BI-MONTHLY
MATHEMATICS
NEWSLETTER
Mathematics
TECHNOLOGY
In this Issue…
Should We Make a Circle Graph? P.1
RTI 911 P.2
Featured GPS Classroom P.2
Valerie Young
1st grade
1
Spring Hill Elementary School
Fayette County Schools
Should We Make a Circle Graph?
In the elementary grades, students will develop their understanding of graphic representations by
adding a new type of graph to their repertoire each year. Students start in kindergarten by creating
picture graphs and by fourth grade are able to work with bar graphs, pictographs, line plot graphs, and
line graphs. In fifth and sixth grades, students further develop their understanding of graphic
representations by constructing and interpreting circle graphs. This purposefully aligns with the
development of an understanding of percentage in fifth and sixth grades.
Fifth grade students are able to develop an understanding of the relationship of different
percentages to the size of a sector of a circle graph. Students could work with data collected by
recording the color of M&Ms drawn randomly from a bag. After the students draw from a bag of
M&Ms 25 times, the data could then be recorded in a circle graph. What’s important in fifth grade is
that students are able to: create a circle graph, recognize that the circle represents 100% of the data
collected, represent data with percentages, understand the advantages of a circle graph, and identify the
appropriate uses of a circle graph. Because 25 M&Ms were drawn, students can multiply the quantity of
each color of M&M by 4 to determine the number of M&Ms per 100 for each color. This allows fifth
grade students access to the percentages of each sector of the circle.
The important ideas that are extended from fifth grade to sixth grade are connecting the
percentage to creating circle graphs using the measurement of the central angle for each sector.
Working with the same materials, students in sixth grade will use more sophisticated ways to create a circle
graph. To represent the colors of the M&Ms in a small bag, each student can count the number of
M&Ms in their bag and create a frequency chart to record the number of each color. Students could
then use the ratio of the number of M&Ms of a color to the total number of M&Ms in the bag, to
determine the percentage of each color. Next, students will find the size of the angle for a circle sector
represented by each color percentage. Using this information, students would be able to create a circle
graph representing the quantity of colors for their bag of M&Ms.
Systems of
Equations via
Manipulatives
This idea is further developed in grade 7 and expanded to include a study of probability in
grades 6 and 8. An understanding of circles will be extended further in Math I when high school students
define fairness and expected value in data analysis and probability, in Math II when students investigate
lengths of arcs and areas of sectors in geometry, and in Math IV when students use the circle to define
trigonometric functions in degrees and radians.
Mathematics TEAM
Janet Davis
Mathematics
Program Manager
(404) 463-1736
[email protected]
Sandi Woodall
Secondary Mathematics
Program Specialist
(404) 463-6924
[email protected]
Sharon Hooper
Elementary Mathematics
Program Specialist
(404) 651-7272
[email protected]
Sharquinta Tuggle
Secondary Mathematics
Teacher on Assignment
(404) 463-0634
[email protected]
Jessica Jetton
Elementary Mathematics
Teacher on Assignment
(404) 463-0734
[email protected]
In Upcoming Issues…
Gifted Learners
Effective Questioning
Strategies
GPS Classroom Video
In this issue...
 Measurement Masters
 1st grade
View over 300 Georgia
classroom videos and teacher
interviews demonstrating
standards-based mathematics
classroom environments.
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R.T.I. 911