Recording What We Notice: a skill companion
A small set of reusable sheets that grow one inquiry skill: writing down what we notice in a tally and a chart, then reading the pattern to find which has the most and which has the least. Print the scaffolds once and slot them into the science lessons you are already teaching.
What a skill companion is
Inquiry skills are not a topic of their own. They grow inside the science units a class teaches all year, such as Looking at Living Things, What Things Are Made Of and How Things Move. So this pack is not a full term of lessons. It is three reusable scaffolds, a map of where they fit, and a short stand-alone lesson for teaching the skill on its own first.
Start here: five minutes
- Read the pairing map on the next page: it shows which scaffold fits which science lesson.
- Print the tally table and the bar-chart frame, one each per child, whenever a lesson asks children to count something.
- Cut out the true-or-not cards once. They are reused all year, in any topic.
- Open the free interactive unit on your board when you want a worked example of the skill.
- Run the one-page mini-lesson first if you want to teach the skill before folding it into a topic.
No science background needed
This pack is written for the busy generalist teacher. Each scaffold explains itself in plain words, and the answer sheet gives model recordings and look-fors for every Foundation topic, so you can walk in and use it.
Slot the skill into your science lessons
The same skill of recording what we notice and reading the pattern fits into every science unit. This map shows what children can record in each Foundation topic, a pattern to find, and which scaffold to reach for. You do not run these as extra lessons; you fold them into the science you teach.
| When you teach | What children record | Pattern to find | Scaffold to slot in |
|---|---|---|---|
| Looking at Living Things (AC9SFU01) | How many animals have wings and how many do not | Do more animals have wings or no wings? | Tally table, then the bar-chart frame |
| What Things Are Made Of (AC9SFU03) | Which materials are bendy and which are stiff | Are more things bendy or stiff? | Tally table, then the bar-chart frame |
| How Things Move (AC9SFU02) | How far a ball rolls on smooth and on bumpy ground | Does a ball roll further on smooth ground? | True-or-not cards first, then the tally table |
| Any science topic | A count a child makes for themselves | The child reads their own chart to find the most and the least | True-or-not cards, then the tally table |
The three moves, and the picture that backs each one
When you want a worked example on the board, open the interactive unit and use the picture that matches the move children are working on.
- Record what we notice and turn the marks into a chart: “Make a bar chart from your marks”.
- Read the pattern, the most and the least: “Favourite fruit: which one wins?”.
- Check that a reading of the chart is true: “True or not true about the weather chart”.
How the scaffolds build the skill
The tally table gives children a ready-made place to put a mark for each thing they count. The bar-chart frame turns those marks into bars they can compare at a glance. The true-or-not cards sharpen the last part: telling a true reading of the chart from one that misreads it. Used together across the year, they make recording and reading a habit.
Count and keep a tally
When we count things, we put one tally mark for each thing we see. One line is one thing. At the end we count the lines and write how many.
What are we counting today?
| What we counted | Tally | How many |
|---|---|---|
Teacher note: a tally mark is one line per thing. Mark as you count so nothing is missed. When a row is full, count the lines and write the number in the last column.
Make a chart from your marks
Colour one square for each thing you counted. Start at the bottom and colour up. Then the tallest bar shows the one you had the most of.
Write what each bar counts on the line under it.
Read the pattern
Teacher note: one square is one count, so the bars match the tally. Point to the tallest bar and the shortest bar and say what each one means.
True, or not true?
Look at the weather chart below. Cut out the cards and sort them into two piles: sentences that are a true reading of the chart, and sentences that are not true.
Our weather chart: Sunny 5, Cloudy 3, Rainy 2. That is 10 days in all.
Teacher note: the two piles are “true” and “not true”. The answer sheet lists which is which, and why. Blank cards let children add their own.
Chart detectives
Use this stand-alone lesson to teach the skill on its own, before you fold it into a science topic. It runs the three scaffolds in this pack in one short block, so children meet the whole skill in one go and then reuse the sheets all year.
We are learning to
- keep a tally, one mark for each thing we count,
- turn our marks into a chart we can read,
- find the pattern: which has the most and which has the least.
Success criteria
- I can put my counts in a tally and a chart.
- I can point to the most and the least and say a true thing about the chart.
