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Skills / Ages 8 to 11 / Math

Count and keep a tally

Keeping count of things as they happen by making one mark for each, bundling every five marks together so the total is quick to add up.

Why it matters

Some things cannot be counted all at once because they happen one after another: trials of a test, birds at a feeder, cars going past the house. A tally keeps the count on paper as it goes, so nothing gets missed when your child looks away.

What it looks like when your child can do it

  • Your child makes one mark the moment each thing happens, not a few at the end from memory.
  • Your child draws four lines standing up, then a fifth line across them, and starts a new group after that.
  • Asked for the total, your child counts the bundles by fives and then the loose marks: 5, 10, 15, then 16, 17.

How to teach it at the kitchen table

  1. 01

    One mark for one thing

    Every time the thing happens, draw one short line straight up and down. Not before and not after. The mark does the remembering, so your child does not have to hold the number in their head.

  2. 02

    Bundle every five

    Draw four lines standing up. The fifth line goes across all four, like a gate. That bundle is five, and your child can see it at a glance.

  3. 03

    Count the bundles by fives

    At the end, point to each bundle and say 5, 10, 15. Then count on the loose marks one at a time. Three bundles and 2 loose marks is 17.

  4. 04

    Give each thing its own row

    When you tally more than one thing, give each its own row with a word at the start, like Robin and Sparrow. A mark in the wrong row is the same as a wrong number.

  5. 05

    Tally something real

    Sit by a window for ten minutes and tally birds, or tally each time a car goes by. Things that happen one at a time are what a tally is for.

You will need: Paper and a pencil · Toothpicks for practice bundles

Try it together

  1. Try 1

    Clap slowly 7 times while your child tallies each clap.

    Listen for  One bundle of five, four lines with one across, and 2 loose marks. Total 7.

  2. Try 2

    Draw three bundles of five and 4 loose marks. Ask for the total.

    Listen for  19. Listen for 5, 10, 15, then 16, 17, 18, 19.

  3. Try 3

    Ask your child to show 12 in tally marks.

    Listen for  Two bundles of five and 2 loose marks. Check that each bundle has four upright lines and one line across them.

  4. Try 4

    Draw 6 upright lines in a row with no line across. Ask what went wrong.

    Listen for  After four upright lines, the fifth should have gone across them to close a bundle, and the sixth should start a new group.

Watch for

  • Drawing a fifth upright line instead of a line across, so the bundles come out as six or seven.
  • Catching up at the end from memory. A tally only works when the mark goes down the moment the thing happens.

If it is not there yet

  • Tally something slow, like one clap every few seconds, so there is time to think about the fifth mark.
  • Build bundles of five with toothpicks on the table, four standing and one laid across, before moving to paper.

A few days of this is normal, and it is time well spent. The lesson will still be there, and it will go faster.

Where this skill comes up

  • How Scientists Actually Find Out · Lesson 20

    Do It Again, and Again

    Needs it because trials get counted and marked off as they happen, or a run gets missed.