From counting to data
Graphs start with counting, then turn the counts into something you can compare at a glance. These sheets do both on one page, then ask questions that need the graph to answer.
Talk about the graph
Ask which bar is tallest and how they can tell without counting, and what a new picture would do to the graph.
CAPS links
- Grades 1–2Collects data about the class to answer the teacher’s question, draws a pictograph with one picture per item, and answers questions about it.
- Grade 3Organises data in lists, tally marks and tables, then shows it in pictographs and bar graphs.
- Grade 4Collects data with tally marks and tables, and draws a range of graphs.
CAPS places tally marks in Grade 3, so start Grades 1 and 2 on the picture graph, where each picture gets one square. That is the one-to-one pictograph CAPS asks for at those grades.
Data Handling is a small part of Foundation Phase maths, about 5% of the time, so one sheet followed by a real class survey (favourite fruit, how we got to school) covers a lot. CAPS has the teacher pose the question first, then children collect the data to answer it.
Summarised in our own words from the DBE’s CAPS for Mathematics, Foundation Phase and Intermediate Phase Grades 4–6 (2011).
