The students will begin with a questionnaire that includes questions regarding their daily sleep, exercise, and diet. There will be 7 questions, and once the students are finished answering, I will calculate the results. At this time I will introduce the students to graphing in math, and how to read a simple bar graph. The sample bar graph, posted to the left will be based on the students responses to their favorite activity. (Figure 1.1)
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As the students observe the graph, I will ask them questions such as, "What is a graph?" "Why do we use graphs?" "What do you notice about this graph?" "Which activity is liked by most of you?" "Which activity was liked by the least amount of students?" I will show other examples of graphs that I have created personally using data from the class. This will make the graphs more personal and relatable. After we have reviewed the concept of bar graphs, the students will pick 1 out of 4 foods that is their favorite. I will chart the responses on the board, and the students will independently create a bar graph showing the results. The graph paper I will give them will already have the x and y axis labeled since graphing is a new concept for them. As the students are completing their graphs, I will be graphing their responses from the questionnaire into bar graphs similar to the one in Figure 1.1 onto large chart paper. Once all graphs are completed, we will discuss the outcome of the graph "My favorite food". Once I feel the students have a good handle on reading graphs, I will show the graphs from the questionnaire. We will have a class discussion about the results and discuss any trends we see. I will guide the students to notice the bed times recorded by students, how many students responded to "yes" they exercise. I will also guide the students to notice the answers in regards to the question "Are fruits and vegetables important to eat every day?" By the end of week 1, I will discuss the classroom challenge and the unit that we will be covering for the next 6 weeks. (A copy of the questionnaire is at the end of the unit).