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Draw and Read a Bar Graph

Students organize data into up to four categories and represent the data in a bar graph with a single-unit scale. Students draw bars to the correct height or length and use the graph to answer comparison and sum questions.

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Draw and Read a Bar Graph

Grade 2 · Data and Graphs · question 1 of 3

0 of 12

12 rungs. A star at the top.

0123456ApplesPears

Read the bar graph. How many more apples than pears?

How it is taught

0:00 of 3:09

A bar graph uses bar height to show a count.

Read a bar against the numbered scale.

01234567891011121314ABC

Read it: Compare the bar heights

Three bars stand on the page: apples, crackers and ducks. You could sort the pile again for every question. The heights already answer them: 7, 2, 6.

  1. Make one bar for each kind, as tall as its count.
  2. Read the height of each bar: 7, 2, 6.
  3. For how many more, take the gap: 7 and 2 sit 5 apart.

Sorting and recounting the pile for every question works, but it is slow and you can skip one.

After the bars stand, you see most and least without touching the pile again.

How many more apples than crackers is the gap from 2 up to 7, and the bars show it.

Build a bar for each count, then read most, least, and the gap off the heights.

Adding 7, 2 and 6 when asked how many more apples than crackers, and answering 15.

How many more is the gap. Apples reach 7 and crackers reach 2, so they sit 5 apart.

A bar graph has an apples bar at 6 and a crackers bar at 2. How many more apples than crackers? — 4. How many more is the gap between the 2 heights: from 2 up to 6 is 4.

Favorite pet in our class

Our class voted on their favorite pet. Let's turn those votes into a bar graph!

Five kids picked dog, three picked cat, four picked fish, and two picked bird.

First we draw two lines. The side counts votes from zero up to five — one mark for each vote.

Dog got five votes, so its bar climbs all the way up to five.

Cat got three votes. The cat bar stops right at three.

Fish got four votes — a little taller than cat.

Bird got two votes, the shortest bar of all.

Which pet is most popular? Dog — its bar is the tallest.

Grade 2 · Drawing and reading a bar graph

How many more kids picked dog than bird? Five take away two is three.

Three more kids picked dog than bird. Bar graphs make it easy to compare!

Now you try. Read how many Dog has on this graph. How many for Dog?

What you see

While they climb, your page writes one true line to ask about tonight, and a short note each Sunday.

MayaGrade 3 · Mathematics
Did you know?

A chessboard has 64 squares — share them out between the 8 rows and each row holds exactly 8.

Today’s goal
1 star — one skill mastered, every rung of its ladder climbed
Climbing now
Divide within 100

An example student.

MayaGrade 3 · Mathematics

Maya earned 2 stars this week — Interpret multiplication as equal groups, which took 6 answers over 3 days before its star landed 3 days ago and Multiply by 6, 7, 8 and 9. Next up: Divide within 100.

An example week.

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