencils or colored pencils or markers
Large pieces of chart paper

Activity Process: Directions to the Teacher

Description of Activity

Students will find a mammal, reptile, fish, insect or bird withProQuest resources and use the information to sort the animals in various ways. They will learn to use graphs as a way to organize information.

Background Information/Scenario

In this lesson, students will be working with graphs. It is important that the children understand the definitions and uses of graphs before starting this activity. Go to the following URLs for good definitions and examples of graphs. For good explanation of graphs, click this pair of links:

Teachers should think about doing a few simple graphs with the students before beginning. For example, they can graph the months in which birthdays fall in the class, graph the color of eyes or hair in the class, etc.

** This lesson can be a continuation of the Language Arts lesson, “Making Stories” and the Social Studies lesson, “Where Do Animals Come From?" or it can be done independently. If the teacher has implemented “Making Stories” and/or “Where Do Animals Come From,” they should use the same animals that each child chose to use for their stories; they can proceed to the procedures for DAY TWO. Otherwise follow the procedures below to find an animal starting on DAY ONE.

Outline of Procedures – Day One

1. Students will gather pictures of animals using ProQuest learning resources. Assign students an animal from the list below:

Giraffe

African Lion

Hippopotamus

Zebra

Crocodile

Manatee

Kangaroo

Platypus

Koala

Wombat

Opossum

Bald Eagle

Grizzly Bear

Alligator

Fox

Swordfish

Iguana

Panda

Polar Bear

Walrus

Whale

2. Children will view pictures and decide which animal they want to choose. Children will print out their animal and write their names on back of the pictures.

Outline of Procedures – Day Two

3. Students will go to the URLs of their animal when logged into bigchalk Library Elementary and find out facts about each animal. This will have to be decided by teacher in advance since the level of information will be different for Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade. The teacher can have students in Kindergarten find out one fact. In first grade find two facts, and in second grade find out three facts. Below are some ideas:

What continent does your animal come from?
What does it eat?
What color is it?
Does it have furry, smooth or bumpy skin?
Does it have legs, fins or wings?
What habitat does it live in?

4. In a large group, the teacher will facilitate the children in a sorting activity. They will sort their animals in the criteria the teacher determines, probably organized around the fact-finding questions.

Outline of Procedures – Day Three

5. Using the sorting from DAY TWO, teachers and students will use this to make their graph. For younger students, the teacher decides which graph to use and has it set up on a piece of large chart paper. As a class, teacher has children start filling in the results to the graph. For more advanced students, individual pieces of paper can be given with the graph set up already, and students can fill in the information on their own.

Conclusion/Finished Work

Teacher and students discuss the results in the bar and/or picture graphs.

Assessment

Sorting: Was the student able to sort animals in the appropriate category? Did he/she understand the concept of sorting?

Graphing: Did the student take their sorting information and apply it to the graph? Did student fill in the graph correctly?
Participation: Did the student participate in the sorting section of the activity and the graphing section of the activity?

Optional Extended Enrichment Activities

1. Problem solving: Use the graphs to do simple computation problems. Students have to use information on graphs to solve computation problems. For example, if students did a graph on what animals eat, there might be six animals that eat meat and eight animals that eat plants and grass. The teacher could present a question such as, “What is the difference of animals that eat plants and animals that eat meat?” Students would then look at graph and use the information to come up with 8-6=2.

2. The teacher could explore various types of graphs and charts. Pie charts lend themselves really well to the study of fractions.