Happy May Day, everyone! I found some really wonderful books about graphing for first grade that I wanted to share with all of you.
Lemonade For Sale by Stuart Murphy is a really nice book that explains bar graphs in a fun and interesting manner. Four kids and their pet parrot sell lemonade Monday through Friday. The bar graph shows highs and lows, and the group finds out there's a juggler on another block who is making their sales go down. After some problem-solving, they get the juggler to join them and their sales go back up again. I love the plot of this book, how the children are raising money to get their clubhouse into shape. The story is understandable for first-graders and even kindergartners. I think this is an excellent way to introduce graphing!
Bar Graphs (Making Graphs) by Vijaya Khisty Bodach and Bar Graphs by Sherra Edgar are also very cool for teaching graphing.
As I was searching for more books about graphing I found this treasure: The Great Graph Contest by Loreen Leedy. This book is really phenomenal because it shows a wide variety of ways to represent data (picture graphs, pie charts, tally charts, Venn diagrams, etc.). I was really impressed how my students started using all kinds of new graphing vocabulary. The book was also lively and funny!
I also made a new Graphing Package on TPT that focuses on bar graphs but also contains picture graphs and tally charts. There are PowerPoints, games, and worksheets that your first-graders or kindergartners will love. If you have time, check it out!
