6th grade making box plots worksheets

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Making box plots worksheets for 6th grade give your child a short list of data and a box plot to complete on a printed axis. Four problems per print. Your child orders the numbers, finds the minimum, lower quartile, median, upper quartile, and maximum, then draws the box and whiskers over those five marks. The median is left out when the quartiles are found.

Free printable PDF worksheet, aligned to Common Core 6.SP.B.4.

Each print is a different sheet with its own answer key. You don't need to sign up.

The kind of problems you'll get

Use the data to complete each box plot. Exclude the median when finding quartiles.

  1. Use the data 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9.

    Answer: Minimum 1; lower quartile 2.5; median 5; upper quartile 7.5; maximum 9.

Most problems on this sheet sit beside a picture, model or diagram, so this is the worked example the sheet itself prints. The answer key on page two prints the answer under every problem.

Every print pulls a fresh set of problems at this level, so a make-up test or a second sibling never gets the same sheet.

What's on each sheet

Every version prints on US Letter or A4, with its answer key after the problems.

This sheet is one of the versions on the 6th grade box plots page, with its own difficulty choices and its own answer key.

How to teach this

Order the data first, every time, even when it already looks sorted. Then have your child write the five numbers in a row before touching the plot: minimum, lower quartile, median, upper quartile, maximum. With eight values such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, the median sits between 4 and 6, so it is 5, and each half has four values whose middle gives the quartiles: 2.5 and 7.5. The trap is the median itself. This sheet says to exclude it when finding quartiles, so with an odd count the middle value is set aside and the halves are made from what is left. One check before drawing: the five numbers should increase from left to right. If they do not, a half was split in the wrong place. Then draw the box between the quartiles and the whiskers out to the ends.

Watch for: Kids draw the box from the smallest value to the largest. The box covers only the middle half, from the lower quartile to the upper quartile, and the whiskers reach out to the minimum and maximum. Kids find the quartiles by counting places on the unsorted list. The five-number summary only works on ordered data, so sorting comes first, and skipping it puts every mark in the wrong spot.

Common questions about 6th grade making box plots

What does exclude the median mean on this sheet?
When the data has an odd number of values, the middle one is the median and it is not counted in either half. The lower quartile is the median of the values below it, and the upper quartile is the median of the values above it. Textbooks differ on this convention, so the sheet states which one the answer key uses.
Why are there only four problems?
Each one is a full construction: sort the data, find five numbers, draw a box and two whiskers on the axis. Four of those is a solid session for standard 6.SP.B.4. The sheet also has an easier setting, and a fresh print brings new data.
Can the quartiles be decimals?
Yes. When a half has an even number of values, its median is the average of the two middle ones, so 2.5 or 7.5 is a normal answer. Your child places that mark halfway between two tick marks on the axis.

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Aligned to Common Core 6.SP.B.4. Reviewed by the One more sheet team. Content version 241, updated September 2026.

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