Line graphs – Year 4 maths lesson
Lesson 31 of 31 in the Year 4 maths course
UK version. UK school years, UK spelling and pounds (£). · US Math Department
A complete 45-minute lesson for Year 4 (ages 8–9) that runs on this page – at school or at home. Every answer is marked straight away, with a worked explanation.
- Time
- 45 minutes + 20 min homework
- Year
- Year 4 (ages 8–9)
- You need
- Paper, a pencil and this page
- Marked
- Instantly, with explanations
For parents: how to use this lesson
You don't need to know this topic yourself. The lesson explains each step on screen, one tidy step at a time. Every answer is marked straight away with a worked explanation, so you never have to mark anything.
- Read what your child will learn and the big ideas together.
- Press Start the lesson below and sit with your child for the teaching and the worked examples (about 19 minutes).
- Let them do the practice on their own. They choose Getting started, On track or Challenge – start on On track and move up after a few right in a row.
- Finish with the exit ticket and the talk question: “What does it mean when part of the line goes down?”
- Later that day or the next day: the homework (20 minutes), then a practice test.
Watch out for
- Reading the wrong axis. Find the time on the bottom axis first, then read across.
- Ignoring the scale steps. Work out what each small line is worth.
Tip for home: Look at a weather graph together and describe the trend.
What your child will learn
We are learning to read and interpret line graphs that show change over time.
Success looks like
- I can read values from a line graph.
- I can describe how a value changes.
- I can find differences between times.
Key words
- line graph
- points joined by lines to show change
- axis
- the side and bottom lines with scales
- scale
- the numbers on an axis
- trend
- the general direction of change
What to have ready
- Paper and a pencil
- This page on a computer, tablet or phone
- For the hands-on part: Measure the temperature or a plant's height every day for a week and plot it on a line graph.
The big ideas (for the adult)
A line graph shows how something changes over time, such as temperature through a day.
Read a value by going up from the time to the line, then across to the scale.
A steep line means a big change; a flat line means no change.
The lesson, step by step
| Part | Time | How it is checked |
|---|---|---|
| Starter: quick recall | 5 min | Marked by Classfern |
| Teaching input | 10 min | Not assessed, self-checked |
| Worked examples and guided practice | 9 min | Not assessed, marked by Classfern |
| Independent practice | 15 min | Marked by Classfern |
| Plenary and exit ticket | 6 min | Marked by Classfern, self-checked |
Starter, "your turn", practice and exit ticket are marked by Classfern. Worked examples and teaching are not assessed. The hands-on task and the reflection are self-assessed. Explanations in talk are judged by the parent and not recorded.
The lesson
It runs here on the page. No sign-up and no names – progress is kept only in this browser.
Homework and practice at home
20 minutes: 10 practice questions, 3 multiple-choice questions and 2 to remember from earlier work, then a short reflection. New questions every time, all marked instantly.
More practice
More Year 4 maths lessons
- Place value: the value of each digit
- Rounding to the nearest 10, 100 or 1,000
- One more, one less, ten more and ten less
- Number lines
- Comparing, ordering and writing numbers
- Roman numerals
- Column addition
- Column subtraction
- Times tables
- Short multiplication
- Multiplying and dividing by 10, 100 and 1,000
- Multiplication and division
- Solving word problems
- Equivalent fractions
- Adding and subtracting fractions with the same denominator
- Fractions of amounts
- Decimals: tenths, hundredths and thousandths
- Tenths and hundredths
- Rounding decimals
- Fractions, decimals and percentages
- Area of rectangles
- Perimeter
- Converting units of time
- Money: totals and change
- The 24-hour clock
- Types of angles and measuring angles
- Properties of 2-D shapes
- Lines of symmetry
- Coordinates
- Bar charts, pictograms and tables
Curriculum
National Curriculum for England, Year 4: “interpret and present discrete and continuous data using appropriate graphical methods, including bar charts and time graphs”
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Our lessons and questions are our own. They are not written or endorsed by any government department, testing agency or exam board.