You need
- the true-or-not cards (scaffold 3), one set per table, cut out ahead or by fast finishers,
- the tally table and the bar-chart frame (scaffolds 1 and 2), one each per child,
- a tub of things to count and sort, such as coloured blocks or leaves,
- the free interactive unit on your board, if you have one (optional).
Lesson flow (about 30 minutes)
| 5 min | Count and tally Tip out a tub of blocks in a few colours. Children fill the tally table, one mark for each block, then count the marks in each row. Ask: “How do we make sure we count each block once and only once?” |
| 10 min | Make the chart Children colour one square in the bar-chart frame for each mark in their tally, from the bottom up. Line the bars up and look at them together. Ask: “Which bar grew the tallest? What does a taller bar tell us?” |
| 10 min | Read it, true or not? Tables sort the true-or-not cards using the weather chart on the sheet. Bring the class together on one tricky card. Ask: “Does the chart really say that? How could we check the numbers?” |
| 5 min | Share A few children read out the most, the least, and one true sentence about their chart. Celebrate a clear reading more than a quick answer. Ask: “Which one did you have the most of? How do you know from your chart?” |
Running it shorter? Stop after Make the chart, and pick up Read it, true or not inside your next science lesson, where children read a chart of real observations.
Watch for these ideas
- Forgetting to count each thing once. Show how one tally mark stands for one thing, so we mark as we count.
- Thinking a bar just looks taller so it must be more. We colour one square per count and check the number, not how tall it seems.
- Reading the chart the wrong way, like saying the shortest bar is the most. We point to the bar and say the number out loud.
Make it easier, make it bigger
- Easier: count just two colours, and sort only four true-or-not cards.
- Bigger: write a brand-new true-or-not sentence about the weather chart on a blank card and swap it with another table to sort.
Answers and look-fors
The next sheet has the card answers, model recordings for the Foundation topics, and a quick three-level guide.
Answers and look-fors
True-or-not cards: which are true?
Every card is about one weather chart: Sunny 5, Cloudy 3, Rainy 2, which is 10 days in all.
| Claim card | True? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sunny had the most days. | True | Sunny is 5, which is more than cloudy (3) or rainy (2). |
| It rained more than it was cloudy. | Not true | Rainy is 2 and cloudy is 3, so it was cloudy more often than rainy. |
| There were 10 days on the chart. | True | 5 sunny and 3 cloudy and 2 rainy make 10 days in all. |
| Every day was sunny. | Not true | Only 5 days were sunny; there were also cloudy and rainy days. |
| Rainy had the fewest days. | True | Rainy is 2, which is fewer than sunny (5) or cloudy (3). |
| There were more cloudy days than sunny days. | Not true | Cloudy is 3 and sunny is 5, so there were more sunny days. |
| Two more days were sunny than cloudy. | True | Sunny is 5 and cloudy is 3, and 5 take away 3 is 2. |
| No days were rainy. | Not true | There were 2 rainy days on the chart. |
The blank cards children write are checked the same way: does the chart really say that, and do the numbers back it up?
Tally, chart and reading: what a good response sounds like
Recordings will vary, and that is fine. The point is a mark for each thing, a chart that matches the tally, and a true reading of the pattern. Here is what an at-standard response sounds like in each Foundation topic.
| Topic | A recording at standard | The pattern read at standard |
|---|---|---|
| Looking at Living Things | Tallied 6 animals with wings and 4 with no wings. | The wings bar was the tallest, so more animals had wings. |
| What Things Are Made Of | Sorted 10 things: 7 bendy and 3 stiff. | The bendy bar was taller, so more things were bendy than stiff. |
| How Things Move | Rolled a ball 5 times on smooth ground and 5 times on bumpy ground. | The rolls on smooth ground were longer every time, so a ball rolls further on smooth ground. |
A quick three-level guide
| Move | Working towards | At standard | Beyond |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record each observation | records some marks with help, may miss some | puts a mark in the table for each thing counted | keeps a neat tally, one mark per thing, and counts it correctly |
| Make a clear chart | colours squares with help | colours one square per count so the bars match the tally | labels each bar and lines them up so they are easy to compare |
| Read the pattern | points to a bar with help | says which had the most and which had the least | says how many more, such as two more sunny days than cloudy |
A child at standard records each observation, makes a chart that matches, and reads the most and the least. The skill grows all year, so keep the scaffolds coming back in every science topic.