Chapter 5: Counting the Treasure
Bin of Averages
"The average is the one in the middle."
A basket labeled "Mean/Average" with medium-sized apples in it.
About this page
No giant apples, no tiny apples, page 70 is a basket full of perfectly medium ones. That is the friendliest introduction to averages a young child could ask for. The average is the middle-sized answer, the one that stands in for the whole group when the group is too big to describe apple by apple. Kids meet this idea constantly without a name for it, in medium shirts, middle-sized cups, and just-right porridge. It is another everyday reminder that data is everywhere once you know how to look, even sitting quietly in the fruit bowl on the kitchen counter.
Talk about it while you color
- If you lined up your whole family from shortest to tallest, who would be in the middle?
- Which do you like better, the biggest apple or the middle-sized one, and why?
- What things at home come in small, medium, and large?