Jake and the Migration
of the Monarch

* What is a Census? *

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• Math Guide - What is a Census?
  • In the book, Jake’s finger moved “like the hand of a clock” counting butterflies — “two, four, five, twelve.”
  • A census is a count of something. 
    • Often it is a count of people. 
    • In the United States, for example, the federal government does a census at the end of every 10 years. 
    • As of Nov. 13, 2004, the total number of people in the United States is 294,749,555. 
    • Write and say that number. 
    • Depending on the age of student, you might discuss place values or create word problems (example: How many classes like ours would it take to make that number?).
  • Young children might enjoy taking a census of the number of butterflies found in the book. Sometimes they are hard to spot, just like in real life.