Mean, median, mode, and range are so much fun to teach! I love these standards because there’s a wide variety of activities and hands-on practice for students. I think I’ve officially turned into my overly excited math teachers I thought were so odd in middle and high school!
Your students are going to need a strong foundation on these standards. Plus, as students progress through different math courses, they’ll find these terms very important: mean, median, mode, range. It’s your job to make sure you provide as many opportunities to learn and grow as possible in your classroom. (Specifically, we’re digging into CCSS standards 6.SP.A.1, 6.SP.A.2, and 6.SP.A.3)
Since we’re covering three standards in today’s post, we’ve rounded up 12 fantastic resources to use & save you time. I’m sure you could find additional creative activities, but why take all that extra time and effort? It it’s not broken, don’t fix it!
Activities:
- Mean, Median, Mode & Range Digital Escape Room
- Find the Mean, Median, Mode & Range Mazes
- Is it a Statistical Question Maze
- Mean, Median, Mode & Range Bingo Game
- Mean & Range Matching Game
- Find the Mean Paper Chain Activity
- 6th Grade Statistics Task Cards
- Online Jeopardy Game
- Review Game
- Practice Problems Worksheet
- Mean, Median, Mode, and Range (Lazy Song Parody)
- Oreo Stacking
Mean, Median, Mode & Range Digital Escape Room
I can’t express this enough, but my students are obsessed with escape rooms. Some of my sixth graders don’t seem to understand what it means to work without talking. When I provide those students with an escape room, it’s amazing how hard they start working.
The Mean, Median, Mode & Range Digital Escape Room is a must use, no matter where you are in your unit. Students have three different puzzles to solve, which means they have three different opportunities to show what they know.
Have you tried a digital math escape room yet? Teachers & students rave about them! To see what all the fuss is about, click the link below, drop your email, and we’ll send you this FREE digital math escape room!
This escape room is built in Google Slides and has 3 puzzles- one for combining like terms, one for distributive property, and the final one for solving 2-step equations. Grab yours today!
Find the Mean, Median, Mode & Range Mazes
If you haven’t used a Math Idea Galaxy maze yet, you’re missing out! The Find the Mean, Median, Mode & Range Maze is great for all levels of students to use. The teacher can quickly see where a student is struggling, so they can work together to tackle any questions.
This set comes with a total of three mazes as well as the answer keys. I like to create a domino effect of students checking one another’s work. After two students solve the maze, they are in charge of checking the next round of students who are done. Then those students have the opportunity to check their peers’ work. I get so excited when I see a struggling student motivated to assist another sixth grader in my classroom.
Is it a Statistical Question Maze
Another maze means another opportunity for students to practice. Is it a Statistical Question Maze is just what it sounds like- students have to determine if a question has a statistical answer. You could use the Find the Mean, Median, Mode & Range Maze for bell work and then assign Is it a Statistical Question Maze for homework.
Mean, Median, Mode & Range Bingo Game
I don’t know why sixth graders get so excited to play bingo, but I’m definitely not complaining. Mean, Median, Mode & Range Bingo is a simple, yet effective way for your math students to practice these standards. Students can work in pairs among the whole class or this could be a station activity.
Mean & Range Matching Game
When students are given several new vocabulary terms to learn, a lot of students will become overwhelmed. The Mean & Range Matching Game is a great way to limit the number of new vocabulary words.
There are two different sets available for you to use in your classroom. Students are presented with data sets and they need to be matched with the corresponding mean or range. You can use this matching game as a small group rotation or a whole class competition!
Find the Mean Paper Chain Activity
Find the Mean Paper Chain Activity is definitely something you haven’t seen before. There are 12 problems for students to answer, ideally with a partner. Chains are connected with the correct mean for the corresponding data set. My students love this activity because it’s unique to our regular rotation of games.
If you haven’t used a paper chain activity before, you’ll want to have students first complete it almost as a sort and place the strips of paper in the correct order. You can quickly check to see if they’re correct by checking the pattern of pictures. Then you can have students construct the actual paper chain if you’d like. Some students wanted to wear theirs as a chain necklace, but my favorite thing to do with them is have students link their chains together and hang them on the wall.
6th Grade Statistics Task Cards
Task cards are one of the most versatile resources you can use in your classroom. If I had a set of task cards for every single standard, I would be a very happy camper.
The 6th Grade Statistics Task Cards come with 24 cards for your students to answer. You can use these cards to review before a test or for a formative assessment. I always try to change up how I use task cards in my classroom, but you can never go wrong with them.
Online Jeopardy Game
I’m constantly amused by students who become so excited to play math games online. They love using technology so much, they hardly realize they’re working on math.
Math-play.com has so many free games you can assign to your classes. This Online Jeopardy Game specifically goes over the mean, median, and mode standards. You have the option to use this website in a variety of ways. Which ideas jump out to you?
Review Game
This free Review Game from Cognitive Cardio Math is a truth or dare review game. It doesn’t matter what decade we’re in, sixth graders will forever love a game of truth or dare. There are 36 cards for students to answer related to mean, median, mode and range. The fewer students in a group, the more problems each student can answer.
Practice Problems Worksheet
Math-aids.com always saves the day! This generated worksheet has ten different sets of numbers for students to work with. There isn’t anything fancy or special about the worksheet, but it is a fantastic resource you’re going to want to keep on hand.
Mean, Median, Mode, and Range (Lazy Song Parody)
Who doesn’t love a good parody song? I don’t know how people replace popular song lyrics with math information, but I’m grateful there are teachers on the internet with that ability. Your sixth graders are going to have this song stuck in their head for the rest of the day.
This is a great video to play at the beginning of the unit or after a break. If you have a lot of students who need additional enrichment opportunities, challenge them to write their own parody song for mean, median, mode and range.
Oreo Stacking
I thought I was a fun teacher, but Jen’s blog post about Oreo stacking on Oreo Day made me want to level-up even more. She divided her class into pairs and gave them lots of Oreos. They were given the challenge to see how many Oreos they could get in one single stack. As the students were working, they kept track of their data. Then all the data was shared with the class to determine the mean, median, mode and range for Oreo towers.
I can picture my class of 30 sixth graders extremely engaged and excited with this activity. I can’t wait to use this creative approach in my classroom.
Mission Accomplished
I hope I was successful providing you with a list of resources to add to your teacher toolkit. What I love about so many of these activities is that they can be transferred to a variety of math skills throughout the year. Please let us know which resources you enjoyed the most- we love hearing from you!
