Lesson 15

Create Line Plots

Lesson Purpose

The purpose of this lesson is for students to create line plots to represent numerical data.

Lesson Narrative

In an earlier lesson, students learned about the features of a line plot. They interpreted a line plot that represented data from measurements they made in inches.

In this lesson, students measure the lengths of pencils in centimeters and represent the data on their own in a line plot. In Activity 2, students make sense of line plots that do not start at 0. They choose an appropriate starting and ending number based on the data (MP6). In the lesson synthesis, students interpret the data presented in a line plot with a scale that does not start at 0.

  • Action and Expression

Activity 2: Plot Pencil Lengths

Learning Goals

Teacher Facing

  • Represent numerical data in a line plot.

Student Facing

  • Let’s represent data in line plots.

Required Materials

Materials to Gather

Materials to Copy

  • Line Plot Template

Required Preparation

Activity 1:

  • Collect 10–12 pencils of varying lengths for each group of 4. 

CCSS Standards

Addressing

Lesson Timeline

Warm-up 10 min
Activity 1 15 min
Activity 2 20 min
Lesson Synthesis 10 min
Cool-down 5 min

Teacher Reflection Questions

What did you say, do, or ask to support students in creating a line plot based on an understanding of the representation, rather than following a procedure?

Suggested Centers

  • Number Puzzles: Addition and Subtraction (1–4), Stage 4: Within 100 with Composing (Addressing)
  • Target Measurements (2–5), Stage 1: Inches and Centimeters (Addressing)

Print Formatted Materials

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Additional Resources

Google Slides

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PowerPoint Slides

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