Graphing Teaching Resources
Teach graphing this school year with printable worksheets, fun graphing activities and games, task cards and more teacher-created resources for elementary school math!
This collection of editable teacher-created resources is aligned with the Common Core curriculum. It has been carefully reviewed by the expert teachers on the Teach Starter team to ensure every single digital or printable resource is ready to use in the classroom. That means you can save hours on lesson planning with activities ready to print or use digitally!
Are you looking to learn more about teaching students to use graphs, or just on the hunt for fresh ideas and activities to engage your students? Read on for a primer from our teacher team, including a look graphing on this level and some key vocabulary!
What Is Graphing? A Kid-Friendly Definition
Graphing starts as early as kindergarten or first grade in many schools around the country with simple pictographs. But how do you explain what graphing is to the youngest students? This kid-friendly definition may help.
Graphing is a way to show information using pictures and symbols. It's sort of like drawing a picture that helps you understand numbers and facts.
For example, we could use graphs to show how many kids in our class like different colors or how many toys in the toy bin are cars.
Graphing Vocabulary for Elementary Teachers
Looking for a guide to some of the graphing vocabulary your students will encounter — and you will have to define? Here's a comprehensive look, along with some simple definitions!
- Data —Information that is collected and analyzed
- Axis — The horizontal and vertical lines that make up a graph.
- X-axis — The horizontal axis on a graph
- Y-axis — The vertical axis on a graph
- Bar — A rectangular shape we use to represent data on a bar graph
- Scale — The units used to measure data on a graph
- Pictogram/pictograph — A graph that uses pictures to represent data
- Legend/key — A chart that explains the symbols used on a graph (students may recognize this from their map skills lessons)
- Line of best fit — A straight line on a graph that represents the overall trend in a set of data
- Line plot — A graph that shows the frequency of data values on a number line
- Tally — A mark used to represent data on a tally chart
- Pie chart — A graph that shows the proportion of each data value to the whole, represented as a circle that looks like a pie
- Line graph — A graph that shows the relationship between two variables using a line
- Data point — An individual value on a graph
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Creating Line Plots Small Group Activity
Enhance your students’ math skills through this small group activity where they’ll transfer word based data to create line plots.
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Creating Line Plots (Fractions and Decimals) Cut and Paste Worksheets
Enable your students to create line plots to represent given data, using this hands-on cut and paste worksheet set.
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Candy Data Collection Instructional Slide Deck
Explore this candy-themed data collection teaching presentation to teach students the basics of acquiring and recording data.
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Data Collection Worksheet Set
Use this set of differentiated graphs worksheets to assess your students’ understanding of how data is collected, organized and presented.
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Data Collection Investigation Project
Assign this data collection project to enable students to master the skills of acquiring and recording data.
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Creating Graphs Interactive Activity
Share this interactive activity with your students to help them practice using digital tools to create graphs from raw data.
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Data Collection Interactive Activity
Check your students’ understanding of interpreting data and using it to create graphs using this fun and colorful interactive game.
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Spin, Tally, Graph and Interpret Data – Task Card Activity
Guide your students to collect data, make tally marks, create a bar graph and analyze data with this math activity designed for 1st and 2nd-grade students.
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Mean Median Mode Worksheet
Use this double-sided worksheet to check students’ ability to find the mean, median and mode of given data sets.
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Creating Line Plots With Measurements – Differentiated Worksheets
Guide students to measure items to the nearest inch or ¼ inch, create a line plot and answer questions with this set of differentiated worksheets for 2nd and 3rd-grade students.
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Search and Find – Halloween Math Worksheet
Get your students in the mood for Halloween with this fun search and find activity.
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Looking at Line Plots With Fractions Task Cards
Challenge your students to analyze a line plot with fractions and answer questions with this this set of 24 task cards.
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Differentiated Line Plot Worksheet
Guide your students to create line plots with whole-number or ¼ inch measurements with this differentiated line plot worksheet.
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Histograms Worksheet
Encourage your students to practice reading and creating histogram graphs using this double-sided worksheet with answer key included.
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Analyzing Line Plots – Differentiated Worksheets
Empower your students to become proficient data interpreters with this set of differentiated line plot worksheets.
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Reading Pictographs - Worksheets
Use this double-sided worksheet to enable students to practice reading and interpreting pictographs.
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Understanding Pictographs - Task Cards
Use this set of task cards to practice reading and interpreting pictographs and bar graphs.
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Pictograph Puzzles
Practice reading and interpreting pictographs with these fun puzzles which require students to match pictographs with other data displays with matching data.
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Pictograph Cut and Paste Worksheet
Use this fun cut-and-paste worksheet to build student understanding of pictographs and encourage them to practice their fine motor skills.
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Graphing (Pictographs) Task Cards
Get graphing! Use these levelled pictograph task cards to show students a variety of data collection records, and have them create pictographs to represent that data.
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Create a Pictograph – Small Group Activity
Teach students how to create simple pictographs using data from word problems with this small group activity.
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Kindergarten Math Review - Easter Worksheets
Practice various Kindergarten math concepts with a pack of Easter worksheets.
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Easter Literacy and Math Centers - Digital Learning Activity
Lost the lesson-planning stress this Easter season with an exciting no-prep digital Easter Literacy and Math center.
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Easter Basket Digital Math Center
Save time lesson planning in the lead up to Easter with this Easter-themed Digital Math Activity.
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Lucky's Loot - Digital St. Patrick's Day Math Activity
Save time lesson planning with a St. Patrick's Day Digital Math Activity that reviews multiple math concepts at once!
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Basketball Math- Interactive Slides
Tame the March “Mathness” by solving problems and analyzing data with an exciting basketball-themed interactive activity.
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5th Grade Math Review – Test Prep Packet
Encourage your students to work through 8 pages of 5th-grade math problems while charting their progress to measure their success.
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Graphing Numerical Equations – Google Slides Interactive Activity
Recognize and analyze patterns in graphs, input-output tables, and equations with this interactive activity.
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Coordinate Grid Mystery Pictures
Practice graphing ordered pairs with this set of differentiated coordinate grid mystery pictures.
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Ordered Pairs Match-Up
Practice plotting ordered pairs and describing the process for graphing with this match-up activity.
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5th Grade Algebraic Relationships Assessment
Assess student understanding of prime and composite numbers, numerical expressions, graphing numerical patterns, and more with this math assessment.
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Creating a Bar Graph – Worksheet
Interpret data and create bar graphs with this worksheet.