Reading Simple Graphs and Tally Charts

When we want to organize information (called data), we use charts and graphs! They make it easy to see and compare numbers. Let's look at three common ways to show data.

Tally Charts

A tally chart uses marks to count things.

• One mark $|$ means $1$.
• Four marks with a line across them means $5$. This makes it easy to count by fives!

For example, if you see $|||$, that means $3$ people chose that item.

Picture Graphs

A picture graph uses small pictures or symbols to show how many. If a graph shows favorite pets and there are $4$ little dog pictures next to the word "Dog," that means $4$ students chose dogs as their favorite pet.

Bar Graphs

A bar graph uses colored rectangles (bars) to show numbers.

• The taller or longer the bar, the bigger the number.
• To read a bar graph, look at the top of the bar, and follow the line over to the numbers on the side to see how many it represents.

Answering Questions About Graphs

Once we have a graph, we can answer fun questions!

• Most: Look for the biggest number, the tallest bar, or the most pictures.
• Least: Look for the smallest number, the shortest bar, or the fewest pictures.
• How Many More: If $5$ students like apples and $3$ students like bananas, we can find out "how many more" like apples by subtracting the smaller number from the bigger number: $5 - 3 = 2$