Author Description

Value Bars and Line Plots is a new second grade unit in the Contexts for Learning Mathematics series. The mathematical focus of the unit is the introduction of data representation. With value bars, children graph heights of animals and the lengths of their jumps. Next, they plot age frequencies and the results of a beanbag tossing game with line plots. By the end of the unit, students are analyzing the shape of the data and drawing conclusions about data sets. Value Bars and Line Plots is designed to promote mathematical inquiry and to encourage young children to become excited about being a mathematician.