Collecting Winter Data:
Make a Snowperson Glyph

Subjects

Arts & Humanities
--Visual Arts
Mathematics
--Statistics

Grade

K-2
3-5

Brief Description

Students create colorful snowman glyphs that reveal how they feel about winter. (Grades K-6)

Objectives

Students will

use a legend/key to create a graph the reveals how they feel about winter.
interpret (respond to questions about) the glyphs they and their classmates create.

Keywords

glyph, graph, winter, legend, key, snow

Materials Needed

a simple illustration of a three-circle snowperson that fill a page, one copy per child (see further instructions in Lesson Plan section)
crayons

Lesson Plan

Before the Lesson
Create a simple illustration of a three-circle snowman/snowperson with two stick arms and no other details. The snowman illustration should fill the page. Add a name line to the top or bottom of the page. Print a copy of the snowman illustration for each student.

Introducing the Lesson
Most likely, your students are familiar graphs. They have probably used picture graphs or bar graphs or line graphs to illustrate data they have collected. But do they know what a glyph is? A glyph is a picture that can provide information and data in a different way than a graph does.

If your students have heard of hieroglyphics, write the word hieroglyphics on the board or a sheet of chart paper. Some students will undoubtedly spot the root word glyph" in the larger word. And they will know that hieroglyphics is form of picture writing." Share with students that the root word glyph means picture.

Students who have been to the dentist might be familiar with their dental record chart. On that chart, or glyph, the dentist or hygienist records their history of cavities and other dental information.

Creating Glyphs
Tell students that each of them is going to create a snowperson glyph. When all the students glyphs are collected and posted on a bulletin board, they will be able to learn some facts about each student and the class as a whole.

Decide in advance what kind of information you would like to gather about the students in your class. Some of the information you gather might be about their families. Or maybe you want to gather information that will let you know how students feel about the winter season. The following information will provide some ideas that you might want to use when creating a legend/key for students glyphs. Feel free to adapt this information or add new ideas to the legend/key you produce.

Family facts. Add to your snowman/snowperson a button of charcoal for each person in your family. The buttons will run down the front of your snowmans middle and bottom parts.
Favorite season. Add to your snowman blue mittens if winter is your favorite season of the year; add green mittens if spring is your favorite season; add yellow mittens if summer is your favorite season; or add red mittens if fall is your favorite season.
Feelings about snow. Add to your snowman a ski cap with a long tail if you like snow; add a ski cap with a pompom on top if you dont like snow; or add earmuffs if you have never seen snow.
Fill my cup in winter. Add a broom to your snowmans mitten-covered right hand if you like to drink hot chocolate on a cold winter day; or add a cane to its right hand if you prefer a cup of hot soup as your favorite winter warm-up.
Favorite winter fun. Add to your snowman a red scarf if your favorite winter activity is sledding; add a red-and-white striped scarf if your favorite winter activity is ice-skating; or add a purple scarf if your favorite winter activity is skiing.
Fun in front of the fireplace. If you were to spend a cold, cold winter night with your family in front of the fireplace, what would you prefer to do? Add a book to your snowmans left hand if you would prefer to read a good book; add a playing card to the snowmans left hand if you would prefer to play a card game or board game with your family; or add a guitar to your snowmans left hand if you would prefer to sing songs in front of the fireplace.
Fruit or vegetable nose? Add to your snowman a carrot nose if you would prefer to live at the North Pole all year long; or add a orange (the fruit) for an nose if you would prefer to live along the hot, hot equator all year long.

Use the survey questions above or create your own questions and create a glyph legend/key based on those questions and symbols/responses. In the end, the glyph you create might look something like this legend/key created by a teacher in Ohio.

After students have completed their glyphs as directed, have them finish them up by adding simple faces to their snowpersons. Once done,

have students come forward one at a time to show their glyphs. Ask the class one question about each students glyph. For example, Does Benjamin like snow or not? (If Bens snowperson is wearing a ski cap with a long tail, students will know he likes snow; if his snowperson has a ski cap with a pompom on top, they will know he does not like snow; if his snowperson is wearing earmuffs, they will know that he has never seen snow.)
or
display students glyphs on a bulletin board and have students use/interpret the glyphs to determine how many students in the class like winter more than the other three seasons; how many students prefer hot chocolate to hot soup; how many families have four members; and so on.

Assessment

Assess students based on their ability to follow directions and interpret/read glyphs.

Lesson Plan Source

EducationWorld.com

Submitted By

Gary Hopkins

National Standards

FINE ARTS: Visual Arts
GRADES K - 4
NA-VA.K-4.3 Choosing and Evaluating A Range of Subject Matter, Symbols, and Ideas
NA-VA.K-4.5 Reflecting Upon and Assessing the Characteristics and Merits of Their Work and the Work of Others
NA-VA.K-4.6 Making Connections Between Visual Arts and Other Disciplines
GRADES 5 - 8
NA-VA.5-8.3 Choosing and Evaluating A Range of Subject Matter, Symbols, and Ideas
NA-VA.5-8.5 Reflecting Upon and Assessing the Characteristics and Merits of Their Work and the Work of Others
NA-VA.5-8.6 Making Connections Between Visual Arts and Other Disciplines

MATHEMATICS: Data Analysis and Probability
GRADES Pre-K - 2
NM-DATA.PK-2.1 Formulate Questions That Can Be Addressed With Data and Collect, Organize, and Display Relevant Data to Answer
GRADES 3 - 5
NM-DATA.3-5.1 Formulate Questions That Can Be Addressed With Data and Collect, Organize, and Display Relevant Data to Answer

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-12.2 Select, Apply, and Translate Among Mathematical Representations to Solve Problems
NM-REP.PK-12.3 Use Representations to Model and Interpret Physical, Social, and Mathematical Phenomena