How many raisins are in a mini-box of raisins?

To expose our third grade students to more hands-on math activities, the fantastic 3rd grade teachers and I incorporated Mathtastic Fridays into our schedule. Every Friday we use our math skills to solve real world problems. This Friday we became Great Graphers as we asked ourselves, exactly how many raisins can you find in a mini-box of raisins. Below is a quick summary of our activity.  

First, we asked ourselves – How many raisins are in a mini- box of raisins? 

Each student received two unopened boxes of raisins. We made some interesting observations of our mini-boxes such as, both boxes are exactly the same size and same shape. We revisited our question and the students shared their predictions with their partners.

Then, we collected our data. 

Each student carefully counted their raisins (I had to remind them not to eat their data). They recorded their totals on their data sheet. 

Next, we organized our data. The class decided a line plot would help us to organize the class' information. We found the highest number of raisins in a box and the lowest. The students used this information to construct the scale for the line plot. 

Then, we began plotting our data. Each student added one dot sticker to represent number of raisins in each box.

After everyone's mini-boxes were plotted, we analyzed our data. We asked ourselves:

• What do you notice about the data in this graph?

• Every mini-box was the same size, why do you think every box did not have the same amount? 

The students came up with wonderful observations! We also found the range, mode, and median. 

Finally, we interpreted the results to answer our original question-How many raisins are in a box of raisins? 

Using our data, we predicted how many raisins are likely to be in a new box  of mini-raisins. The kids were great graphing detectives as we tried to find an answer to our real-world question. Everyone loved graphing with raisins.