Show a simple class tally and one fruit icon as pupils settle. Take two or three hands-up answers, not open call-outs. Keep it quick — this is just to plant the idea that one picture can stand for one pupil.

Walk each snapshot aloud, one at a time. Point to each picture as you count it.

• Row of 4 / row of 7 — emphasise that you just count the pictures because one means one.
• Empty row — stress that a row of zero still needs its label; pupils often leave it out.
• Two rows side by side — run a finger across the start line and say both rows begin level here. This is the make-or-break idea for fair comparison.

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

The activity opens with a sensible default break-time game dataset (Tag 5, Skipping 3, Football 7) so you can run it straight away. If your class's own vote is ready, you can replace these counts with the real numbers — that is the better path, but the default is a complete fallback if real data isn't to hand.

Have a pupil place the symbols for one category, then ask the class: does the count of pictures match the number that voted? Rotate pupils across the categories. Watch for rows not starting level — nudge each new row back to the start line.

This round is the practice bank — pupils take turns at the board, read each chart, and the class confirms before moving on. Keep the board work brisk rather than over-explaining.

For each challenge a pupil reads the chart and gives the answer; press Check together and let the class confirm. Use the callout did you check both rows start at the same line before comparing? on the difference question, where pupils most often misjudge a longer-but-fewer row.