Introduce data collection and analysis in a fun, student-friendly way with our CLASS SURVEYS: COLLECT & ANALYSE DATA ACTIVITY! This flexible resource helps students practise early data skills by asking simple preference-based questions and using tally marks, graphs and comparisons to analyse their results. With engaging themes and two differentiated formats, this resource is perfect for building confidence with tallying, graphing and making sense of information in a real-world context.

Students begin by collecting responses from classmates using the easy-to-follow templates. They will practise asking questions, recording responses with tally marks, and either stopping at the tally stage or taking their data further by creating a graph. With both versions included – one for collecting and tallying only, and one that includes an additional graphing step – this resource supports a wide range of ability levels and classroom needs.

CLASS SURVEYS: COLLECT & ANALYSE DATA ACTIVITY includes five ready-to-use survey topics and an editable template so you can create your own. Students will love asking their classmates whether they prefer dogs or cats, popcorn or cupcakes, and more! With colourful visuals and familiar choices, these survey templates are ideal for individual work, maths centres or whole-class activities. Use them to build foundational maths skills while promoting oral language, collaboration and communication.

Key Learning Outcomes:

• ✅ Ask simple survey questions to collect data from peers
• ✅ Record and organise responses using tally marks
• ✅ Create simple column graphs to represent collected data
• ✅ Interpret and discuss findings using mathematical language
• ✅ Develop early data analysis and communication skills

What’s Included:

• Two differentiated survey templates – one with tallying only, one with graphing extension
• Five ready-to-use survey themes:
  • Apples vs. Bananas
  • Dogs vs. Cats
  • Popcorn vs. Cupcakes
  • Rain vs. Sun
  • Soccer vs. Basketball
• Editable blank template to add your own images and text

Materials Needed:

• Printed templates (in tally-only or tally-and-graph versions)
• Pencils or markers
• Optional: clipboards for student-led surveys
• Coloured pencils or crayons for graph colouring and illustration

How to Use:

1. Choose a survey template or create your own using the editable version.
2. Guide students to ask their classmates the question on their sheet.
3. Have students record answers using tally marks as they collect data.
4. For the graphing version, students create a simple bar graph to show results.
5. Discuss results as a class or in small groups using comparison and data language.

Ideas for Classroom Use:

• 💡 Use as a maths rotation or data unit warm-up
• 💡 Incorporate into a class meeting or circle time as a daily opinion poll
• 💡 Pair with writing tasks where students explain their findings
• 💡 Use editable templates to link surveys to other curriculum areas (e.g. favourite minibeast, habitat or book genre)
• 💡 Collect data across multiple days and create a class-wide data wall

Teacher Tips:

• 💛 Model how to ask survey questions respectfully and record answers clearly
• 💛 Focus on vocabulary such as “most popular”, “least chosen” and “same number” to support interpretation
• 💛 Use the editable template to link surveys with classroom themes or inquiry units
• 💛 Challenge more capable students to write their own survey questions and design a data collection method
• 💛 Invite students to write a short paragraph summarising their findings for a quick literacy link

CLASS SURVEYS: COLLECT & ANALYSE DATA ACTIVITY makes early data skills fun, purposeful and interactive – helping students ask questions, explore their interests and communicate their findings with confidence!