Mathematics · Year 2

Active learning ideas

Making and Using Tally Charts

Let's become data detectives! Today we're learning a super-fast way to count things and keep our information organised using a special tool called a tally chart.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• National Curriculum for England: Year 2 - Statistics

• 20–30 min
• Pairs → Whole Class
• 3 activities

Activity 01

• Practical Life Work
• 25 min · Whole Class

Class Favourite Survey

As a whole class, decide on a survey topic like 'favourite fruit' or 'favourite school subject'. Pupils then survey their classmates, recording the answers using tally marks on a pre-prepared sheet, before totalling the results.

Explain why we use a diagonal line for the fifth tally mark.

Facilitation Tip

Model the 'five-bar gate' method clearly on the board using a rhyme like 'one, two, three, four, number five shuts the door'.

What to look for

Observe pupils during a practical data collection activity. Check their ability to make accurate tally marks for each item and correctly form the 'five-bar gate'.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Decision-Making
• Self-Awareness

Activity 02

• Practical Life Work
• 30 min · Pairs

Playground Object Hunt

In pairs, pupils go into the playground with a clipboard and a list of things to find, such as 'benches', 'bins', 'trees', and 'balls'. They use tally marks to count how many of each item they can see.

Compare counting a large number of objects one-by-one with counting them using a tally chart.

Facilitation Tip

Provide a clear boundary for the hunt and a time limit to keep pupils focused on the task.

What to look for

Provide pupils with a completed tally chart and a short set of written questions. The questions should require them to find totals, identify the most and least popular categories, and make simple comparisons.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Decision-Making
• Self-Awareness

Activity 03

• Practical Life Work
• 20 min · Small Groups

Traffic Tally

From a safe vantage point overlooking a road, pupils tally the different types of vehicles that pass by in a ten-minute period (e.g., cars, buses, lorries, bicycles). Afterwards, they discuss which vehicle type was most frequent.

Justify your answer to 'Which is the most popular choice?' using the data in your tally chart.

Facilitation Tip

Ensure adult supervision is paramount and use the opportunity to discuss road safety alongside the maths.

What to look for

Give pupils a simple 'traffic light' sheet where they can colour in a circle (red, amber, or green) next to 'I can' statements like 'I can make a tally for a group of five' and 'I can find the total from a tally chart'.

• Apply
• Analyze
• Self-Management
• Decision-Making
• Self-Awareness

A few notes on teaching this unit

Start with a whole-class survey on a familiar topic, like favourite colours. Model how to create the chart, clearly demonstrating the 'one, two, three, four, five-bar gate' method for tallying. Use a 'think aloud' process to show how you interpret the chart, for example, 'I need to find out how many people chose blue. I can see a group of five and two more, which makes seven'. Then, provide pupils with opportunities to conduct their own simple surveys in pairs.

By the end of this, you will be able to gather your own information using tally marks and use your chart to answer questions about what you discovered.

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Watch Out for These Misconceptions

• Pupils continue to draw individual strokes beyond four, for example, '||||||' for six, instead of using the diagonal line to make a group of five.

  The fifth tally mark is a diagonal line that crosses the first four. This method, called a 'five-bar gate', groups the tallies into fives, making them much quicker and easier to count.

• When totalling the marks, pupils count each stroke individually instead of skip-counting in fives.

  Show pupils how much faster it is to count the groups of five first (5, 10, 15...) and then add on the remaining single strokes. Practise this as a mental maths starter.

• Pupils confuse the terms 'row' (horizontal) and 'column' (vertical) when asked to find information in the table.

  Use physical actions to reinforce the vocabulary. Ask pupils to move their arm from side to side for a row and up and down for a column.

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Methods used in this brief

• Practical Life Work