Tally marks are a way of keeping track of our counting when we are going to be counting for an extended period of time or we are counting several collections at once and we don’t want to forget our numbers. An example of when we count using tally marks might include when we are keeping score in a game and we don’t need to know the final score until the end.  We might also use tally marks when we are collecting information such as asking everyone in the class their favourite ice cream flavour.

Numbers are written as a series of lines as seen below:

For fun, students could sit at the front window and use tally marks to count the number of cars that drive down the street if you live on a busy street.  Sitting on one of the rocks at Avondale or at the picnic benches at Westburn Park on a sunny day would also be a safe place to practice counting cars.  To make it more challenging, students could keep track of which is more popular: cars, trucks or SUVs.  Another challenge might be to determine which colour vehicle is more popular: grey, white,  black or other.  Each type of vehicle or colour would be set up as it’s own count.