Line plots with fractions

What this lesson shows

Pencil lengths to the nearest eighth, plotted above a number line.

The worked example

The lesson works this one step by step: Pencil lengths, in inches: 3 2/8, 3 5/8, 3 5/8, 3 1/8, 3 6/8, 3 5/8, 3 2/8, 3 7/8. Then your kid tries one like it on paper.

The steps

1. Draw the line, whole to whole
2. Mark equal parts
3. An X for each length
4. Count the Xs

Helping at home

Draw the number line first, from the whole inch below the shortest length to the one above the longest. Cut it into equal parts, counting spaces, not ticks, and label every tick. Then make an X for each length, checking it off the list, and count the Xs at the end.

If your kid gets stuck

Draw the number line first, then label every tick.

Standards

• Common Core 4.MD.B.4
  Make a line plot to display a data set of measurements in fractions of a unit (1/2, 1/4, 1/8). Solve problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions by using information presented in line plots. For example, from a line plot find and interpret the difference in length between the longest and shortest specimens in an insect collection.

More in this unit

• Stem-and-leaf plots
• Mode, median, and range
• No mode, or many
• Answering questions from data
• Is it a statistical question?
• Likely, unlikely, as a fraction
• Timelines and Venn diagrams
• Conclusions from data
• Same data, different graph