Creating Bar Graphs with Counting Bears: Kindergarten Computer Science Lesson

📊 Objectives

• 🐻‍❄️ Students will be able to sort counting bears by color.
• 📈 Students will be able to create a simple bar graph using the sorted bears.
• 💻 Students will be introduced to the concept of data representation.

🍎 Materials

• 🧸 Counting bears (various colors)
• 🧱 Graph paper or a printable bar graph template
• 🖍️ Crayons or markers matching the bear colors
• 📃 Worksheet with questions about the graph

☀️ Warm-up (5 mins)

• 🤝 Begin by asking students what their favorite colors are.
• 🐻 Show the counting bears and ask them to name the colors they see.
• 🔢 Briefly review counting to prepare them for sorting.

👩‍🏫 Main Instruction

1. 🐻 Sorting the Bears (10 mins)

   • 🖐️ Guide students to sort the counting bears by color.
   • 🗣️ Ask them to count how many bears there are of each color.
   • 📝 Record the numbers on the board (e.g., Red: 5, Blue: 3, etc.).

2. 📈 Creating the Bar Graph (15 mins)

   • 🧱 Distribute the graph paper or bar graph template.
   • 🖍️ Explain that each column on the graph represents a color of bear.
   • 🎨 Have students color in the columns to match the number of bears of each color (e.g., for 5 red bears, color 5 blocks red).

3. 🤔 Discussing the Graph (10 mins)

   • ❓ Ask questions like: "Which color has the most bears?" and "Which color has the fewest?"
   • 🤝 Encourage students to compare the different columns on the graph.
   • 💡 Introduce the idea that the graph helps us see information (data) easily.

✅ Assessment

• 📃 Distribute a worksheet with simple questions about the bar graph they created.
• ❓ Example Questions:
  • 🐻 How many blue bears are there?
  • 🔴 Are there more red bears or yellow bears?
  • 🌈 Which color has the least number of bears?
• 📝 Collect the worksheets to assess understanding.