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Graphing Names in a Historic Cemetery

Subjects

• Educational Technology
• Mathematics
  --Statistics
• Social Studies
  --History
  ----State History

Grade

• 3-5
• 6-8
• 9-12

Brief Description

Tally and graph the most common names found in a local historic cemetery.

Objectives

Students

• collect information from gravestones about the names of the deceased.
• list the different names (first, last, or both) that are found on the stones.
• figure out which were the most common names at different times in history.
• graph the most common names found. (optional)

Keywords

cemetery, gravestones

Materials Needed

• paper and pencil
• graph-making software or access to the online tool Create a Graph (optional)
• gravestone rubbing supplies (optional)

Lesson Plan

Fall, especially October, is a fun time to plan a trip to a local historic cemetery.

You might introduce this lesson by asking students to identify the most common names they know. Do any first names appear more than once among students in the class? Ask students if there are other common names in the school or their neighborhood.

Throughout history, there have always been names that have been more common or popular than others. You can prove this point by taking students to a local historic cemetery. Have them work individually, in groups, or as a class to tally the names they find on gravestones in the cemetery.

Students might tally first names, last names, or both. Or you might divide students into groups and have some tally first names and others keep track of last names.

Students might employ technology to create their graphs. If your students do not have access to a graph-making technology tool, the free online graph-making tool called Create a Graph makes creating appealing graphs an easy task.

If you teach young students, you might have them graph only names of people who died prior to 1900. If you teach older students, you might have them graph name by decade.

Before You Visit the Cemetery…

Should you allow your students to do gravestone rubbings to display in class? Before you consider having students do rubbings, be sure to read Some Gravestone Rubbing Dos and Don'ts. If doing such rubbings is appropriate, you might first read How to Make a Gravestone Rubbing. Also, for some general tips about planning a field trip to a cemetery, read Cemetery Field Trip Preparation.

Additional Resources

• Teacher Feature: Linda Prather Takes Her Students to a Cemetery
• Cemetery Studies
• How Other Teachers Study the Cemetery History Comes Alive in the Graveyard
• Historic Cemetery Project

Assessment

Did students work cooperatively to gather data? Did they create accurate data and graphs? You might also ask students to write in their journals a summary of what they learned from this activity.

Lesson Plan Source

EducationWorld.com

Submitted By

Gary Hopkins

National Standards

MATHEMATICS: Data Analysis and Probability
GRADES 3 - 5
NM-DATA.3-5.2 Select and Use Appropriate Statistical Methods to Analyze Data
GRADES 6 - 8
NM-DATA.6-8.2 Select and Use Appropriate Statistical Methods to Analyze Data
GRADES 9 - 12
NM-DATA.9-12.2 Select and Use Appropriate Statistical Methods to Analyze Data

MATHEMATICS: Representation
GRADES Pre-K - 12
NM-REP.PK-12.1 Create and Use Representations to Organize, Record, and Communicate Mathematical Ideas
NM-REP.PK-12.3 Use Representations to Model and Interpret Physical, Social, and Mathematical Phenomena

SOCIAL SCIENCES: U.S. History
GRADES K - 4
NSS-USH.K-4.1 Living and Working together in Families and Communities, Now and Long Ago
NSS-USH.K-4.2 The History of Students' Own State or Region
GRADES 5 - 12
NSS-USH.5-12.1-10All Eras

TECHNOLOGY
GRADES K - 12
NT.K-12.1 Basic Operations NT.K-12.3 Technology Productivity Tools

See more Lesson Plans of the Day in our Lesson Plan of the Day Archive. (There you can search for lessons by subject too.)

For additional history lesson plans, see these Education World resources:

• Lesson Planning: History
• History Subject Center
• Teacher-Submitted Lesson Plans: History
• Work Sheets from Teacher Created Materials: History

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Copyright© 2006 Education World

09/28/2006

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