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Tally Marks at the Bird Feeder

4th grade nonfiction passage about tally charts and graphs: 200 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

4th grade nonfiction tally charts and graphs 200 words

Tally Marks at the Bird Feeder

Mr. Okafor's class hung a bird feeder outside the window. Each morning, students took turns watching it for ten minutes. Their job was to count every bird that landed to eat.

On the first day, Dev tried to remember the numbers in his head. A sparrow came, then a jay, then two more sparrows. Soon he had lost track and had to start again.

Mr. Okafor showed the class a better way, called a tally chart. Set up a row for every species of bird, and each time one lands, draw one short line in its row. After four lines, the fifth bird gets a line drawn across the four, like a gate. Groups of five are easy to count by fives, so you never lose your place.

After a week, the chart showed 12 sparrows, 8 finches, and 5 jays. The students added them up. Twelve plus 8 plus 5 is 25 birds in all.

Then they turned the tallies into a bar graph. Every species received a bar that grew taller as more birds visited. A glance showed the sparrow bar was the tallest and the jay bar was the shortest. The class had turned a window view into data that anyone could read.

Questions

  1. What was the students' job at the bird feeder? in the text

  2. Why did Dev have to start again on the first day? in the text

  3. How is the fifth tally mark drawn? in the text

  4. How many birds did the class count in all? in the text

  5. Which kind of bird came the most often? in the text

  6. Why is a bar graph helpful after the tally chart? think about it

Words to know

tally
a mark made to keep count of things
feeder
a small container that holds food for birds
graph
a picture that shows numbers using bars or lines
data
facts and numbers gathered to learn something
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One passage, three levels

The same topic and facts written three ways, so a mixed class can read and talk about one text. Each group’s sheet shows only a shape; the key says which is which.

● Easier · 156 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 2.1

Mr. Okafor's class hung a bird feeder outside the window. Each morning, students took turns watching it for ten minutes. They counted every bird that came to eat.

On day one, Dev tried to keep the numbers in his head. A sparrow came, then a jay, then two more sparrows. He lost track and had to start over.

Mr. Okafor showed a better way. It is called a tally chart. Set up a row for every species, and draw a short line when one lands. The fifth bird gets a line across the four, like a gate. You can count groups by fives and never lose your place.

After a week, the chart showed 12 sparrows, 8 finches, and 5 jays. The class added them. Twelve plus 8 plus 5 is 25 birds.

Then they made a bar graph. Every bird got a bar. A tall bar means many birds. The sparrow bar was the tallest. The jay bar was the shortest.

▲ This passage · 200 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.8

Mr. Okafor's class hung a bird feeder outside the window. Each morning, students took turns watching it for ten minutes. Their job was to count every bird that landed to eat.

On the first day, Dev tried to remember the numbers in his head. A sparrow came, then a jay, then two more sparrows. Soon he had lost track and had to start again.

Mr. Okafor showed the class a better way, called a tally chart. Set up a row for every species of bird, and each time one lands, draw one short line in its row. After four lines, the fifth bird gets a line drawn across the four, like a gate. Groups of five are easy to count by fives, so you never lose your place.

After a week, the chart showed 12 sparrows, 8 finches, and 5 jays. The students added them up. Twelve plus 8 plus 5 is 25 birds in all.

Then they turned the tallies into a bar graph. Every species received a bar that grew taller as more birds visited. A glance showed the sparrow bar was the tallest and the jay bar was the shortest. The class had turned a window view into data that anyone could read.

■ Harder · 233 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 6.5

Mr. Okafor's class hung a bird feeder outside their classroom window. Every morning, the students took turns observing it for ten minutes, and their assignment was to count every bird that landed to eat.

On the very first day, Dev attempted to remember all the numbers in his head. A sparrow arrived, followed by a jay, and then two more sparrows came along. Before long he had lost track entirely and was forced to begin again.

Mr. Okafor introduced the class to a far better method, known as a tally chart. You create a row for each kind of bird, and every time one lands you draw a single short line in its row. After four lines, the fifth bird earns a line drawn across the other four, like a gate. Because groups of five are simple to count, you never lose your place.

At the end of a week, the chart revealed 12 sparrows, 8 finches, and 5 jays. The students added the numbers together, and twelve plus 8 plus 5 came to 25 birds altogether.

Then they transformed the tallies into a bar graph. Every species received a bar of its own, and a taller bar meant that more birds had visited. At a single glance, it was clear that the sparrow bar was the tallest and the jay bar was the shortest. The class had turned an ordinary window view into data that anyone could read.

Download as one PDF

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put tally, feeder, graph and data on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 2 minutes to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 6 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Tally Marks at the Bird Feeder"?

It was written for 4th grade. It has 200 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 3.8. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are six. 5 ask for something the text says directly and 1 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 2 minutes read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

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