Mathematics

Intermediate

50 mins

Teacher/Student led

Learning Goals

Learning Outcomes

Lesson Files

+80 XP

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IWB/Projector/Large Screen

Pictograms with a Scale (One Symbol = 2)

Learn to read and build pictograms where one symbol represents two, using half-symbols to show odd numbers. Count in twos and understand how the key unlocks the pictogram.

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1 Getting Started
2 Watch and Notice
3 Try It Together
4 Write the Key in Your Copy
5 Class Challenge
6 What Did We Notice?
7 What's Next
Pupil practice

1 - Getting Started ~5 mins

Key point

Here is a pictogram where every single child needs their own symbol. The top row alone needs ten symbols, one for each child. That is an awful lot of drawing! What if one symbol stood for two children instead of one?

Illustration for Getting Started Each row shows one way the children in 3rd class travel to school:

Walk: 10 children, so 10 symbols
Car: 6 children, so 6 symbols
Cycle: 4 children, so 4 symbols

Teacher Notes

Take two or three hands-up answers to how could we make this quicker to draw. Steer toward the idea of one symbol standing for two — do not confirm it yet, let the model step land it.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+5 XP

2 - Watch and Notice ~9 mins

Here are three rows shown on the pictogram. Read the key first: one symbol stands for two. Count on in twos along each row. The last row is the tricky one: it has a half-symbol on the end.

Teacher Notes

8 row: four whole symbols. Ask the class to count aloud 2, 4, 6, 8 before you confirm the count.
10 row: five whole symbols. Why is this one whole symbol longer than the last?
9 row: four whole symbols and a half. This is the make-or-break moment — hold out for a pupil to say the half means one, because half of two is one.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+10 XP

3 - Try It Together ~8 mins

Key point

We build these counts together on a key of two, in order: first 6, then 4, then 5 (the half-symbol one), then 7. One pupil comes up to build each row while the rest of us count on in twos aloud and check the row. Read the key before you start.

Build the count on a key of two

Teacher Notes

Talk this one through together — call up a different pupil for each count, and the rest of the class counts on in twos aloud as the symbols go down.

Before each reveal, ask the class to say what the row should show, so the watching pupils are working it out too. For 5 and 7, pause before the last symbol and ask whole one or half one? — that is where the odd number shows itself.

+15 XP

4 - Write the Key in Your Copy ~4 mins

COPYBOOK MOMENT

In your maths copy, write the key at the top: one symbol = 2. Then draw a row for a count of 6 and a row for a count of 7. Use a half-symbol on the row that needs one.

Teacher Notes

Walk the room glancing at the two rows — is the half-symbol on the 7 row and not the 6 row? This is whole-class copybook practice, not marking.

+10 XP

5 - Class Challenge ~8 mins

Key point

First we spot and fix one wrong row together. The key is two. A row is meant to show 7, but it has four whole symbols. Count in twos: that is 8, so it is one too many. Take one whole symbol off and put a half-symbol instead. Three wholes and a half make 7.

Then we work through these on a key of two, in order: fix a row, build a row for 10, fix a row (watch for the half-symbol), then build a row for 11. One pupil takes the board for each round; the rest of us work out or read the count in twos and agree the answer before we press Check. Each one is a step trickier than the last.

Key of two: read and build

Teacher Notes

Error demo first on the board (not the interactive). Draw four whole symbols. Say the row should show 7, key of two.

Class counts aloud: 2, 4, 6, 8. It shows 8, not 7.
What is wrong? One whole too many / no half for an odd count.
Fix together: rub out one whole, draw a half. Recount: 2, 4, 6, half is 1, total 7.

Then the practice rounds on the interactive. Different pupil per round; class agrees before Check. Keep it brisk.

read 6 and build 10: even counts, whole symbols only.
read 5: half-symbol returns. Does the half mean two or one?
build 11: five wholes and a half. Ask what the half is worth before Check.

Slip to watch: counting each symbol as one, or putting a half on an even count.

+15 XP

Pupil practice

Module 9 · Data and Chance Mixed

Lesson 97 · Pictograms with a Scale (One Symbol = 2)

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Pictograms with a Scale (One Symbol = 2)

Teacher Class Feed

1 - Getting Started ~5 mins

2 - Watch and Notice ~9 mins

3 - Try It Together ~8 mins

Build the count on a key of two

4 - Write the Key in Your Copy ~4 mins

5 - Class Challenge ~8 mins

Key of two: read and build

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