#3789. A Poem for Mean, Median and Mode

Mathematics, level: Middle
Posted Fri Sep 8 16:02:53 PDT 2006 by Tamara Gloster (tgloster@crec.org).
Two Rivers Magnet Middle School, East Hartford, CT
Materials Required: Poem
Activity Time: 10-15 minutes
Concepts Taught: To help students recognize and remember the difference between mean, median and mode

The objective of this poem is to help students recognize and remember the difference between mean, median and mode. Although they may not remember the poem, often, key words like fiddle and pot of gold will trigger there memory.

The students enjoy and think it is funny, but it is great for motivating students to write poetry to help them remember math concepts.

The mean is very mean,
It adds and divides all the numbers seen.

The median meets you in the middle,
While playing the fiddle.

The mode is a pot of gold,
The number that appears the most it will hold.