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6.DS.A.2 · Unit 0

🎲 The Language of Probability

Learning goal: I can use probability words (certain, likely, unlikely, impossible, equally likely) to describe the chance of an outcome.

Language goal: I can describe likelihood using the words certain, likely, unlikely, and impossible.

📚 Vocabulary

Certain: Will always happen (probability 1).
Impossible: Can never happen (probability 0).
Likely / Unlikely: Probably will / probably will not happen.
Equally likely: Two outcomes have the same chance.

💡 Learn it

We use probability words to describe how likely an outcome is, from impossible to certain.

If almost all outcomes give a result, it is likely; if very few do, it is unlikely.

When two outcomes have the same chance (like heads vs. tails on a fair coin), they are equally likely.

These words help predict which responses will be more or less common when you collect data.

Worked example. A spinner is mostly blue with a small red slice and no green. Describe landing on each color.
  1. Blue: likely (it covers most of the spinner).
  2. Red: unlikely (only a small slice).
  3. Green: impossible (there is no green).

✏️ Practice

Score: 0 / 4
1. Rolling a 7 on a standard 1–6 number cube is…
💡 A 1–6 cube has no 7.
2. The sun rising tomorrow is…
💡 It always happens.
3. A bag has 9 red and 1 blue marble. Drawing red is…
💡 Most marbles are red.
4. Flipping heads on a fair coin, compared to tails, is…
💡 A fair coin has two equal outcomes.

🗣️ Sentence frames (ESOL support)

  • I know ___ because ___.
  • First, I ___. Then, I ___.
  • The answer is ___, so ___.

🎟️ Exit ticket

Name one certain event, one impossible event, and one likely event from your day, and explain each choice.

🧰 Lesson resources