Lesson 6 Choose a Scale

    • Let’s choose a scale for our bar graph.

Warm-up Notice and Wonder: Bar Graph Scales

What do you notice? What do you wonder?

Bar graph. Lifespan of Pets. Vertical axis from 0 to 30 by 1s. Horizontal axis labeled type of pets: cat, dog, guinea pig, goldfish, python. Height of bar: cat, 16. dog, 13. guinea pig, 6. goldfish, 10. python, 30.
Bar graph. Lifespan of Pets. Vertical axis labeled Number of Years from 0 to 60 by 2s. Horizontal axis labeled type of pets: cat, dog, guinea pig, goldfish, python. Height of bar: cat, 16. dog, 13. guinea pig, 6. goldfish, 10. python, 30.
Bar graph. Lifespan of Pets. Vertical axis 0 to 300 by 10s. Horizontal axis labeled type of pets: cat, dog, guinea pig, goldfish, python. Height of bar: cat, 16. dog, 13. guinea pig, 6. goldfish, 10. python, 30.

Activity 1 Represent Pattern Blocks

Here is a collection of pattern blocks.

Collection of pattern blocks.

Mai, Noah, and Priya want to make a bar graph to represent the number of triangles, squares, trapezoids, and hexagons in the collection.

  • Mai says the scale of the bar graph should be 2.

  • Noah says the scale of the bar graph should be 5.

  • Priya says the scale of the bar graph should be 10.

  1. Who do you agree with? Explain your reasoning.

  2. Use the scale that you chose to create a scaled bar graph to represent the collection of pattern blocks.

    Blank grid.

Activity 2 Represent More Data in a Scaled Bar Graph

All the third-grade students at school were asked, “What is your favorite time of the year?” Their responses are shown in this table:

favorite time of the year

number of students

winter

spring

summer

fall

Use the data from this table to create a scaled bar graph.

Blank grid.

Practice Problem

Problem 1

The table shows the number of books some students have at home.

Use the information from the table to create a scaled bar graph.

books

number

Elena

Andre

Tyler

Clare

Blank bar graph. Books at Home.