Polls and graphs are a simple and concrete way to represent data that children can relate to. We have been using them throughout the year as a visual way to represent numbers. For instance whenever we make playdough we vote on the color and record the number of votes for each one- then I ask the class to interpret the data and figure out which color we should make. They have been building knowledge on the concepts since the beginning of the year and we have begun to create our own polls.
The class enjoys coming up with their own ideas. Asking friends about their favorite food, toy or color are popular choices. They then ask their classmates and record their findings with written dashes or numbers. The pictures below are from morning free play last week when we made polls about our favorite fruits.
Kimberly arrived first and I helped her to make her graph. Here she asks Esther and Miguel about their favorite fruits.
Hard at work on their graphs
We often use visual representations and drawings- below Miguel draws pictures of all the different types of fruit that he wants to ask friends about.
Polls are a great way to practice language on the subject matter, conversation skills, counting and problem solving.
We will continue using polls to represent and analyze data as the year continues.
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