Collecting data with tallies: a week of ready-to-teach maths

Five days of lessons for Year 1 Statistics. Print this pack and the week is prepared: each day has a one-page plan and a student worksheet, plus cut-out category cards and tally tables, a mini-check and every answer.

Start here: five minutes to Monday

1. Skim the week at a glance on the next page.
2. Print the five days. Each day is two A4 sheets: a plan and a worksheet.
3. Cut out the two card sheets once; they are reused all week.
4. Open the free interactive unit on your board. Every plan tells you which picture to show and when.
5. Teach straight from the plan. Timings, talk prompts, things to watch for and answers are all on the one page.

No maths background needed

This pack is written for the busy generalist teacher. Each plan explains the idea in plain words, lists what young children muddle, and gives model answers, so you can walk in and teach it.

One day, one lesson

The five lessons fill a week of maths, one lesson of about 40 minutes a day. Run them in order: each day stands on the one before. Every lesson can also split into a short carpet session and a table task if your timetable runs small blocks.

The week at a glance

One lesson a day for a week. Each day stands on the day before, so run them in order.

How the week builds

Day 1 chooses a question with clear groups and collects an answer from each child; Day 2 learns the tally, four upright strokes with the fifth swung across as a gate; Day 3 tallies a set of answers with one mark each and totals the groups; Day 4 dresses the same data as tally marks, a list, objects, drawings and symbols; and Day 5 asks why we record at all. It builds on collecting and sorting from Foundation, and it opens the way to tables and column graphs later in Year 1.

Materials for the week (one trip)

• From the classroom: scissors, glue or blu-tack, pencils, this pack printed.
• Handy but not needed: counters or blocks for the warm-ups, so children can lay out one for each answer.
• Cut out once, use all week: the category cards and the blank tally tables in this pack. No maths equipment to buy.

Dear families

This week in maths, Year 1 is learning to collect data and record it with tally marks. We ask a question with clear groups, gather one answer from each person, and keep a tally, counting in fives so it is quick to read.

Try this at home

• Tally the cars that pass by their colour: make one mark for each, and every fifth mark a gate across the last four.
• Ask a family question, such as which fruit we like best, and keep a tally of the answers.
• Read a tally back together: count the gates in fives, then add on the leftover marks.
• Talk about why we write it down: could we still remember every answer tomorrow without a record?

Our week of tallies

Fill one row a day. Write what you tallied and the group with the most marks.

Printed from the free seegongsik Collecting Data with Tallies teaching pack · seegongsik.com/au/y1/statistics/AC9M1ST01/pack

Ask the class

Data begins with a question we can answer by asking. A good data question has clear groups to sort into: apple, banana or orange, not "what is nice?" Today the class picks one such question and collects an answer from everyone, one person, one answer. The big idea for a young child: we do not guess what the class likes, we ask, and everyone lands in one group.

We are learning to

• choose a question with clear groups everyone can answer,
• collect one answer from each person,
• keep a fair record: one person, one answer.

Success criteria

• I can pick a question with clear groups.
• I can collect one answer from each classmate.

You need

The worksheet, one per child. The category cards (cut-out sheet 1) for a class demo on the carpet. A board for the class list of answers.

Lesson flow (about 40 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? End Session A after agreeing the question. Start Session B by asking around the room, then counting each group.

Watch for these ideas

• Choosing a question with no clear groups (“what is nice?”), so answers cannot be sorted.
• Guessing the answer instead of asking: data is what we find out, not what we think.
• Giving one person two answers, or forgetting someone: one person, one answer.

Answers

• Your own counts vary: children collect real answers, so no two sheets are the same.
• The other class counts to apple 6, banana 4, orange 3.
• Apple has the most; orange has the fewest.

Ask and write it down

Our question: which fruit do you like best, apple, banana or orange? Ask some friends. Write each answer in the right row. Then count how many are in each group.

My answers

Another class asked the same question

Here are their counts written in words. Write each one as a number.

The tally gate

Writing every answer as a word is slow. A tally is built for speed: one stroke for each answer, and every fifth stroke swings across the four before it like a gate. Now the marks come in gates of five, so we skip-count the gates and add on the leftover strokes. Seven is one gate and two more; twelve is two gates and two more.

We are learning to

• make one tally stroke for each answer,
• swing the fifth stroke across the four as a gate,
• read a tally by counting the gates in fives, then the leftover strokes.

Success criteria

• I can draw a tally with gates of five.
• I can read a tally back as a number.

You need

The worksheet, one per child. A board for a class tally. Counters are handy so children can lay out five before drawing a gate.

Lesson flow (about 40 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? End Session A after building gates together. Start Session B with the draw-and-read worksheet.

Watch for these ideas

• Forgetting the gate: drawing five straight strokes, so fives are hard to see.
• Making the gate but then counting every stroke one by one instead of by fives.
• Losing the leftover strokes after the last full gate.

Answers

• Draw: 3 is three strokes; 5 is one gate; 7 is one gate and 2 strokes; 10 is two gates; 12 is two gates and 2 strokes.
• Read: the first tally is 6 (one gate and 1); the second is 11 (two gates and 1).
• To read a tally, count the gates in fives, then add the leftover strokes.

Draw the gate, read the gate

Remember: four upright strokes, then the fifth swings across as a gate. A full gate is 5.

Draw the tally

Draw the tally marks for each number. Use gates of five.

Read the tally

Count the gates in fives, then add the strokes. Write the number.

One mark each

A tally is only trustworthy if every person gives exactly one mark. Miss someone and the count is too low; mark someone twice and it is too high. Today children work through a set of answers one at a time, tick off each as they go, total each group, and check the totals add back to the number of people.

