Friday

Raven tapes four bar graphs to the workshop wall. "One for each season," she says.

Rocket steps back. "Summer is tall. Winter is short. The yard was busier in summer!"

Nova draws a cyan line across the tops of the bars. "You found a pattern," she says.

"Now explain it. What changed between the tall bar and the short bar?"

Yesterday your bars were days or groups. Today the bars are months or seasons.

Put the months along the bottom in order, from January to December.

Put your counts up the side. Each bar shows how many sightings happened in that month.

A season graph often has a shape. Bars rise in spring, peak in summer and fall in autumn.

Winter bars are often short. Fewer animals are active, and fewer people are outside looking.

Here is a pretend season graph as a table. Raven counted insects in the yard.

A graph shows a pattern. A scientist then explains the pattern.

Use this frame: "The bar for ____ is tallest because ____."

Good explanations point to light, warmth and food. Those are the three things seasons change.

Then ask what you still do not know. Maybe more people looked in summer. Maybe you were away in winter.

Writing down what you do not know is part of good science.

You turned data into a story! Tomorrow is Explorer Day. You will check the field guide's months against real life.