EdPlace's Upper Key Stage 2 home learning maths lesson: Data
Looking for short lessons to keep your child engaged and learning? Our experienced team of teachers have created English, maths and science lessons for the home, so your child can learn no matter where they are. And, as all activities are self-marked, you really can encourage your child to be an independent learner.
Get them started on the lesson below and then jump into our teacher-created activities to practice what they've learnt. We've recommended five to ensure they feel secure in their knowledge - 5-a-day helps keeps the learning loss at bay (or so we think!).
Are they keen to start practising straight away? Head to the bottom of the page to find the activities.
Now...onto the lesson!
What's It All About?
We all love to observe and investigate what is going on around us!
In this activity, you will use your maths skills to record and interpret data in a fun and practical way.
Have you ever wondered which birds or insects are most prolific in your garden or local park?
How hot does the weather really get in the summer months?
This is your chance to collect some data in a fun way on a family day out or just a lazy day at home enjoying some summer sun!
Year 5 Maths:
– Solve comparison, sum and difference problems using information presented in a line graph.
– Complete, read and interpret information in tables.
Year 6 Maths:
– Interpret and construct pie charts and line graphs and use these to solve problems.
– Calculate and interpret the mean as an average.
Activity:
Why not keep a record of things you observe over the summer?
Ideas for things you could observe and collect information on at home or on family days out include:
1. Birds visiting your garden.
2. Wildlife spotted in your local park or forest.
3. Temperature at different times of day over a period of time.
4. Colours or types of car travelling on your road.
5. Creatures in rock pools, ponds or rivers.
6. Time spent doing hobbies over a week or two.
7. Rainfall (Hopefully this won’t be possible but you never can trust the Great British weather!).
8. Distances jogged, cycled or travelled in a car.
These are just some ideas … you could collect data on anything which interests you.
You could collect your data in a range of fun and interesting ways too! Here are some ideas:
A) Tally Charts.
B) Photographic or Video Evidence.
C) Keeping a notebook or diary of summer observations.
D) Using an app on your phone or tablet.
After you have collected your data, you might like to choose various ways to display it. Here are some ideas!
Teachers Tips:
Teacher Tip 1:
Use your data to make a pie chart using software commonly found on spreadsheet packages. You will need to enter your data into a chart before you can display it in a pie chart (or another graph of your choice). It can take some serious skill to get your graph or chart looking just as you want it and this is a great project to work on with a parent or older sibling. This is perfect for data about food or holiday choices or for a vehicle survey!
Teacher Tip 2:
Once you have collected your data you could make it into a line or bar chart. Using your line or bar chart, can you create a family quiz for everyone to take part in? Design some questions around the data shown on your graph or make some true or false statements to be sorted by teams in your family. The best interpreters will win! Bar charts work best for countable data such as bird species or hobby choices. Line graphs are a great choice for other data such as temperature changes or distance travelled.
Teacher Tip 3:
If you feel like creating graphs and charts in a more practical way here are some more ideas. Create a pie chart using paper plates and collage materials to show your data. You could collect shells or pebbles on the beach and create a physical bar chart to show the range of sizes in centimetres or millimetres. Chalk on the patio or string and drawing pins on a noticeboard are great ways of displaying line graphs in a more creative way.
Conclusion and Supporting EdPlace Activities
Once you’ve practised using your maths skills to collect and interpret data over the summer, try these EdPlace activities which all contain questions and challenges involving various
All activities are created by teachers and automatically marked. Plus, with an EdPlace subscription, we can automatically progress your child at a level that's right for them. Sending you progress reports along the way so you can track and measure progress, together - brilliant!
Activity 1 - Studying Line Graphs: How Many Bike Journeys?
In this basic level Year 5 worksheet, students read information from a line graph and answer questions about it. Perfect for if you are a little unsure about reading line graphs as this worksheet will help you build that skill.
Activity 2 - Studying Line Graphs: How Long is the Journey?
In this slightly more advanced Year 5 worksheet, students read a line graph about journey times and lengths then answer questions on it. This is a great choice for those students who feel quite confident about line graphs and want to practise their skills.
Activity 3 - Pie Chart Quiz: Who Went Where on Holiday?
In this Year 6 worksheet, students understand a simple pie chart and answer questions on it. Pie charts are taught in year 6 and this is a great introduction for those moving into Year 6 or wanting to consolidate their knowledge.
Activity 4 - From Bar Chart to Table: Recording Maths Results!
In this more advanced Year 6 worksheet, students use the data on a bar chart to put into a table. This requires attention for detail and will be suitable for those really comfortable with reading graphs and charts.
Keep going! Looking for more activities, different subjects or year groups?
Click the button below to view the EdPlace English, maths, science and 11+ activity library
