Categories Math

Tally Marks

It’s tally mark time.

So, I wanted to use the ‘staches to practice making tally marks…but the thought of 1, 2, 3, 4 shut the door…and the door laying across four of our friends didn’t seem very…um….smart. So, we didn’t get to make tally marks with our bodies, but we did get lots of hands on practice with tally marks!

To introduce tally marks I wanted something big and bold ( you know…bold, like my class!). The first thing to come to mind…POOL NOODLES! But this is October and there no pool noodles. So…Smorgie tip of the day: buy 100 pool noodles next summer. (Yes, I’m giving you permission to buy that many, stock up, hoard them and hide them in the garage…)

Do you notice I’m 0 for 2…no bodies and no noodles.

So, sentence strips seemed like the next best solution. I like that they’re very big and bold and they have the perfect shape for tally marks.

We learned that tally marks help us count and that when we make tally marks we make a line.

Then Mr. Greg modeled how to count using tally marks.

Then we practiced as a whole group.

Then we got to take turns. Mr. Greg told us a number and we used the sentence strips to make tally marks.

The sentence strips were a perfect visual!

Then, we moved onto more individual and little manipulatives.

Popsicle sticks. And no, Mr. Greg did not eat all of these popsicles! (I WISH!)

This time, Mr. Greg put numbers on the SmartBoard and we said the number and made the tally marks!

We also got to use the SmartBoard to make tally marks! Mr. Greg told us a number and we drew the tally marks! (Ignore the backpacks! We were ready to get outta town…we were over the day!)

And of course, we needed an assessment, so why not make tally mark posters that we can hang up in our classroom for reference?!

Mr. Greg cut the strips of paper for us and we chose a poster and made the tally marks! This was a great assessment and these now hang in our classroom so we can use them if we need help counting tally marks!