Mathematical Emphasis
Investigation 1—Sorting

• Identifying and describing attributes of various materials
• Using an attribute as a basis for sorting and categorizing a variety of object
• Developing strategies to guess someone else’s sorting rule
• Creating representations of sorted sets of objects

Investigation 2—Survey Questions

• Making a plan for gathering and recording data
• Sorting and categorizing data
• Inventing and constructing data representations
• Explaining and interpreting results of surveys
• Presenting data to others in a way that communicates information clearly

Investigation 3—Birthdays

• Grouping and describing data about birthdays
• Ordering data about birthdays

Tips For Helping At Home
Questions To Ask:

• What is the problem about? Tell me in your own words.
• What did your teacher show you in class?
• Can you make a drawing (model) to show that?
• What have you done so far?
• What do you need to do next?
• Can you show it in a different way?
• How did you get your answer?

Helping At Home:

• Sorting comes up every day at home and young children are often eager to help sort laundry, items for recycling, groceries, hardware, and spare change. Explain the sorting systems you use and why you use them.
• Have your children teach you about the ways they are learning to represent data at school.

Vocabulary Terms

Data

A collection of information; often organized into graphs and charts

Representation

A method of showing mathematical work, ideas, or a solution; representations may use pictures, symbols, words, or equations

Rule

A statement that sorts objects into groups; example: Things that are round

Survey Questions

Questions which generate data; example—What is your favorite color?

Mathematics Strategy—Representing Data
Representation is a form of communication that students learn in a data unit. Representation shows the data. Young children often invent their own methods using objects or pictures to represent data. Children begin by sorting concrete objects into groups. They learn to represent this information using pictures and symbols. Later, they begin to use methods that are partly picture and partly graph.

Over the years, students will learn to use and interpret more commonly used graphs, like bar graphs. For the representations in this first grade unit, picture-graphs have the power to help children link data representations to their work with counting and numbers.

Source: Investigations in Number, Data, and Space: Survey Questions and Secret Rules. Dale Seymour, 1998. (Pages 40 and 41)

Mathematics Game—Guess My Rule
The object of the game is to figure out the mystery rule used to place people or objects into groups

Playing the Game

1. The rule maker decides on a “Mystery Rule” for sorting people into two groups. One group fits the rule and the other group doesn’t fit the rule. An example of a mystery rule: “Is wearing blue.”



2. The rule maker starts the game by showing two people who fit the mystery rule. Others will try to figure out what the mystery rule is.



3. The guessers try to find another person who fits the rule. The rule maker decides whether or not the new person fits.



4. With each guess, the person is placed in one of the two groups—fits rule or doesn’t fit rule—and the guesser tries to figure out the mystery rule.



5. For variation, the game can be played with groups of objects.