How is this different from the bar chart's blocks?

The bar chart stacks the same data into columns against an axis. A pictogram lays it out in rows of pictures with a key underneath, which is how every book draws one and how every SATs question asks about one. Same data, different picture, and it is worth showing a class both.

Why does it draw part of a symbol?

Because that is what the arithmetic says. With a key of two, a count of nine is four and a half symbols, and rounding it up to five would be the picture telling the class something untrue. Half a symbol is the case that is taught; if a count needs a third of one, that is a good sign the key is the wrong one.

Can one symbol be worth 20 or 100?

Not at the moment: 1, 2, 5 and 10 cover primary, and ten symbols at ten each already reaches a hundred. Say if you need bigger.

Why are the numbers hidden to start with?

Because working out what a row is worth is the exercise. A pictogram with the answers written on it is a picture of some data rather than a question about it.

Pictogram

Data & Statistics · Year 1–Year 4

Rows of symbols with a key. Change what one symbol is worth.

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About the pictogram

Rows of symbols across the board, one row for each thing being counted, with a line underneath saying what one symbol stands for. Press along a row to set it: the row ends where you press, to the nearest half symbol.

The key is the whole point. A class that can count six apples can still be completely stuck on six apples meaning thirty children, and the way through it is to change the key with the data sitting still. The rows do not move and the numbers they mean do, which is the thing to watch.

Half a symbol is half the key, so at a key of ten a half symbol is five. The board opens on counts that are odd on purpose, so there is a half symbol up before anybody has touched anything: a pictogram of whole symbols only is a pictogram with its hardest idea left out.

Numbers are off to start with, because reading the symbols is the exercise. Turn them on to check, or to set up a question the other way round.

Four symbols to choose from and your own categories, so the board can be about what the class actually surveyed rather than about A, B and C.

How to use it on your whiteboard

1Press or drag along a row to set how many symbols it has.
2One symbol is sets the key: 1, 2, 5 or 10.
3The symbol button changes the picture.
4Numbers shows the count at the end of each row.
5Categories takes your own list, one per line.
6Tap Fullscreen to fill the board.

Questions

How is this different from the bar chart's blocks?: The bar chart stacks the same data into columns against an axis. A pictogram lays it out in rows of pictures with a key underneath, which is how every book draws one and how every SATs question asks about one. Same data, different picture, and it is worth showing a class both.
Why does it draw part of a symbol?: Because that is what the arithmetic says. With a key of two, a count of nine is four and a half symbols, and rounding it up to five would be the picture telling the class something untrue. Half a symbol is the case that is taught; if a count needs a third of one, that is a good sign the key is the wrong one.
Can one symbol be worth 20 or 100?: Not at the moment: 1, 2, 5 and 10 cover primary, and ten symbols at ten each already reaches a hundred. Say if you need bigger.
Why are the numbers hidden to start with?: Because working out what a row is worth is the exercise. A pictogram with the answers written on it is a picture of some data rather than a question about it.