Grade 4

Tips for Helping at Home

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Questions to ask:

What is it that you don’t understand (have

the student be specific)?

What about putting things in order?

Could you try it with simpler numbers?

Can you guess and check?

Does this make sense?

What can you do to explain your answer to

show others what you are thinking?

Does your answer seem reasonable?

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It can be easy for you to become involved in this

unit, because your child may ask you questions

as part of his/her data collection activities. Give

your full attention to these questions and help

your child record your answers, as they will be

the basis for work in the class.

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You will find that there are many opportunities to

collect data around your home. Which color or

make of car is the most common on your street?

Why might that be? Do more households in your

neighborhood have a dog or a cat? After a while,

collecting and thinking about data may become a

habit that you and your child share.

Mathematical Emphasis

Investigation 1—Introduction to Data Analysis

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Making quick sketches of the data to use as work-

ing tools during the analysis process

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Describing the shape of the data, moving from no-

ticing individual features of the data to describing

the overall shape of the distribution

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Defining the way data will be collected

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Summarizing what is typical of a set of data

Investigation 2—Landmarks in the Data

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Inventing ways to compare and represent two sets

of data by describing the shape of the data and

what’s typical of the data

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Finding the median in a set of data arranged in

numerical order

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Finding the median in a set of data grouped by

frequency

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Using the median to describe a set of data and to

compare one data set to another

Websites

http://www.hazelwood.k12.mo.us/~c

davis01/map2000/4th/math18.ppt

Statistics

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Representing the Data

In this book, students will be working on gathering,

organizing, and representing data about a variety of

subjects. During this process, they will be developing

skills in creating and using two main types of graphs:

sketch graphs and presentation graphs.

Sketch graphs

are a type of graph students make

and use just to help uncover the story of the data.

This type of working graph need not be shown to

anyone else. Sketch graphs do not require neatness,

careful measurement or scaling , use of clear titles or

labels, or decorative work.

Presentation graphs

are meant to be seen by an

audience. Their purpose is to be present an organ-

ized, clear, and accessible display of the data.

Vocabulary

Axis:

one of the reference lines on a coordi-

nate graph

X-axis:

the horizontal axis on a coordinate

grid

Y-axis:

the vertical axis on a coordinate grid

Median:

a way to average counts or meas-

ures when there are extremes in the data. The

middle point of the ordered group is found.

Mode:

a way to average data when there are

many identical data points. The mode is the

data that appears the most often.

Data:

information

Line plot:

A line plot consists of a horizontal

number line, on which each value of a set is

denoted by an x over the corresponding value

on the number line. The number of x's above

each score indicates how many times each

score occurred.

Glossary

http://www.amathsdictionaryforkids.com/

99 and Out

Materials

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2 number cubes (1-6) or spinners

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Scratch paper and pencil for each player

Directions

1. The first player rolls the two number cubes to

forma two-digit number and subtracts this num-

ber from 99. For example, if the player rolled a 2

and a 4, he would make a 24 and subtract 24

from 99. The player records the difference.

2. Each other player, in turn, rolls the number

cubes, forms a new two-digit number, and sub-

tracts it from 99.

3. For the second turn, each player rolls the num-

ber cubes, forms a new two-digit number, and

subtracts it from the existing difference.

4. For succeeding turns, players decide if they

want to subtract a 2-digit or one-digit number

and then roll the appropriate quantity of number

cubes.

5. Players continue rolling and subtracting until a

player reaches zero or close to it. Players who

roll a number higher than the remaining differ-

ence automatically lose that round.

6. The player with the lowest difference wins.

Russell, S. Investigations in Number, Data and Space: The

Shape of Data. Dale Seymour, 1998.