We are learning to

• give one tally mark for each answer, and only one,
• work through a set without missing anyone or counting twice,
• total each group and check the totals add to the number of people.

Success criteria

• I can tally a set of answers with one mark each.
• I can total each group and check they add up.

You need

The worksheet, one per child. A pencil to cross each answer off as it is tallied. The category cards (cut-out sheet 1) for a class demo.

Lesson flow (about 40 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? End Session A after the class tally. Start Session B with the printed list to tally alone.

Watch for these ideas

• Double-marking: giving one answer two marks, so a total comes out too high.
• Skipping an answer in the list, so a total comes out too low.
• Forgetting to check: the totals should always add to the number of people.

Answers

• Dog 4, Cat 3, Fish 2.
• The totals add to 9, the same as the nine answers in the list.
• Dog is the most; Fish is the least.

Tally the answers

Nine children said which pet they like best. Cross off each answer as you tally it. Make one mark for each. Then total each row.

The answers

My tally

Same data, five costumes

The same data can wear many costumes. Four apples and two bananas can be shown as tally marks, as a written list, as blocks or counters, as little drawings, or as symbols. The costume changes, but the data underneath is exactly the same: still four apples and two bananas. Choosing a form is about what is clearest, not about changing the answer.

We are learning to

• show one small data set in more than one form,
• match a tally, a list and a drawing of the same data,
• see that the form changes but the counts stay the same.

Success criteria

• I can show the same data as a tally, a list and a drawing.
• I can check the three forms all give the same counts.

You need

The worksheet, one per child. Counters or blocks for the objects costume. Coloured pencils for the drawing.

Lesson flow (about 40 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? End Session A after showing the three costumes together. Start Session B with the worksheet.

Watch for these ideas

• Thinking each form is different data: the tally and the list of the same answers are the same data.
• Letting the counts drift between forms, so the drawing has more apples than the tally.
• Believing one costume is “the real one”: all are equally true if the counts match.

Answers

• Tally: apple is four strokes, banana is two strokes.
• List: apple, apple, apple, apple, banana, banana.
• Drawing: four apple pictures and two banana pictures. Six items in all, every costume.

Dress the same data

Our data: 4 apples and 2 bananas. Show it three ways. All three should give the same counts.

Costume 1: tally marks

Draw the tally for each fruit.

Costume 2: a list

Write the fruit words, one for each: four apples and two bananas.

Costume 3: a drawing

Draw one picture for each fruit.

The fading memory

Why write data down at all? Because memory fades. Hold five orders in your head and by the end of the day some have slipped away; a tally on paper is still there tomorrow, and anyone can check it or share it. Today children feel the difference, then record a real class count themselves. Then the mini-check shows what each child can do.

We are learning to

• say why we record data instead of just remembering it,
• see that a record lasts and can be checked and shared,
• record a real class count with a tally, one mark each.

Success criteria

• I can say why we write data down.
• I can record a class count with a tally I can read back.

You need

The worksheet, one per child. A real class question to count (favourite colour works well). The mini-check (back of the pack), one per child.

Lesson flow (about 40 minutes)

Two half-sessions instead? Do the remembering game in Session A. Record the class count and sit the mini-check in Session B.

Watch for these ideas

• “I will just remember”: memory fades, so a record is safer than a head count.
• Recording carelessly: a tally is only useful if it is kept, one mark each, and can be read back.
• Thinking a record is only for the teacher: children can keep and share their own data.

Answers

• The remembering game loses some orders: that is the point, memory fades.
• The class count varies: it is your own real data, so every tally is different.
• Check the tally reads back to the number of children counted, with one mark each.

Remember or record?

A story

At lunch, Mai asked ten friends which drink they liked. She said “I will just remember.” She did not write anything down. By home time she could only remember three answers. The rest had faded away.

What went wrong? What should Mai have done instead?

Record it now

Our class question: which colour do you like best? Keep a tally, one mark each, then total each row.

Category cards

Cut out the cards. Hand them out so each child holds their answer, then collect and tally them into groups. Three ready themes are here: favourite fruit, pets, and how we get to school. Pick one theme a day, or set your own question with the spare cards. One set for the class is plenty.

Teacher note: these are the same groups the class collects on Day 1, tallies on Day 3, and dresses in different forms on Day 4, so the floor activity and the worksheets match.

Tally table and response tokens

Write a group name in each row of the blank table, then tally the answers with one mark each and total each row. The loose tokens below are for laying out one for each answer before you tally, so young children can see the count grow.

Blank tally table

Response tokens

Cut out the tokens. Lay one token for each answer, then count them into the tally table.

Teacher note: the blank table and tokens are reused all week, so every class count is recorded the same fair way.

What we know: collecting data with tallies

Work on your own. You can point and count if you like. Remember: a full gate is 5.

Answers and marking guide

Every tally answer is verified against a gate of five (four upright strokes crossed by the fifth).

Answers

1. 8 is one gate and 3 more strokes (a gate of five, then three uprights).
2. 9 (one gate is 5, and 4 more strokes: 5 and 4 make 9).
3. Walk 3, Bus 2, Car 1. The three totals add to 6, the same as the six answers.
4. A. Five children give five marks, so A (total 5) is right; B has six marks, so someone was counted twice.
5. Because memory fades. A written record lasts, and it can be checked again and shared with others.

A quick three-level guide

Five questions, four ideas. A child at standard records with tally marks, reads a tally back, tallies with one mark each, and knows why we write data down.

Weekly class record

Jot a tick as you move around the room; the mini-check fills any gaps. A tick a day is plenty.

The five columns are the five days: ask, tally, one mark each, show it many ways, and record rather than remember.