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 Pictographs Worksheet
Use this engaging worksheet to practice creating and reading 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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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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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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5th Grade Math Review – Google Slides Interactive Activity
Review important 5th-grade math standards with a student-led interactive activity that covers 12 different mathematical concepts.
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Equations, Tables, and Graphs, Oh My! – Differentiated Worksheets
Use these differentiated worksheets to practice using equations to create patterns within input-output tables and graphs.
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Bar Graphs – Instructional Slide Deck
Learn about the features and how to create a bar graph with this 25-page instructional slide deck.
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Coordinate Planes and Graphing – Vocabulary Cards
Promote math vocabulary development with this set of 18 graphing and coordinate plane cards.
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Input-Output Tables & Graphing – Task Cards
Practice reading input-output tables and plotting points in the first quadrant with this set of task cards.
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Graph It! Worksheet (Scaled Intervals)
Draw a scaled picture graph and bar graph to represent data with this worksheet.
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Count and Graph – The Picnic
Practice collecting, sorting, and organizing data to create a graph with this 2-page worksheet.
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Count and Graph – Under the Sea
Practice collecting, sorting, and organizing data to create a graph with this 2-page worksheet.
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Count and Graph – Fruity Treats
Practice collecting, sorting, and organizing data to create a graph with this 2-page worksheet.
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Count and Graph – In the Classroom
Practice collecting, sorting, and organizing data to create a graph with this 2-page worksheet.
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Coordinate Plane Poster
A poster that explains the features of Coordinate Planes.
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Data Vocabulary Poster
A poster that explains the concept of data and lists associated vocabulary.
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Drawing With Ordered Pairs - Lion
Students create a lion by plotting a set of ordered pairs.
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Types of Graphs Posters
This colorful and easy-to-digest visual display shows students the varying data displays they will encounter in their elementary math lessons.
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Data Math Investigation - Should I Buy It?
Practice collecting and graphing data in a real-world situation.
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Line Plot Project: Bakery Menu Design
Make learning about math as sweet as your students' favorite treats with this project based learning line plots exercise!
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Count and Graph - Thanksgiving Math for Kindergarten
Practice counting and graphing with a fun Thanksgiving Math worksheet for kindergarten.
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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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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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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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Interpreting Graphs Task Cards
Use this set of task cards students to practice interpreting bar graphs, histograms and line plots.
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Picture Graphs - Worksheet
Use this double-sided worksheet to help your students practice reading and evaluating a simple picture graph.
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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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Pictographs - Interactive Activity
Use this fun and engaging interactive activity to aid students. in practicing their pictograph interpretation skills.
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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.