Today our question is right here on the board: What is your favourite fruit — apple, banana or orange? You already know how to ask a question and collect answers, so now we get to count them. Every time a hand goes up, we make one little tally stroke. And here is the clever part: on every fifth answer, we lay one stroke right across the other four, like a gate on a field. Ready to count?

The interactive builds up three tally rows on screen, one vote at a time. Watch how the strokes get bundled as each new vote comes in, and see if you can read the total before it appears.

Today we build a tally together as the answers come in. One pupil adds each stroke at the board, and everyone else has a job too: after each stroke goes up, we all say the new running total aloud together. We start with four strokes, then the gate on the fifth, then a seventh, and keep going to a whole row of twelve. That way we always know where we are.

Now we collect our own data. Our question: How did you come to school today? Walk, car, bus or bike.

1. Write Walk, Car, Bus and Bike in the What we counted column of your Tally sheet.
2. When your name is called, say your answer out loud.
3. One person at the board adds a tally mark to that row. Everyone adds the same mark on their own Tally sheet.
4. Remember the gate: the fifth mark goes across the other four.
5. When everyone has answered, count each row in fives and write its total.

Which row has the most? Which has the fewest?