Graphing Teaching Resources
Teach graphing this school year with printable worksheets, fun graphing activities and games, task cards and more teacher-created resources for elementary school math!
This collection of editable teacher-created resources is aligned with the Common Core curriculum. It has been carefully reviewed by the expert teachers on the Teach Starter team to ensure every single digital or printable resource is ready to use in the classroom. That means you can save hours on lesson planning with activities ready to print or use digitally!
Are you looking to learn more about teaching students to use graphs, or just on the hunt for fresh ideas and activities to engage your students? Read on for a primer from our teacher team, including a look graphing on this level and some key vocabulary!
What Is Graphing? A Kid-Friendly Definition
Graphing starts as early as kindergarten or first grade in many schools around the country with simple pictographs. But how do you explain what graphing is to the youngest students? This kid-friendly definition may help.
Graphing is a way to show information using pictures and symbols. It's sort of like drawing a picture that helps you understand numbers and facts.
For example, we could use graphs to show how many kids in our class like different colors or how many toys in the toy bin are cars.
Graphing Vocabulary for Elementary Teachers
Looking for a guide to some of the graphing vocabulary your students will encounter — and you will have to define? Here's a comprehensive look, along with some simple definitions!
- Data —Information that is collected and analyzed
- Axis — The horizontal and vertical lines that make up a graph.
- X-axis — The horizontal axis on a graph
- Y-axis — The vertical axis on a graph
- Bar — A rectangular shape we use to represent data on a bar graph
- Scale — The units used to measure data on a graph
- Pictogram/pictograph — A graph that uses pictures to represent data
- Legend/key — A chart that explains the symbols used on a graph (students may recognize this from their map skills lessons)
- Line of best fit — A straight line on a graph that represents the overall trend in a set of data
- Line plot — A graph that shows the frequency of data values on a number line
- Tally — A mark used to represent data on a tally chart
- Pie chart — A graph that shows the proportion of each data value to the whole, represented as a circle that looks like a pie
- Line graph — A graph that shows the relationship between two variables using a line
- Data point — An individual value on a graph
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Bar Graph Anchor Chart
Hang this bar graph anchor chart in your classroom to teach your students about the different parts of this commonly used graph.
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Graphing Data Worksheets (Coordinate Plane)
Introduce these graphing data worksheets to your students to give them practice graphing real-world situations on the coordinate plane.
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Real-World Math Problems on the Coordinate Plane Worksheet Set
Interpret real-world math problems on the coordinate plane with our differentiated worksheet set.
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Plotting Points on a Coordinate Plane Worksheet Set
Utilize our Plotting Points on a Coordinate Plane Worksheet Set to give your students practice locating and plotting points on a coordinate grid.
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Interpreting Graphs on the Coordinate Plane Matching Activity
Incorporate this interpreting graphs matching activity into your unit on coordinate planes.
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Coordinate Plane Pictures
Present these coordinate plane pictures to your students to enhance their skills in plotting points in all four quadrants.
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Coordinate Plane Activity — Four Quadrant Sort
Introduce this coordinate plane activity to students to enhance their skills in identifying ordered pairs in all four quadrants.
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Plotting Points Mystery Picture — Valentine’s Day
Share this potting points mystery picture with your students on Valentine’s Day.
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Ordered Pair Picture Pack
Practice plotting ordered pairs with this differentiated and engaging picture pack.
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Coordinate Planes and Graphing Vocabulary Card Set
Introduce coordinate planes to your students with this set of 18 vocabulary cards.
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Sports Day Dilemma - Metric Conversions Math Task
Engage students with a real-world application of measurement conversions with Sports Day Dilemma, a metric conversion math task!
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Dot Plots / Line Plots - 4th & 5th Grade Assessment
Assess student understanding of reading and creating line plots with a printable math test for 5th grade.
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Line Plot Project: Bakery Menu Design
Make learning about math as sweet as your students' favorite treats with this project based learning line plots exercise!
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Creating Line Plots (with Fractions and Decimals) Small Group Activity
Incorporate this small group activity into your math centers to reinforce students skills in interpreting data and displaying it as line plots.
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Creating Line Plots (With Whole Numbers, Fractions and Decimals) Worksheets
Help your students master data representation with this series of leveled worksheets for creating line plots.
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Analyzing Line Plots Interactive Activity
Dive into data with your class using this engaging Analyzing Line Plots Interactive Activity!
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Creating Line Plots Small Group Activity
Enhance your students’ math skills through this small group activity where they’ll transfer word based data to create line plots.
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Creating Line Plots (Fractions and Decimals) Cut and Paste Worksheets
Enable your students to create line plots to represent given data, using this hands-on cut and paste worksheet set.
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Candy Data Collection Instructional Slide Deck
Explore this candy-themed data collection teaching presentation to teach students the basics of acquiring and recording data.
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Data Collection Worksheet Set
Use this set of differentiated graphs worksheets to assess your students’ understanding of how data is collected, organized and presented.
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Data Collection Investigation Project
Assign this data collection project to enable students to master the skills of gathering, recording, and graphing data.
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Creating Graphs Interactive Activity
Share this interactive activity with your students to help them practice using digital tools to create graphs from raw data.
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Data Collection Interactive Activity
Check your students’ understanding of interpreting data and using it to create graphs using this fun interactive game.
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Mean Median Mode Worksheet
Use this double-sided worksheet to check students’ ability to find the mean, median and mode of given data sets.
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Creating Line Plots With Measurements – Differentiated Worksheets
Guide students to measure items to the nearest inch or ¼ inch, create a line plot and answer questions with this set of differentiated worksheets for 2nd and 3rd-grade students.
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Looking at Line Plots With Fractions Task Cards
Challenge your students to analyze a line plot with fractions and answer questions with this this set of 24 task cards.
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Differentiated Line Plot Worksheet
Guide your students to create line plots with whole-number or ¼ inch measurements with this differentiated line plot worksheet.
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Mean Median and Mode Task Cards
Use this set of 24 data interpretation task cards to teach students to find the mean, median and mode of a limited data set.
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Interpreting Graphs Task Cards
Use this set of task cards students to practice interpreting bar graphs, histograms and line plots.
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Histograms Worksheet
Encourage your students to practice reading and creating histogram graphs using this double-sided worksheet with answer key included.
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Analyzing Line Plots – Differentiated Worksheets
Empower your students to become proficient data interpreters with this set of differentiated line plot worksheets.
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Graphing on the Coordinate Plane Teaching Slides
Teach your students how to plot points on a graph using ordered pairs from input-output tables with this set of teaching slides.