Worksheet Grade 2 Math

Marigold Lane's Water-Saving Week: A Tally and Bar Graph Worksheet

A grade 2 worksheet where students turn a week of water-saver tally marks into a bar graph and solve addition and subtraction word problems about the data.

Grade: Grade 2
Subject: Math
Material: Worksheet
Time: 25 min
Prep: No prep
Materials: None

Standards

2.MD.D.10 Common Core Math

Draw a picture graph and a bar graph (with single-unit scale) to represent a data set with up to four categories. Solve simple put-together, take-apart, and compare problems using information presented in a bar graph.

How this material aligns: Items 1 through 4 have students draw a bar graph from the week's tally data and use it to compare which day had the most and fewest water-saver catches, the exact graph-reading and comparison this standard requires.

All materials for 2.MD.D.10 →

2.OA.A.1 Common Core Math

Use addition and subtraction within 100 to solve one- and two-step word problems involving situations of adding to, taking from, putting together, taking apart, and comparing, with unknowns in all positions, e.g., by using drawings and equations with a symbol for the unknown number to represent the problem.

How this material aligns: Items 4, 5, and 6 are one- and two-step addition and subtraction word problems within 100 built from the week's tally totals, matching this standard's range of unknown positions.

All materials for 2.OA.A.1 →

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This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely, without attribution. Updated 2026-07-16.

Objectives

Students will draw and interpret a bar graph representing a week of tally data.
Students will use addition and subtraction within 100 to solve word problems about the data.

Vocabulary

Key words: tally, bar graph, water saver, total

Teacher overview

The students on Marigold Lane's second-grade team spent one school week catching classmates being "water savers," actions like turning off a tap or fixing a drip, and marking each catch on a tally chart. This worksheet turns that week's tally data into a bar graph and a set of addition and subtraction problems. A teaching note: some students name the tallest bar without stating its actual count, so several items ask for the specific number rather than just which day had more.

Marigold Lane's Water-Saving Week: A Tally and Bar Graph Worksheet — Grade 2 Math

Name: ____________________________ Date: ______________

Student Worksheet

This week's tally: Monday 3 catches, Tuesday 6 catches, Wednesday 4 catches, Thursday 8 catches, Friday 5 catches.

Draw a bar graph. Make one bar for each day. Use the numbers above. Label each bar with the day and its count.
Which day had the most catches? How many catches were there?
Which day had the fewest catches? How many catches were there?
How many more catches were there on Thursday than on Monday? Show your subtraction.
What is the total number of catches for the week? Show your addition.
On Thursday, the class caught 8 water savers in all. Five of them turned off the tap while brushing teeth. How many were a different kind of action? Show your subtraction.
The class wants to beat Thursday's total of 8. Write one number that would set a new record. Explain why it works.
Why might catching "water savers" at school help students save water at home too? Write one or two sentences.

From Water for Schools (waterforschools.org). This material is in the public domain (CC0) and may be copied, edited, and shared freely.

Answer Key

Answer: A bar graph with five bars labeled Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, with heights matching 3, 6, 4, 8, and 5. Accept any graph that correctly represents these five values with a single-unit scale.
Answer: Thursday, with 8 catches.
Answer: Monday, with 3 catches.
Answer: 5 more catches. 8 - 3 = 5.
Answer: 26 total catches. 3 + 6 + 4 + 8 + 5 = 26.
Answer: 3 catches. 8 - 5 = 3.
Answer: Any number greater than 8 is acceptable, along with an explanation that the class needs more than 8 catches in a single day to beat Thursday's record.
Answer: Answers will vary; accept any response noting that noticing water-saving actions at school helps students recognize and repeat the same actions, such as turning off the tap, at home.

Differentiation

Support

Provide a pre-drawn bar graph grid with the day labels already in place, so students only need to draw and shade the bars to the correct height. Allow counters or tally marks to help with the addition in item 5.

Extension

Ask students to write and solve one more subtraction question comparing any two days of their choice from the tally data, showing their equation.

ELL supports

Pre-teach "tally," "bar graph," and "total" with a simple visual, such as five tally marks next to five drawn bars of matching height. Allow item 8 to be answered as a spoken sentence instead of written.