Tally Charts to Frequency Tables

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1 Getting Started
2 Watch and Notice
3 Try It Together
4 Build the Frequency Column in Your Copy
5 Class Challenge
Pupil practice

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

Here is a finished tally of how our class travels to school. A tally is a way of counting where you make one mark for each thing, and every fifth mark crosses the four before it to make a gate of five. Look hard at the rows of marks below. Which way has the most marks beside it?

How our class travels to school

Key point

The number beside each row is called the frequency. Notice how you can read it in fives from the gates, four bars with one across them, instead of counting every mark one by one. In the next steps you will work these out yourselves.

Teacher Notes

The travel-to-school tally is on the board — point to it as pupils settle. Say the word tally aloud and remind the class in one line that every fifth mark crosses the four before it. Take two or three hands-up answers for which row has most, then press on the second question: can you say the number without recounting every line? Let the difficulty sit for a moment — it sets up why a frequency table is worth having.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+5 XP

2 - Watch and Notice ~9 mins

Each snapshot shows a tally row with its frequency number in the column beside it. The trick is to count the gates in fives first, then add the loose marks at the end. Watch how the empty row is handled too: one way has no marks at all, so its frequency is 0, which means nobody chose it.

Teacher Notes

Point and narrate each snapshot in turn, no tapping or dragging.

Two full gates and three more: count in fives, five, ten, then loose marks eleven, twelve, thirteen, frequency 13. This is the whole skill.

One clean gate: a full gate is always five, no recounting, frequency 5.

Empty row: no marks means frequency 0, catches people out, the 0 still belongs in the column with its label.

👇 Mark your steps as done as you complete them.

+10 XP

3 - Try It Together ~12 mins

Today we work through a real tally together: how our class travels to school. For each row we count the gates in fives, add the loose marks, and fill in the matching frequency number.

Once every row has its number, we do two more things on the board. First we add all the frequencies to find the total counted altogether. Then we find how many more pupils walked than took the bus.

How our class travels to school

Teacher Notes

This round is for talking it through together — pupils take turns at the board and the class agrees or corrects out loud.

Call one pupil up per row to fill the frequency. The rest of the class checks the number against the marks before you accept it. Insist on five, ten, then count on rather than counting every stroke.

When all four frequencies are in, model the two reading moves on the board so pupils see them before producing them later:

Total — add the four frequencies aloud, 13 + 5 + 8 + 4 = 30, the number of pupils counted altogether.
Difference — take the most chosen (Walk, 13) and the least chosen (Bus, 4) and subtract: 13 − 4 = 9 more. Name this move plainly: finding a difference means taking the smaller number away from the bigger one.

+15 XP

4 - Build the Frequency Column in Your Copy ~3 mins

COPYBOOK MOMENT

In your maths copy, copy the tally rows for how our class travels to school and write a frequency column beside them. Count the gates in fives first, then add the loose marks.

Under the table, write the total number of pupils counted altogether.

Teacher Notes

Walk the room glancing at the frequency numbers and the total line — this is whole-class copybook practice, not marking. Watch for pupils who count every stroke instead of counting the gates in fives.

+10 XP

5 - Class Challenge ~10 mins

Today we turn tallies into frequencies and answer one question each. The questions get a step harder each time: first read a single row, then read a tricky row with gates plus loose marks, then find the total of every category, then find how many more chose the most chosen game than the least chosen one.

Reading frequencies from a tally

Teacher Notes

These are the practice questions — pupils take turns at the board, check each answer, and the class confirms before moving on. Keep the board work brisk rather than over-explaining.

Narrate the practice set as it climbs in difficulty, and on each row use the count the gates in fives first, then the loose marks callout. The total and difference questions are the stretch. The difference move was modelled in Try It Together, so remind the class of it before they tackle it here: find the most chosen and the least chosen, then take the smaller away from the bigger. Let a confident pupil work it at the board while the class predicts the answer first.

+15 XP

Pupil practice

Module 9 · Data and Chance Mixed

Lesson 102 · Tally Charts to Frequency Tables

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Teacher Class Feed

1 - Getting Started ~4 mins

How our class travels to school

2 - Watch and Notice ~9 mins

3 - Try It Together ~12 mins

How our class travels to school

4 - Build the Frequency Column in Your Copy ~3 mins

5 - Class Challenge ~10 mins

Reading frequencies from a tally

Unlock the full learning experience

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