KidZone Math
Groundhog's Day Graphing
Image Summary of Printable Worksheets:
| prediction | estimate | tally | bar graph |
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| (color) or (B&W) | (color) or (B&W) | (color) or (B&W) | (color) or (B&W) |
Introduction:
The Groundhog's Day graphing projects build on each other and are, therefore, suitable for grade 1 through grade 3.
Grade 1 students should do the predictions and tally worksheets.
Grade 2 students should do the predictions, estimation, and tally worksheets.
Grade 3 students should complete all the worksheets: predictions, estimation, tally and bar graphs.
Note: Every child is an individual. As with everything on the website, these grade levels are just a suggestion. Ability of the child, level of supervision and size of the group all play a role in whether the project is suitable.
Project 1: Predict the Weather
Groundhog's Day is celebrated on February 2nd in the United States and Canada. Tradition says, if the sun is out on groundhog's day, the groundhog will see his shadow and be frightened back into his burrow -- this means there will be six more weeks of winter. If the day is cloudy, it means spring has begun!
Talk to the children about "predictions". A prediction is a fancy word for a guess about the future. Predictions can be made lots of different ways:
- It can be based on scientific information like the
weatherman's report.
- It can be based on
previous knowledge -- like what happened last year or what the weather
has been like in the week leading up to Groundhog's Day.
- It can be based on chance -- ex: if I roll dice and it's an even number, it will be cloudy.
- It can be based on superstition -- ex: if I see a black cat the day before, it will be sunny.
Encourage the children to chose the way they want to make their predictions.
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| color worksheet | black & white worksheet |
Project 2: Estimate the Group's Results
An estimate is a calculated guess of the approximate amount of an item without having exact information.
Divide the sunny and cloudy results into two separate piles. Spread each pile out on a separate table or pin them up on the bulletin board.
Estimate how many cloudy results and how many sunny results you had in your group. Don't count! Just estimate.
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| color worksheet | black & white worksheet |
Project 3: Tally the Group's Results
Depending on the number of children you're working with divide into smaller groups or do this as one large group. If you're doing this at home, you can add some extra results by getting dad, mom, sister, grandma, etc to participate.
Tally marks are a quick way to visually count a large number of results. Rather than trying to keep track of a count, you make a tally mark for each item, then you can count the tally marks (by 5's). This is an intermediate step for graphing.
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| color worksheet | black & white worksheet |
Project 4: Bar Graph the Group's Results
Depending on the number of children you're working with divide into smaller groups or do this as one large group. If you're doing this at home, you can add some extra results by getting dad, mom, sister, grandma, etc to participate.
Using your tally worksheet (or starting from scratch), make a bar graph of your group's Groundhog's Day weather predictions.
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| color worksheet | black & white worksheet |