Monday Math Freebie - Arctic Animal Races

Towards the end of the semester my students and I spent some time on probability and data analysis. I made a set of spinner activities to look at the notion of fair and unfair. They were pretty boring and focused on color, so I decided to dress them up and create a lesson and resources using Arctic animals.

In this set of activities, students:

• experiment with fair and unfair spinners
• tally and record the results of their spins
• graph the results of their experiments 
• determine what makes a spinner fair or unfair

Probability does not appear in the Common Core standards until middle school. However, students can still use probability activities to collect and analyze data. With this in mind, these activities can be used to meet the following Common Core Standards for Math.

• 1.MD.C.4 Organize, represent, and interpret data with up to three categories; ask and answer questions about the total number of data points, how many in each category, and how many more or less are in one category than in another.
• 2.MD.D.10 Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a data set with up to four categories. Solve simple put-together, take-apart, and compare problems1 using information presented in a bar graph.
• 3.MD.B.3 Draw a scaled picture graph and a scaled bar graph to represent a data set with several categories. Solve one- and two-step “how many more” and “how many less” problems using information presented in scaled bar graphs. For example, draw a bar graph in which each square in the bar graph might represent 5 pets.

Here's what the packet and resources look like.

Download Arctic Animal Races

I hope you get a chance to use this activity in your home or classroom. Please let me know if you try it and how you like it!