Year 2 maths · Key Stage 1 · Statistics
Year 2 pictograms, tally charts and tables: a guide for parents
In Year 2 children learn to collect information, sort it into categories and show it in tally charts, tables, block diagrams and pictograms. They read these displays to answer questions about how many, which is most popular and how many more, and many schools also introduce pictograms in which one picture stands for 2, 5 or 10 things.
Pictograms, tally charts and tables, explained
Statistics in Year 2 begins with a question that can be answered by counting, such as “What is your favourite fruit?” or “How do you come to school?”. The answers fall into categories, like apple or banana, or walk, car or bus. Children collect the answers, sort them into categories and count how many are in each. This is called categorical data, because it is about groups rather than measurements.
A tally chart is a quick way to record answers as they come in. Each answer is a short vertical line, and every fifth line is drawn across the previous four to make a group of five. This makes counting easy, because children count in fives and then add on the remaining single lines. The totals can then go into a table, which has rows and columns and sometimes a total at the bottom to check against the number of children asked.
Block diagrams and pictograms show the same information as pictures. In a block diagram, each item is a square and the squares are stacked in columns, so the tallest column is the most popular answer. In a pictogram, a picture or symbol stands for one item. Many schools then move on to pictograms where each symbol stands for 2, 5 or 10 items, which links directly to counting in 2s, 5s and 10s. The key tells the reader what each symbol is worth. With a key of 2, half a symbol stands for 1, and with a key of 10, half a symbol stands for 5.
Reading the display is the point. Children answer questions such as how many chose banana, which was least popular, and how many children there were altogether. They also compare categories, working out how many more chose one thing than another, and they sort categories from the most to the least popular. These questions use the addition and subtraction they have been learning, so statistics gives them real reasons to use them. Bar charts, with their scales, follow in Year 3.
Words your child will hear
- Data
- Information collected by asking questions or counting, such as the favourite fruits of a class.
- Category
- A group that answers fall into, such as banana or apple.
- Tally chart
- A chart that records answers as lines, with every fifth line drawn across four others.
- Pictogram
- A chart that uses pictures or symbols to stand for a number of items.
- Key
- The part of a pictogram which tells you how many items each symbol stands for.
- Block diagram
- A chart in which each item is one square, stacked in a column for each category.
- Table
- Information arranged in rows and columns so it is easy to find and compare.
What the National Curriculum says
In Year 2, pupils should be taught to:
- Interpret and construct simple pictograms, tally charts, block diagrams and tables
- Ask and answer simple questions by counting the number of objects in each category and sorting the categories by quantity
- Ask and answer questions about totalling and comparing categorical data
Objectives from the National Curriculum in England, © Crown copyright, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
A worked example
Twenty-eight children voted for their favourite fruit on a tally chart. Show the results in a pictogram where each symbol stands for 2 children, then answer questions about it.
- Count each row of the tally chart, counting each group of five in fives and then adding the single lines. The apple row has one group of five and 1 more line, so 6 children chose apple. Put the totals in a table.
Apple 6 Banana 10 Strawberry 4 Grapes 8
- Check the total against the number of children asked: 6 + 10 + 4 + 8 = 28, so no vote has been missed.
- Draw the pictogram with a key: each O stands for 2 children. Halve each total to find how many symbols to draw. Six children is 3 symbols, ten children is 5, and so on.
Key: O = 2 children Apple OOO Banana OOOOO Strawberry OO Grapes OOOO
- Answer the questions. Most popular: banana. Least popular: strawberry. How many more chose banana than strawberry: 10 − 4 = 6. Order from most to least popular: banana (10), grapes (8), apple (6), strawberry (4).
Banana is the favourite, with 6 more votes than strawberry, which is the least popular.
Common mistakes and how to help
Counting every symbol as 1 when the key says 2
Early pictograms use one picture for one item, so children get into the habit of counting pictures. They skip the key, read banana as 5 votes and get every total wrong.
What helps: Make the key the first thing to read, and say it aloud: “each circle is 2 children”. Count in twos along the row. Ask “Does this answer make sense with the number of children we asked?”
Making groups of four or six when drawing tally marks
A child draws the line across too early, or counts the crossing line as an extra one rather than part of the five.
What helps: Think of four fence posts and a gate across them. Practise making tally marks for numbers up to 20, then check by counting in fives.
Adding when asked “how many more?”
The question is about comparing two categories, but the child adds 10 and 4 to get 14, because they have just been adding the totals.
What helps: Draw the two columns of blocks side by side and ask how many extra blocks the longer one has. Then write it as 10 − 4, or count up from 4 to 10.
Answering with the number when asked which is most popular
Asked “which fruit is the favourite?” a child says “10”. They have found the tallest column but report its size, not its name.
What helps: Read the question again together and underline the word “which”. The answer to “which” is a category, and the answer to “how many” is a number.
How to help at home
- Run a family survey. Ask a question such as “Which pudding would you like on Sunday?” and let your child keep a tally chart. Finish by writing the totals in a table and asking which was the most popular.
- Draw a pictogram. Turn the survey results into a pictogram. Choose a key of 2 and a simple symbol, and see what to do with an odd total, using half a symbol if the key allows.
- Sort and count what you have. Sort socks by colour, toys by type or cutlery into groups, then count each group. Ask “Which group is the biggest?” and “How many more are in this group than that one?”
- Build a block diagram. Use building bricks to make one column for each category. Each brick is one item, so the tallest tower shows the most popular. Comparing the towers answers many questions without any counting.
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