Take three hands-up answers for the tally count (the answer is 17). Then put the three questions to the class. Steer the talk toward which question we can settle by counting — the rain question is a prediction, not a count. Keep this brief; the sorting work happens in the next step.

Point at each gate as the class chants five, ten, fifteen and then the spare strokes. Emphasise the fifth-mark crossing as the whole trick — without it, the tally is just a row of strokes.

Model the gate-mark slowly: draw four strokes, then say one, two, three, four, GATE as the diagonal fifth closes the gate. For pupils who struggle with the crossing, keep that drawn pattern visible on the board as a prompt card, and have them say the rhythm aloud with you.

For the pictogram snapshot, say: same data, one icon per child — this is the shape the answer will take later. Do not dwell; the pictogram is a preview only.

For the no-gate non-example, time the class counting six loose strokes versus reading a gate — the contrast lands the rule.

Try Together: pupils take turns at the board and the class agrees or corrects out loud.

Hold the class to a tight category set (three to five named games) before any tallying starts — a question with too many categories never reads cleanly. Insist the diagonal lands on every fifth mark, not the sixth. Revoice a strong contribution: so each gate is worth exactly five. Watch for pupils who write a fifth straight stroke instead of crossing — catch it on the board the moment it happens.

Run this as a brief at-the-window count from pupils' seats — nobody leaves the room. Give the class about two minutes to tally one question (car colours, jumper colours, vehicle types) onto a chosen set of three or four categories, then call it and move to the board.

On the board, enter each category's count into the tally-chart and read the frequency aloud as a class. As a quick check, deliberately enter one count wrong (say one too many for one colour), ask the class to compare the board count against their own tally, and correct it together. This keeps the read-back active without leaving seats.

If the view is poor, drop the window count and just read the Walk/Cycle/Bus/Car chart on the board, asking pupils to call the frequency for each row.

Keep this short. The tally-to-frequency skill from today is the input for the bar-chart lesson later in this unit, so leave the class confident that they can read a tally fast.