Lesson Notes By Weeks and Term v5 - Grade 1

Lesson Video

This page supports the lesson note with a companion video and a short classroom-ready summary.

For class groups and homework, share this lesson page so learners also get the summary, objectives, and full lesson context.

Performance objectives

• Collect and sort objects
• Use tally marks to count
• Make a simple pictograph
• Answer questions about our data
• Practice counting from 0 to 20

Lesson summary

This week, we dive into the exciting world of Data Handling, a fundamental concept in Mathematics. For Grade 1 learners, this is their first formal introduction to being 'data detectives'. Data handling is the process of gathering information (data), organising it in a way that makes sense, and then talking about what we have found. In a South African context, this is a vital life skill.

Learners see data everywhere: in the weather report on SABC, in a shopkeeper sorting fruit at the market, or even in sorting different coloured beads for traditional Zulu or Xhosa crafts. This topic builds foundational skills for critical thinking, problem-solving, and making sense of the world.

Lesson notes

What is Data Handling? Data handling is a three-step process for young learners: Collecting: Gathering information.

Sorting & Representing: Organising the information so we can see it clearly.

Analysing: Talking about what the information tells us.

Key Concept 1: Sorting (Classifying) Before we can count or represent data, we need to sort it into groups. We sort things based on an attribute, which is a special feature of an object.

Attribute: A way to describe something, like its colour, shape, or size.

Example: Sorting Spaza Shop Sweets Imagine you have a packet of sweets from the local spaza shop. Inside you find red round sweets, blue round sweets, and red square sweets.

You can sort them by colour: All the red sweets in one pile, and all the blue sweets in another.

You can sort them by shape: All the round sweets in one pile, and all the square sweets in another. In Grade 1, we focus on sorting by only one attribute at a time.

Key Concept 2: Collecting Data with Tally Marks Once we have our groups, we need to count how many are in each. A quick way to do this is with tally marks. A tally is a straight line ( | ) that represents one item. 1 item = | 2 items = || 3 items = ||| 4 items = |||| 5 items = |||| (We draw a line through the four to make a 'gate' - this makes counting easier later on!)