Fannie Mae Foundation: How to Buy a Home

Introducing the concept
Explain to students that a graph is a visual way to represent information. It allows the reader to make comparisons and see relationships at a glance.
There are several kinds of graphs: pictographs, bar graphs, line graphs, and circle graphs. Almost every commercial adult education math series has a unit that will provide you with examples of different kinds of graphs and ideas on how to teach adult students how to use them.

In addition, if you would like to extend this activity, you may want to bring
in examples of graphs you find in the local newspaper, in magazines,
or in community reports, such as demographic reports prepared by
the Chamber of Commerce or local governments.

Reading the graph
Look at the information on the left side of the graph. Under the title “Income,” there are three categories of income levels. This information is called the key to the circle graph. Each segment represents a percentage of homeowners in each income category. The higher the percentage, the larger the segment.
Ask students questions to make sure they understand how to read the graph.

For example:

1. Which of the three listed income groups has the largest percentage of first-time home buyers?

2. What income group has the smallest percentage?

3. What might this say about the relationship between income and
home buying?

Unit 1 : Lesson 1: This apartment is too small!

Document literacy: Reading a graph

Who owns their home in the United States?

A graph is a way of displaying information using a kind of picture or illustration. A graph allows the reader to understand a good deal of information quickly, to make comparisons, and to come to conclusions about information.

There are many kinds of graphs. One type is a circle graph. A circle graph uses parts of a circle cut into segments (like a pie) to show parts of a whole (or 100 percent). Below is an example of a circle graph. Information about home buyers at three different income levels is placed in a column titled “percent of first-time buyers.” Information about the percentage of buyers at each income level is placed in a column titled “income.”

Look at the circle graph below. It shows how many households with an income of $50,000 a year or less bought a home in the U.S. for the first time. A household may include one person with one income or several persons who put their incomes together to help pay for a house.

One shaded segment of the circle graph indicates that 17 percent (17 out of every 100) of those who bought a house for the first time had an income of under $30,000 a year. Another shaded section shows that an additional 20 percent of those buying a home had an income of between $30,000 and $40,000. The graph also shows that 19 percent of households making $41,000 to $50,000 were first-time home buyers. All together 56 percent of those buying a home for the first time make $50,000 or less a year.

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