Tally Charts and Graphs

Day One: Introduction and Tallies

When the students walk into the room, have them color an eye to match their eye color (write their names on these!) and pick up the type of transportation that represents how they get to school each day. Have them hold onto these while you do the introduction.

Introduce and briefly discuss tallies. Quickly review what they are/how to record them, etc. They seem to have a pretty firm grasp already. Show them some examples – the ice cream example. Quickly ask the question and record the tallies on your sheet or on the whiteboard to model how to ask a question and record the answer using tallies.

Now ask them to raise their colored picture of an eye when you call their eye color. Record the findings on the board in a tally chart. (Collect and save the “eyes” for tomorrow’s activity)
Each student will conduct their own survey today and record the results using tallies.
Brainstorm ideas for their surveys –
What pets do you have? Favorite color?
School or home lunch or something both? Favorite ice cream flavor?
Where would you rather go on vacation (3-4 options)?
Favorite breakfast food? Kind of pizza you prefer?
Favorite TV show? Or character?
Help students fill out their tally chart title, labels, etc. Conduct the survey with all the kids in the room. (Collect tally charts when done.)
If the kids have extra time, go ask Miss Melody or other office staff their survey questions.

Day Two – Turning Tallies Into Graphs

We are going to use our tally charts to create a graph. Demonstrate with one of the samples from yesterday’s lesson introduction – possibly the eye colors. Explain x and y axis. Explain labeling, etc. Model how to create a graph.
Pass back out the tally charts from yesterday and ask students to create and display their graphs.
When they finish, they should prepare a new tally sheet and graphing sheet for tomorrow’s trip to a Kindergarten classroom to conduct another survey. Doing this today with extra time will make it possible to accomplish the entire process tomorrow.
Make sure the kids write their names on everything. Collect their papers today and put them into a notebook that they can take home to their parents to show what we worked on in math group this week.

Day Three: Application and Final Review

Move quickly to create a tally sheet AND turn it into a chart. Go to Mrs. Ross’ classroom to survey the kindergarten students. You have 10 minutes in the classroom. Then quickly come back and turn your data into a chart.
Add your tally sheet and graphing sheet to your own personal TALLY CHARTS and GRAPHS binder and take it home to share with your parents.
If have extra time you can present your findings to each other or to the Kindergarten class.

*I have also copied a couple of extra worksheets to practice reading bar tally sheets or bar graphs. If you have extra time you can give these to the students at any point throughout the week.

*Most materials from:
http://www.abcteach.com/directory/basics/math/graphing/