Year 4 · Measures, time and graphs
Comparing, totalling and finding differences on graphs
Solve comparison, sum and difference problems using information presented in bar charts, pictograms, tables and other graphs
Lesson overview
What you'll learn in this lesson
Solve comparison, sum and difference problems using information presented in bar charts, pictograms, tables and other graphs
Key learning points
- • Check the scale before anything else
- • Sum questions
- • Difference questions
- • Comparison questions
This lesson at a glance
- 20 minutes
- 18 parts to scroll through
- 4 quick checks
- No marked quiz yet
- Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses
Words to know
Scroll down — the lesson carries on below
Watch & discover
Part 1 of 18
Watch first
Comparing, totalling and finding differences on graphs
Measuring round the edge, covering the inside, then reading the clock.
Read the film in words (English) ↓
What the film shows
- A finger traces the edge of a rectangle while the perimeter total counts up.
- The same rectangle fills with unit squares to show its area.
- Units convert on screen: centimetres to metres, grams to kilograms, millilitres to litres.
- A 12-hour clock and a 24-hour clock show the same moment side by side, then a bar chart is read off.
- The perimeter and unit-swap practicals for this unit repeat all of this with a tape measure.
Do it for real
The practicals below use what the film shows, with a full method you can follow at home.
In a nutshell
Solve comparison, sum and difference problems using information presented in bar charts, pictograms, tables and other graphs
What you already know
Part 2 of 18
Before we start
What you already know
You can read a bar chart and a pictogram and use a scale.
Key words
Part 3 of 18
Key words
Words you'll need today
- scale
- What each square or step on the axis is worth.
- difference
- How much bigger one bar is than another.
- key
- The note on a pictogram saying what each symbol stands for.
Learning cycle
Part 4 of 18
Learning cycle 1 of 2
Part 1 — Reading carefully
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 5 of 18
Learn
Check the scale before anything else
If the axis goes up in 5s, a bar reaching the third line is 15, not 3. Pictograms have a key: half a symbol worth 10 means 5. Getting the scale wrong makes every answer wrong, so read it first, every time.
Explore the idea
Part 6 of 18
Learn
Sum questions
'How many altogether on Monday and Tuesday?' Read both values, then add. If the question says 'in the whole week', add every bar — and count them off with your finger so none gets missed.
Quick check
Part 7 of 18
Quick check
An axis goes up in 5s. A bar reaching the fourth line shows
Reset break
Part 8 of 18
Pause
That's sitting 1 of 2 done
Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.
Quick check
Part 9 of 18
Quick check
Football 18, tennis 11. How many more chose football?
Learning cycle
Part 10 of 18
Learning cycle 2 of 2
Part 2 — Answering the question types
A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.
Explore the idea
Part 11 of 18
Learn
Difference questions
'How many more chose football than tennis?' Read both, then subtract the smaller from the bigger. The word 'more' does not mean add here — it means compare.
Explore the idea
Part 12 of 18
Learn
Comparison questions
'Which was most popular?' Look for the tallest bar and name it — the answer is a label, not a number. 'Twice as many' questions need you to check one value really is double the other.
Quick check
Part 13 of 18
Quick check
Monday 12, Tuesday 15. Total?
Quick check
Part 14 of 18
Quick check
A pictogram key says one circle = 10. Two and a half circles show
Common mix-ups
Part 15 of 18
Common mix-ups
Things people often get wrong
- Counting squares instead of using the scale.
- Adding when the question asks how many more.
- Giving a number when the question asks which category.
Challenge round
Part 16 of 18
Game · Sort it
Which of these are true?
Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.
True
Not true
Mastery quiz
Part 17 of 18
No quiz for this one
This lesson has no marked quiz attached yet.
Lesson round-up
Part 18 of 18
Lesson round-up
Ready when you are
Quiz score
Not sat
Games
Not played
Points this lesson
0
Best run
0 in a row
Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?
Ask LunaDo the work
Your written work for this lesson
This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.
The cost of a school trip
A school is planning a trip to a wildlife park. The coach costs £480 however many people go. Entry costs £9.50 for each pupil and each adult goes free. The school says every pupil must pay the same amount, and the trip must not lose money.
If 60 pupils go, the coach works out at £8 each, so the total for each pupil is £17.50. If only 40 pupils go, the coach works out at £12 each, so the price rises to £21.50. The teacher explains that the coach is a fixed cost and the entry is a cost per person — which is why the price per pupil changes when the number changes.
The school decides to charge £20 and to use anything left over for a second trip later in the year.
Written for Good Learning Co.
Reading questions
- Work out the total cost of the trip if 50 pupils go.
- Show why the price per pupil falls when more pupils go, using numbers.
- At £20 each, how many pupils must go before the trip makes money? Show your working.
Working out
Working outDo the practice questions on paper, showing every step — not just the answer. Mark them yourself and circle anything you got wrong.
10–15 questions
Worked example, explained
WritingCopy one question out and write underneath, in words, why each step works.
1 question, 4–5 sentences
Problem in words
Working outWrite your own real-life problem that uses today's method, then solve it.
1 problem + solution
Saved as you type.
Part 1 of 18 · Watch & discover