Blog 3

1.) Lemonade for Sale, by Tricia Tusa
     The children on Elm Street thought of the idea to make a lemonade stand to make money so that they could rebuild their clubhouse that was falling apart. Meg, Matthew, Dani, and Cheri were talking about how much money they bet they could raise within a certain amount of time. Cheri came up with the idea making a bar graph to show how many cups are sold each day they sell lemonade at their stand. They decided to put the days of the week on the x axis and the number of cups sold on the y axis, making the number of cups sold dependent on the day of the week. Throughout the week Cheri kept track of how many cups were sold. Monday they sold 30 cups of lemonade. Tuesday they sold 40 cups. Wednesday the team sold 56. But on Thursday no one came to the lemonade stand, and they were selling fewer cups. They looked around the corner to see someone else juggling on the corner. Everyone was there, so the kids went over and asked Jed if he wanted to juggle at their lemonade stand while they sold lemonade. Jed agreed and the next day the number of cups sold went over the bar graph they had made. In the end they made enough money to fix their clubhouse and Jed joined their clubhouse.

2.) In Lemonade for Sale,  Tricia does a good job of explaining how you can represent everyday data on a graph. Whether its a bar graph or a line graph we can represent our data in a way that is easier to understand and see a curve in sales or see the increase/decrease. She shows the decrease on the graph on Thursday when they don't sell many cups because of the new guy on the street. But then also shows how it can sky rocket and increase like it did on Friday. The graph helps them see how many cups they sell each day. The book shows how to use the input and output ( X and Y) on the graph and also references how to label them.

3.) Literature is a good way to explain and teach mathematical skills because you can view it in a more realistic way and puts it in better perspective for you. It applies it to real life, and sometimes people learn better than way or they learn better by seeing it in an actual picture book. They can actually picture it rather than just trying to analyze it on the board. Its a good way to use imagery to pick up on a concept.

Samantha Wright