Line PlotsSusan Phillips

Meadow Lane ElementaryLee’s Summit, MO

Adapted from Math Thematics, Book 1

In this lesson you will...

Learn how to draw

and interpret a line plot.

Materials you will need...

PencilPaper

Discuss each slide.

Do not go on until you are sure everyone on the team understands the concept presented on the slide.

Take your time.

Have fun!

Work as a Team...

Let’s Begin!

In this lesson, we will work with animal data.

The first type of animals we will use are invertebrates.

Invertebrates are animals without backbones. They are often very small.

However, we will be investigating

very LARGE invertebrates.

This table Five Giant Invertebrates

Animal Length (cm)

Bird-Eating Spider 25

African Giant Snail 39

Tropical StickInsect

33

Atlas Moth 28

Andaman IslandCentipede

33

and line plot

25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39

X X

X

X X

Five Giant Invertebrates

Length (cm)

show the lengths of five giant

invertebrates.

Suppose you pick up a bird-eating spider.

Will it fiton the tip of your finger,

in the palm of your hand, or in both hands?

Five Giant Invertebrates

Animal Length (cm)

Bird-Eating Spider 25

African Giant Snail 39

Tropical StickInsect

33

Atlas Moth 28

Andaman IslandCentipede

33

25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39

X X

X

X X

Five Giant Invertebrates

Length (cm)

Five Giant Invertebrates

Animal Length (cm)

Bird-Eating Spider 25

African Giant Snail 39

Tropical StickInsect

33

Atlas Moth 28

Andaman IslandCentipede

33

How do you think the data in the table was used to draw

the line plot?

25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39

X X

X

X X

Five Giant Invertebrates

Length (cm)

What information is lost when you

transfer data from a table to a line plot?

Five Giant Invertebrates

Animal Length (cm)

Bird-Eating Spider 25

African Giant Snail 39

Tropical StickInsect

33

Atlas Moth 28

Andaman IslandCentipede

33

What is the longest length of the giant

invertebrates shown?

25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39

X X

X

X X

Five Giant Invertebrates

Length (cm)

The shortest length?

What is the range of the data?

Five Giant Invertebrates

Animal Length (cm)

Bird-Eating Spider 25

African Giant Snail 39

Tropical StickInsect

33

Atlas Moth 28

Andaman IslandCentipede

33

Which is easier to use, the table or the line plot, to find the

longest and the shortest lengths?

25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39

X X

X

X X

Five Giant Invertebrates

Length (cm)

Why?

Five Giant Invertebrates

Animal Length (cm)

Bird-Eating Spider 25

African Giant Snail 39

Tropical StickInsect

33

Atlas Moth 28

Andaman IslandCentipede

33

What numbers start and end the line

plot?

25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39

X X

X

X X

Five Giant Invertebrates

Length (cm)

Why do you think these numbers were

chosen?

Line Plots A line plot displays data using a line marked with a

scale. The scale must include the greatest and least value

of the data. If you make a line plot before having all your data,

you may want to include some extra numbers to the left and right in case the data includes some surprisingly small or large data.

Now you try it! Use the table on the next slide to

construct a line plot.

Make Your Own Line Plot

Animal

HoursSpent

SleepingEach day

Animal

HoursSpent

SleepingEach day

Elephant 4 Mouse 13

Giraffe 4 Okapi 5

Hyena 18 Rabbit 10

Jaguar 11 Raccoon 10

Lion 20 Squirrel 14

Use the table and your line plot to help you estimate how many hours

a day each of the following animals sleep.

(Hint: Look at the clusters of animals in your line plot. Think about what each animal eats and where it sleeps.)

How many hours a day do you think a zebra sleeps?

Animal

HoursSpent

SleepingEach day

Animal

HoursSpent

SleepingEach day

Elephant 4 Mouse 13

Giraffe 4 Okapi 5

Hyena 18 Rabbit 10

Jaguar 11 Raccoon 10

Lion 20 Squirrel 14

How many hours a day do you think a beaver sleeps?

Animal

HoursSpent

SleepingEach day

Animal

HoursSpent

SleepingEach day

Elephant 4 Mouse 13

Giraffe 4 Okapi 5

Hyena 18 Rabbit 10

Jaguar 11 Raccoon 10

Lion 20 Squirrel 14

On a new sheet of paper...

List 3 things you liked or disliked about math today.

List 2 ways line plots are different than bar graphs.

List 1 thing you learned today that you did not expect to learn in math class.

Zippidy Do Dah!!!!

You are ready to practice making line plots.

Please begin the assignment on the assignment board!