Skip to content
Brainsladder

Read and Interpret Scaled Bar Graphs

Students will read bar graphs where the scale on the axis represents intervals greater than 1. They will answer comparison questions, find totals, and determine differences between categories by reading bar heights accurately.

Try three of them

Real questions from this skill, graded here. No account, and nothing is saved.

Read and Interpret Scaled Bar Graphs

Grade 3 · Graphs & Data Representation · question 1 of 3

0 of 12

12 rungs. A star at the top.

laps051015202530354045IvyJonKimLeeLaps run

Where are laps least on the graph?

Read the scaled bar graph.

How it is taught

0:00 of 2:57

Bar height shows how many, once you read the scale.

The scale may jump by more than one.

birds0510152025RobinsJaysFinchesWrensBirds seen

Read it: Read a bar graph with a scale

On this graph each grid line counts 10 birds. Jays' bar stops halfway between 20 and 30, so Jays is 25.

  1. Find what each grid line counts: here, 10.
  2. Follow the top of a bar across to the scale and count up by 10s.
  3. A bar that stops halfway between two lines is half of 10 more: 20 and 5 make 25.

A scale that counts by 10s fits big numbers on a short graph: 60 birds is only 6 grid lines.

Every grid line counts the same, so a taller bar still means more.

To draw a bar, count up by the scale's number and stop at the line for that number: Robins' bar stops at 40.

Count up the scale by its number, not by ones, to read or draw a bar.

Counting the grid lines by ones: Robins' bar is 4 lines tall, so 4 birds.

Each line counts 10 birds: 10, 20, 30, 40. Robins is 40.

Each grid line on a graph counts 10. A bar stops halfway between 10 and 20. What number does it show? — 15. Halfway between 10 and 20 is half of 10 more: 10 and 5 make 15.

Favorite Fruits bar graph (scale of 5)

Mr. Lee's class voted on their favorite fruit. Let's read the bar graph to find out what they picked!

Here are our axes. Across the bottom we have fruits, and going up we count how many votes.

Look closely — the scale jumps by five each line: five, ten, fifteen, twenty.

Now let's look at the bars: apples, bananas, grapes, and oranges.

Apples reach all the way up to fifteen. Fifteen kids picked apples.

Bananas reach up to twenty — the most votes!

Grapes stop at five. Just five kids chose grapes.

Oranges reach ten.

Look at the graph. How many more kids picked bananas than grapes?

Grade 3 · Reading bars when each line counts by 5

Twenty minus five is fifteen. Fifteen more bananas than grapes!

When the scale skips by fives, we count up by fives to read each bar. Great work!

Now you try. Read the Apples bar and type how many. How many Apples are there?

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.

More of the library

Every skill has a page

Practise this skill free

14 days of every skill, practice packets, Fluency sheets and up to four students. No card.

Start free