Thursday, October 18, 2012

Using Wonderopolis to Help Teach Graphing

In second grade, graphing is a math unit we get to later in the school year.  I've chosen to use two Wonders of the Day as a way to introduce, give students a foundation of data collection and graphing, and as a natural tie-in to our morning use of Wonderopolis.  The first Wonder of the Day we collected data and made a graph with was, Wonder #705 What's Your Favorite Breakfast Cereal?  The second, we visited past Wonder #474 Which Dessert Takes the Cake?
In addition to the students usual morning routine, they got a post note and wrote and/or drew their favorite cereal or dessert.  As they came up to the floor to go over the Wonder, we created a graph together, including choosing categories and the title.  We also reviewed the data and the graph together. Orally, I asked questions about the graph.  Questions I asked included, which category had the fewest/greatest, how many more certain categories had than others, and if we added two categories together how much would we have.  Later in the year, I may have students write observations in their math journals.
Other Wonders that I may use as the year progresses to help with graphing skills are:
#743 What's Your Favorite Halloween Costume?
#712 When Is Your Half Birthday?
#684 Are You Talented?
#463 What's the Best Thing To Do on a Snow Day?
#427 What's Your Favorite Holiday Cookie?
#354 What's Your Favorite Ice Cream Flavor?
#207 What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?
#177 What Is the Best After-School Snack?
#17 What Would You Plant in Your Garden?
#15 What Is Your Secret Superhero Identity?


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