This page is an overview and menu page for all the information you need to do this Kindergarten activity.
About the Activity
After reading This Is the Way We Eat Our Lunch together as a class, students collect data about their own lunch foods. Each student chooses his or her favorite part of the day's lunch; the whole group discusses categories for these foods. Using one set of categories, the class sorts their favorite foods to create a large pictorial data chart. Their work focuses on:
- collecting data
- sorting data according to common attributes
- organizing and representing categorical data
- discussing what a data representation shows
To do this activity, you, the teacher, will need:
(These files are provided in Portable Document Format (PDF) and can be read using Adobe's free Acrobat Reader. If you don't have this application, you can download it at Adobe's web site.)
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Instructions for Favorite Lunch Foods & Sorting the Lunch Foods Activities PDF
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To obtain, if possible, a copy of This Is the Way We Eat Our Lunch by Edith Baer.
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Several sheets of chart paper or board space available for making lists.
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One sheet of unlined paper and one 5-by-8-inch index card or half sheet of paper each, plus crayons or markers.
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To prepare a large sheet of paper (such as butcher paper) for mounting students' lunch data cards. The size you need will vary depending on the number of data pieces you have and the number of categories students choose. Have glue sticks or tape available.
About the Unit
Throughout this unit, students count to collect information about themselves, their classmates, and their environment. They also begin to sort objects, such as pattern blocks, types of containers, and items of clothing, and to sort and classify data: What are our favorite foods? What are some different ways to categorize those foods? Along with counting and categorizing data, students work to represent their results with physical models or on paper. Students later conduct their own surveys with the class, making decisions about the questions they will ask and how they will keep track of the information they gather. They complete the process by studying the results to see what their survey showed. In the final investigation, students solve a mathematical problem based on the day's attendance data.
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