SDMS Grade 6 Lesson One
The following is a sample of an integrated lesson plan with Lego® constructives and the existing SDMS 6th Grade
Math Curriculum.
GRAPHS AND TABLES:
OBJECTIVE: Students will be able to identify and create a bar graph.
KEY VOCABULARY: Graph, Bar Graph, Vertical Axis, Horizontal Axis
MATERIALS: Paper, pencil, AOE Lab
DISCUSSION:
Lead a class discussion about graphs. Graphs are pictures representing different quantities. One kind of
graph is a bar graph. This is a series of "bars" ( or thick lines ) that compare different amounts.
The important quantities are represented by the length of height of a bar. Usually in a bar graph,
you have a "vertical axis" ( also known as the Y axis ) and a "horizontal axis" ( also known as the X axis ).
( For your information, a "vertical bar graph," the height of a series of bars might represent the quantity,
and the horizontal axis might represent a time frame. The same graph can be constructed as a "horizontal bar graph" ).
ACTIVITY 1: Have each team predict which colors of bricks are represented most and least in
a bag of 50 random bricks. ( Shouldn't each color be represented evenly? ) Hand out 50 2x4 bricks to each student pair. Have each student pair stack like
colored bricks, and line up from least amount to greatest. How close were the predictions?
ACTIVITY 2: Require students to identify the percentage of each color brick represented in
their bar graph. ( # of brick color divided by 50 will give a percentage ).
ACTIVITY 3: Require students create a bar graph of the class collection of bricks and identify the
percentage each bar represents.
ACTIVITY 4: Require students create to create a LEGO® bar graph representing other values. ( For example,
the class populations of different colored hair...the instructor may identify other items to graph ).
SDMS 6 Math Curriculum
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