When The Kids Were Bored

Topic: Tally Chart

“Ah ha! Okay. Alright! I will be there”, says Uncle Math as he disconnects the call. But who was he talking to?

“The Mayor of Supro town needs my guidance in solving some of their major issues. I need to visit him today”, explains Uncle Math. Supro town is a neighbouring city of Samper town. Mayor is the head of a city or town. He is responsible for managing the entire town.

“Great! Can we join you too?” say the kids together. “Alright! Let us go”, says Uncle Math. Cirha, Squarho, and Cirho are excited. Triho won’t be able to join them today as he is sick.

They board their spacecraft and leave for the Supro town.

“I can see the shop from here”, says Squarho. The kids are enjoying watching things from the top.

But this doesn’t last for long. Soon, their excitement drops. “I am so bored!” says Cirha. “Me too!” says Cirho and Squarho.

“There is still a long way to go, and you all are bored already”, says Uncle Math. “Oh no! Just watching things from top is not fun anymore. We must think of a nicer way to pass time”, says Cirho. “Idea! I have a game in mind”, says Cirha. Others are intrigued.

“The game is very simple. First, we will pick our favourite colour. As there are so many spacecrafts travelling on the space lane, we will count the crafts based on the colours. So whosever spacecraft count is maximum, wins the game. Simple”, explains Cirha.

“Wow! Done. I will pick red”, says Cirho. Squarho picks blue, Cirha picks green. The game begins. They wait and wait, but no spacecrafts come. Suddenly, a spacecraft comes. “Yayy! It is red”, says Cirho. He gets a point.

Red spacecraft, blue spacecraft, green spacecraft, red again, then green. “Uff! Keeping the count of crafts coming randomly is so confusing”, says Squarho. Cirha and Cirho agree with him. But how can they keep track of this type of random data? Can you think of a way to solve this.

“You have to help us!” say the kids to Uncle Math. “Alright! No fear when I am here”, says Uncle Math. He takes out a special gadget. It looks like a whiteboard. “Meet Ms Tally Chart. She will help you. You just need to give her the input of the colour, and she will record it for you”, says Uncle Math.

“Wow! This is perfect”, says Cirha. Suddenly, a spacecraft passes by. “A red spacecraft”, says Cirho and Ms Tally Chart draws one line in the red spacecraft column taking the input from him. “Why is she drawing lines?” asks Cirha. “These lines are called Tally Marks. Ms Tally Chart uses tally marks to count, as the spacecrafts are coming one by one here”, explains Uncle Math.

“Oh yes! This is so simple”, says Squarho. Then two more spacecrafts pass by. “2 Blue spacecrafts”, says Squarho and Ms Tally Chart draws two lines in the blue column. This goes on for a while. Now, red has 4 lines, green has 3, and blue has 2 as per Ms Tally Chart.

“Hurray! One more red spacecraft”, says Cirho. Taking this input, Ms Tally Chart marks the count 5 differently. She uses a slant line to indicate 5. But why? Can you guess?

“Because counting in groups of 5 is easier, right?” explains Uncle Math. “This different representation of 5 is to indicate groups of 5 to make counting faster”, he adds. “Ohh yea! This is again so simple and useful”, says Cirha. Ms Tally Chart is logical indeed.

The game continues, and the destination is close. “We have reached”, says Uncle Math. “So who has won?” questions Squarho. Looking at the score on Ms Tally Chart, can you tell who won the game?

“Hurray!” Squarho is delighted. He is jumping with joy. Yes! He won as his score is 10, Cirho’s is 7, and Cirha’s is 8. “This was so much fun. The boring journey also turned into play because of Ms Tally Chart”, says Cirha.

Uncle Math and the Mayor discuss the issues of the town. The kids roam around and explore the place with Ms Tally Chart. A new place, a new gadget and a new learning experience. A good day. What do you think?

We Learnt That…

• Tally chart is a way of collecting and storing data.
• Tally chart uses tally marks to store data.
• Tally marks are straight lines used to indicate the count. We use a slant line to indicate 5.
• Mayor is the head of a city or town. He is responsible for managing the entire town.
• It is always better to engage in some activity than stay idle.

Let’s Discuss!

• Who was stealing the animals?
• What was our plan to save the animals?
• Who is Ms Table? How did she help us?
• Why did Cirha call Asquarho evil? Is she right?