October 21, 2013

Dear Parents and Guardians,

Today, we have started a math unit on collecting and organizing data !n this unit, your child will
be learning how to collect, record, organize and inter"ret data #rom various tables and gra"hs
These conce"ts are im"ortant to understand because o# the ever$growing technology that ma%es
it easy to convert data into visuals, and there#ore, gra"hs are used #re&uently in media, es"ecially
news"a"ers and magazines 'm"loyees and em"loyers need to %now how to gather, analyze, and
dis"lay data to wor% e##iciently, consumers need to %now how to inter"ret and &uestion data
"resented to them so they can ma%e in#ormed choices, and citizens need to understand
government data to "artici"ate in the running o# their country (or e)am"le, on 'lection Day,
when you are waiting to see who will be our ne)t President, would you rather loo% at a bunch o#
numbers or see a gra"h with blue and red to see who is winning* +isual re"resentations o# data
are easier and &uic%er to ma%e sense o# !n this unit, ! will use scenarios and data that are
relevant to your child,s li#e to ma%e the im"ortance o# learning these conce"ts a""arent and %ee"
them engaged in the lessons
-"eci#ically, your child will learn how to conduct a survey and organize the data into a #re&uency
table, learn ways to summarize data .mean, median, mode and range/, read and ma%e line and
stem$and$lea# "lots and com"are and ma%e bar gra"hs 0ere are a #ew sam"les o# the ty"es o#
"roblems your child will be bringing home #or homewor%1
You and your friends were playing basketball and wanted to see who could make the
most free throws. Here are the results.
2
2 2
2 2 2
2 2 2 2
2 2 2 2 2 2 2
0 1 2 3 3 4 5 6 7
Free-Throw Baskets Made
'ach 2 in this line "lot stands #or one "layer 8hat do the numbers on the line "lot stand
#or* 99999999999999999999999999999
8hat value would be considered an outlier* 80:*
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
9
99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999
9
8hat is the range o# the number o# #ree$throw bas%ets made*
9999999999999999999999999999999
You took a survey of your classmates to see how many letters each student has in their
first name. You found that there is person with ! letters" # people with # letters" $
people with % letters" % people with & letters" % people with $ letters and person with
letters. 'ow you want to organi(e this data and put it in a table. )ut the information in
the table below.
'umber of *etters in +oom ,-,.s First 'ames
'umber of *etters 'umber of )eople
To su""ort your child at home, there is a great interactive math website where children can
"ractice the math s%ills o# this unit1
htt"1;;www%idsmathgamesonlinecom;numbers;mathdatahtml
8hen you go to this website, clic% on 4
th
Grade in the le#t side bar Then, clic% the 3
th
grade bo)
and scroll down to data and gra"hs <ll o# these categories will be studied during the unit and
will bene#it your child
<s your child brings assignments home, you might want to go over the instructions together,
clari#ying them as necessary
!# you have any &uestions or concerns, #eel #ree to email me at le"%ows2=gmailcom
Than% :ou,
>s ?e"%ows%i