Skill companion: Showing Data in Tables and Graphs (Year 3)

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Skill companion · Year 3 Science Inquiryseegongsik /au

Showing Data in Tables and Graphs: a skill companion

A small set of reusable sheets that grow one inquiry skill: putting counts and readings in a tidy table, turning them into a column graph or a model, and reading the pattern they show. Print the scaffolds once and slot them into the science lessons you are already teaching.

AC9S3I04

construct and use representations, including tables, simple column graphs and visual or physical models, to organise data and information, show simple relationships and identify patterns

What a skill companion is

Inquiry skills are not a topic of their own. They grow inside the science units a class teaches all year, such as Living and Non-living Things, Soils, Rocks and Minerals, Heat and Temperature, and Solids, Liquids and Changing State. So this pack is not a full term of lessons. It is three reusable scaffolds, a map of where they fit, and a short stand-alone lesson for teaching the skill on its own first.

Start here: five minutes

Read the pairing map on the next page: it shows the data to collect, and how to show it, in each Year 3 topic.
Print the table builder and the column-graph grid, one each per child, whenever a lesson collects data.
Cut out the reading cards once. They are reused all year, and the blank cards fit any graph.
Open the free interactive unit on your board when you want a worked example of the skill.
Run the one-page mini-lesson first if you want to teach the skill before folding it into a topic.

No science background needed

This pack is written for the busy generalist teacher. A representation is any way of showing data so it is easier to read: a table, a column graph, a tower of cubes, a labelled drawing. It leans on Year 3 maths, which records data in tables (AC9M3ST01) and draws graphs of it (AC9M3ST02). The answer sheet gives the reading-card key, a finished graph and a quick three-level guide.

On the board

This pack is the printable half of a free interactive unit. On screen, children switch between “Table” and “Bar chart” in “Put the counts in a table, then draw the graph”, click the count that breaks the climb in “Find the count that breaks the pattern”, and sort sentences with “Reads it correctly” and “Does not” in “Which sentences correctly read the graph?”. Each scaffold in this pack turns one of those moves into something children do on paper.

seegongsik.com/au/y3/inquiry/AC9S3I04

Aligned to the Australian Curriculum V9 (AC9S3I04). This pack is original material from seegongsik, independently produced and not endorsed by ACARA. Curriculum content descriptors are (c) ACARA, licensed under CC BY 4.0. Free to print and use in class.

Where the skill fitsPairing map

Slot the skill into your science lessons

The same skill of organising and showing data fits into every science unit. This map shows the data children can collect in each Year 3 topic, a way of showing it that makes the pattern stand out, and which scaffold to reach for. You do not run these as extra lessons; you fold them into the science you teach.

When you teach	Data you collect	How to show it	Scaffold to slot in
Living and Non-living Things (AC9S3U01)	Minibeasts found in a garden bed, by kind	A tally, then a table and a column graph with one column for each kind	Table builder, then the graph grid
Soils, Rocks and Minerals (AC9S3U02)	What a sample of soil is made of	A physical model: soil shaken with water in a jar settles into layers to draw, label and measure	Table builder for the height of each layer
Heat and Temperature (AC9S3U03)	The temperature of warm water every 5 minutes as it cools	A table of readings, then a column graph whose falling columns show the pattern	Table builder, then the graph grid
Solids, Liquids and Changing State (AC9S3U04)	Minutes for an ice cube to melt on different surfaces	A column graph: the shortest column is the fastest melt	Reading cards, then the graph grid
Any science topic	Anything children count or measure	A table first; a graph or a model when the pattern needs to be seen	Table builder first, then the graph grid

The three moves, and the picture that backs each one

When you want a worked example on the board, open the interactive unit and use the picture that matches the move children are working on.

Organise counts in a table, then show them as a graph: “Put the counts in a table, then draw the graph”.
Find the value that breaks a pattern: “Find the count that breaks the pattern”.
Read a graph correctly, and tell a reading from an opinion: “Which sentences correctly read the graph?”.

How the scaffolds build the skill

The table builder gives every number a home, in an order that lets the pattern show. The column-graph grid turns the table into columns that all start at 0 on one even scale, with a title and labels so anyone can read it. The reading cards sharpen the last step: telling a sentence the graph really supports from a misreading or an opinion, such as taking the tallest column as the best.

Scaffold 1 · Table builderOne per child

My data table

NameClassDate

A table gives every number a home. Write what you sorted or changed in the first column, and the count or the reading in the second. Put the rows in an order that makes sense.

Title of my table:

What we sorted or changed:	How many, or the reading (unit: ______ )

Read my table

The most:

The least:

The pattern I can see:

Teacher note: days, weeks or minutes go in time order, and kinds or materials can go from most to least. An order that makes sense lets the pattern show before anyone draws a graph.

Scaffold 2 · Column-graph gridOne per child

My column graph

NameClassDate

Five steps to a column graph

Write a title that says what the graph is about.
Choose a scale up the side, starting at 0: every square stands for the same amount.
Draw one column for each row of your table, each up to its number.
Write a label under each column, and name both sides of the graph.
Check every column against your table.

Title:

The side shows:

The bottom shows:

What my graph shows:

Scaffold 3 · Reading cards (cut out)Reuse all year

Does it read the graph correctly?

Class 3D timed an ice cube melting on four surfaces. Read their graph, then cut out the cards and sort them into two piles: sentences that read the graph correctly, and sentences that do not.

Minutes for an ice cube to melt

The ice on the felt cloth took the longest to melt.

The felt cloth melted the ice fastest, because its column is the tallest.

The metal tray is the nicest surface.

The ice on the metal tray melted in 10 minutes.

The ice on the wooden board melted in 25 minutes.

The ice on the wooden board took longer to melt than the ice on the plastic plate.

