Worksheet Grade 3 Math
Thistlewood's Rain Gauge: A Grade 3 Line Plot Worksheet
A grade 3 worksheet where a weather club records eight days of rainfall to the nearest quarter inch and builds a line plot to answer questions about the data.
Objectives
- Students will generate a line plot from measurement data recorded to the nearest quarter inch.
- Students will interpret a line plot to answer questions about frequency and the most common amount.
Vocabulary
Key words: line plot, quarter inch, mode, rain gauge
Teacher overview
The weather club at the fictional Thistlewood Elementary checks a rain gauge marked in quarter inches every morning for eight days and records what they find. This worksheet has students turn those eight readings into a line plot and then answer questions using the plot. A common misconception is treating a line plot's X marks as if they were bars on a bar graph that can be measured by height alone; on a line plot, each X stands for one single day, so the count of X's above a value is the number of days with that exact reading.
Student Worksheet
Here are the weather club's eight rain gauge readings, recorded to the nearest quarter inch:
| Day | Rainfall (inches) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1/4 |
| 2 | 1/4 |
| 3 | 1/4 |
| 4 | 1/2 |
| 5 | 1/2 |
| 6 | 3/4 |
| 7 | 1 |
| 8 | 1 |
Draw a line plot with a number line from 0 to 1 inch, marked at 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and 1. Place one X above the correct mark for each of the eight days.
How many days had a reading of exactly 1/4 inch?
How many days had a reading of exactly 1/2 inch?
How many days had a reading of exactly 1 inch?
Which amount appears most often on the line plot? This amount is called the mode.
What is the difference between the wettest day's reading (1 inch) and the driest day's reading (1/4 inch)? Write your answer as a fraction of an inch.
How many days had a reading of 1/2 inch or more?
How many more days had a reading of 1/2 inch or more than had a reading below 1/2 inch?
If the club recorded one more day with a reading of 1/4 inch, would the mode change? Explain your answer.
In one or two sentences, describe what the line plot shows about the pattern of rainfall over the eight days.
From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.
Answer Key
Answer: 3 X's above 1/4, 2 X's above 1/2, 1 X above 3/4, 2 X's above 1.
Each X represents one day's reading, placed above its matching mark on the number line from 0 to 1 inch.Answer: 3 days.
Days 1, 2, and 3 each read exactly 1/4 inch.Answer: 2 days.
Days 4 and 5 each read exactly 1/2 inch.Answer: 2 days.
Days 7 and 8 each read exactly 1 inch.Answer: 1/4 inch.
1/4 inch appears on 3 days, more than any other amount (1/2 inch appears on 2 days, 3/4 inch on 1 day, and 1 inch on 2 days).Answer: 3/4 inch.
1 inch is the same as 4 quarter inches, and 1/4 inch is 1 quarter inch. The difference is 4 − 1 = 3 quarter inches, which is 3/4 inch.Answer: 5 days.
Days with 1/2 inch or more: 2 days at 1/2 inch, 1 day at 3/4 inch, and 2 days at 1 inch, for 2 + 1 + 2 = 5 days.Answer: 2 days.
5 days had 1/2 inch or more, and 3 days had a reading below 1/2 inch (the three 1/4-inch days): 5 − 3 = 2 more days.Answer: No, the mode would stay 1/4 inch.
1/4 inch already appears on more days (3) than any other amount. Adding a fourth 1/4-inch day would only make 1/4 inch the mode by an even wider margin.Answer: The rainfall started light and got heavier.
The first three days had the smallest amount recorded (1/4 inch), and the last two days had the largest amount recorded (1 inch), so rainfall generally increased across the eight days.
Differentiation
Support (below grade level)
Provide a pre-drawn number line with the four marks (1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1) already labeled, so students only need to add the X's rather than construct the scale themselves. Allow students to use tally marks next to each amount in the table before transferring the counts to the line plot.
Extension (above grade level)
Ask students to find the total rainfall for the eight days by adding all eight readings together (the answer is 4 1/2 inches, found by adding 18 total quarter inches and converting: 18 ÷ 4 = 4 remainder 2, or 4 whole inches and 2 quarter inches, which is 4 1/2 inches). Have them explain their addition strategy in writing.
ELL supports
Pre-teach "line plot," "mode," and "quarter inch" using a physical measuring cup or ruler marked in fourths alongside the vocabulary words. Allow students to answer items 9 and 10 by circling "yes or no" and completing a sentence frame instead of writing a full explanation from scratch.