The felt cloth was tested last, because its column is on the right.

The shortest column shows the surface that melted the ice fastest.

Ice always melts in 10 minutes on metal.

Two of the surfaces took 25 minutes or less.

The ice on the felt cloth took 35 minutes longer than on the metal tray.

The plastic plate took the shortest time.

Write a sentence of your own:

Teacher note: the two piles are “reads it correctly” and “does not”. Keep the graph beside the cards while children sort. The answer sheet lists which is which, and why.

Mini-lesson · Teacher planAbout 30 minutes

From counts to columns

Use this stand-alone lesson to teach the skill on its own, before you fold it into a science topic. It runs the three scaffolds in this pack in one short block, so children meet the whole skill in one go and then reuse the sheets all year.

We are learning to

put counts in a table, in an order that makes sense,
show the same counts as a model and as a column graph,
read the pattern a graph shows, and only what it shows.

Success criteria

I can draw a column graph with a title, labels and an even scale that starts at 0.
I can say what pattern my table or graph shows.

You need

the reading cards (scaffold 3), one set per table, cut out ahead or by fast finishers,
the table builder and the column-graph grid (scaffolds 1 and 2), one each per child,
interlocking cubes, 44 for each table: one for every bird counted,
the free interactive unit on your board, if you have one (optional).

Lesson flow (about 30 minutes)

5 min	A pile of numbers Write the bird-feeder counts on the board in this order: Wed 6, Mon 3, Sat 12, Tue 5, Fri 10, Thu 8. Ask: “Which day had the most birds? Did the number of birds go up or down across the week?”
10 min	Table and towers Children put the counts in the table builder in day order. Then each table builds a cube tower for each day, one cube for each bird: a physical model of the data. Ask: “Look at the towers. What happens to the bird counts across the week?”
10 min	Draw the graph Children turn the towers into a column graph on the grid, following the five steps, with one square for each bird. Show the board (see the box). Ask: “Why does every column have to start at 0?”
5 min	Read it right Tables sort the reading cards about Class 3D’s ice graph. Ask: “The felt cloth has the tallest column. Did it melt the ice fastest?”

Running it shorter? Stop after the towers, and draw the graph in your next science lesson that collects data.

On the board

For a worked example, open the unit. “Put the counts in a table, then draw the graph” opens on the table; press “Bar chart” to turn the same counts into columns. Then click Thursday, the count that breaks the climb, in “Find the count that breaks the pattern”.

seegongsik.com/au/y3/inquiry/AC9S3I04

Watch for these ideas

A scale that jumps (1, 2, 5, 10) or columns that start above 0. Every square must stand for the same amount.
Reading the tallest column as the best. It is the most of whatever was counted or measured: on the ice graph, that is the slowest melt.
A graph with no title or labels. Without them nobody can tell what the columns show.

Make it easier, make it bigger

Easier: lay the cube towers on the grid and colour one square for each cube.
Bigger: draw the graph again with one square for every 2 birds, and explain how to show an odd count such as 5.

Answers and look-fors

The next sheet has the reading-card key, the finished bird graph and a quick three-level guide.

Answers · For the teacherModel responses

Answers and look-fors

Reading cards: does it read the graph correctly?

Reading card	Correct?	Why
The ice on the felt cloth took the longest to melt.	Yes	The felt cloth has the tallest column, and the columns show minutes, so it took the longest.
The felt cloth melted the ice fastest, because its column is the tallest.	No	A tall column means more minutes, which is a slower melt. The metal tray, with the shortest column, was fastest.
The metal tray is the nicest surface.	No	Nicest is an opinion. The graph shows minutes, not what anyone likes.
The ice on the metal tray melted in 10 minutes.	Yes	The metal tray column reaches the 10 line.
The ice on the wooden board melted in 25 minutes.	No	The wooden board column reaches the 30 line. 25 minutes is the plastic plate.
The ice on the wooden board took longer to melt than the ice on the plastic plate.	Yes	The wooden board column, at 30, is taller than the plastic plate column, at 25.
The felt cloth was tested last, because its column is on the right.	No	The order of the columns is just how the graph was drawn. It does not show when each test was done.
The shortest column shows the surface that melted the ice fastest.	Yes	The shortest column is the fewest minutes, so that ice melted fastest.
Ice always melts in 10 minutes on metal.	No	The graph shows one test in one room. A warmer or cooler room, or a bigger cube, could change the time.
Two of the surfaces took 25 minutes or less.	Yes	The metal tray (10) and the plastic plate (25) are at or under the 25 line.
The ice on the felt cloth took 35 minutes longer than on the metal tray.	Yes	45 minutes take away 10 minutes is 35 minutes.
The plastic plate took the shortest time.	No	The metal tray has the shortest column, at 10 minutes; the plastic plate took 25.

Blank cards are marked the same way: can the sentence be checked against the columns and the scale, or is it a guess, an opinion, or more than one test can show?

The finished bird graph

Graphs will look a little different, and that is fine. The point is a title, a label on each side, one column per day, and an even scale from 0. The pattern: the counts rise across the week, from 3 on Mon to 12 on Sat.

Birds at our feeder

A quick three-level guide

Move	Working towards	At standard	Beyond
Organise the data	writes the numbers down in any order	puts every count in a table, in an order that makes sense	chooses the order that shows the pattern best, and says why
Draw the graph	draws columns of the right height without a title or labels	draws a titled, labelled column graph on an even scale from 0	chooses a scale, such as 1 square for 2, to fit bigger counts
Read the pattern	reads the biggest or smallest value only	describes the pattern, such as rising across the week	spots a value that breaks the pattern and says what to check

A child at standard puts data in a table, draws a titled, labelled column graph on an even scale, and says what pattern it shows. The skill grows all year, so keep the scaffolds coming back in every science topic.