M & M Math

 

Let's Count M & Ms!!

 

A CONSTRUCTIVIST LESSON FOR

REVIEWING PREDICTING, CLASSIFYING

AND GRAPHING SKILLS AND TEACHING PERCENTAGES

 

LEVEL:  INTERMEDIATE

Word Document Version

 

 

Formation of Groups

 

Students will count off by four's to form groups.

Once in a group each student will be assigned a role and receive a role card which has directions reminding the student of the expectations.

 

  Materials Manager:

This student will gather, manage, collect & distribute materials for the activity.  Also, he/she is the student who makes sure everything is cleaned up.

 

Checker:

This student is responsible for making sure all of the tasks are being carried out.  He/She also asks questions when needed.

 

Recorder/Reporter:

This student is responsible for recording the group's predictions & responses.  He/She also reports the outcome of their group to the class.

 

Encourager:

This student promotes positive team spirit within the group at all times and leads the group in silent cheers and energizers.

TASK                

 

 

   PREDICTING      (7- 1 0 minutes)

To begin the activity each team will make a prediction of the number of candies in the each M & M packet.  They will also predict which colors will have the highest to smallest frequency.  The predictions will be recorded on data sheets provided.

 

 COUNTING       (5-6 minutes)

Next, each team of students will determine the number of M & Ms in their bag.    They will count all of the candies and see how close their prediction was. 

 

CLASSIFYING   (5-6 minutes)

The next part of the activity will be classifying.  The groups will use the graph provided to sorting the M & Ms according to the color of each candy.  After the students have finished sorting, they will count up the total for each color and the recorder will write it on their counting sheet. 

 

   GRAPHING    (10- 12 minutes)

Now the teams will begin to graph their data on their group's graph.  Each student will have a turn to graph a color on their group M & M graph. 

 

DETERMINING THE PERCENT  (10-12 minutes)

The next part of the lesson will require the teams to determine the percent of each color of M & Ms.  Students must compute the number of each of the colors (Brown-30%,Red-20%,etc,) (for variation, you can also do a proportion problem by concealing the total # of M&M's; setting up a proportion of, say "1 group's Reds/Total Reds = Total for that group/x". They can then determine how many total M&M's there were.

 

DISPOSING OF THE EVIDENCE

 

Materials managers will return materials to the instructor and assist team members in preparing to present their results to the class.  Encouragers will help the group select a silent cheer to encourage the group that presents their findings before them.

 

As the groups present their data, the teacher will lead the entire class in filling in the class graph with the results of each group. After this is completed, the whole class will discuss the following questions:

 

                  --What color had the most/the least?

                  --How many color candies did we find?

                  --How many brown, red, blue, orange, yellow etc?

                  --How close were your predictions?

  --What would happen if we did this activity again with a bigger bag of 

      candy?

 

REFLECTING ON RESULTS   (10-15 minutes)

After the class discusses, the students can get back into their groups and discuss these same questions within in their groups.  The recorder will record the answers and comments from his/her group members.  To close the activity, each recorder will report these discussion questions to the entire class. 

 

SOCIAL SKILLS 

The students will be introduced to the social skills rubric prior to the activity, so they will know what is expected of them.

 

ENERGIZERS 

    Double High Fives & Thumbs Up!

 

 

CHECKLIST OF SOCIAL SKILLS

	Not Yet	Almost	Got It!
Stayed in your group
Used your 6” voice
Helped your group complete the task on time
Encouraged one another
Disagreed with the idea not the person

 

 

Group Discussion Questions

 

 

   What color had the most?

   What color had the least?  

   List the colors of the candy that you found.

   List your predictions and the actual count.

 

NAME  _____________     PREDICTION   ___       TOTAL _________

 

What do you think would happen if we did this activity again with a new bag of candy?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

             M & M Lesson Design

 

 

 

Objective:  Students will classify, predict, graph and discuss percentages using M & M candies.

 

           Material

               Large bags of 4oz. M & Ms

               Glass container with candies for predictions

               Small Dixie cups (1 for each student)

               pencils

               crayons ( 1 crayon for each color of candy)

       Poster size prediction graph for whole group

               Regular size prediction graph for each group

               M & M name tags for predictions

               M & M role cards for each group

               Sorting/classifying sheets (1 for each group)

               Student recording sheets (1 for each group)

               Social Skills checklist for each group

 

Multiple Intelligences

                Verbal

                Logical Mathematical

                Visual-Spatial

                Interpersonal

                lntrapersonal

                Kinesthetic

                Naturalist

 

Circulate to each group with a checklist to see who is doing what and how effectively.

      Each group will complete a social skills rubric.

 

               + Class discussion

               + Individual reflections on activity

 

 

M & M Math Lesson Procedure

 

           Part 1:

              Each team will use the M & M nametag to make his/her prediction of the most frequent color candy in this activity.  This prediction will go on the Prediction Graph provided to the group.

 

           Part 2:

            The students will empty their bags of M & Ms into the group cup and predict how many candies are in their group cup.  Second, the students will count the candies and see how close their predictions were.

 

          Part 3:

               Now the students will begin to classify and sort the candies according to color on the sorting sheet.  After they are finished sorting, they will need to count up the total for each color.  The recorder will be recording this information on the M & Ms Count Sheet.

 

           Part 4:

Now the graphing begins.  The students will begin to graph in their groups.  Each student can graph one or two colors on the group graph.  After the groups are finished, the entire class will graph each group's results onto a class graph.

 

           Part 5:

        

The whole group you will discuss the following questions:

              • What color had the most/the Least?

              • How many colors did we find?

              • How many blue, brown, etc.?

              • How close/far were your predictions from the answer.

• What percentages did you determine for each color?

• What would happen if we did this activity again using a different size bag of candy?

 

             Part 6:

               Now the students can return to their groups and discuss these questions as a group. The recorder will record the answers and comments from the group.  After the groups are finished discussing, the recorder will share their answers with the class.

 

PROCESSING

 

Group Process Skills:	Group Task Skills
1.           Stayed on task 2.         Stayed in role  3.          Handled materials as instructed. 4.          Resolved disagreements 5.          Used 6 inch voices 6.          Encouraged one another 7.          Worked hard	1.      Completed task on time 2.     Worked hard on completing the task 3.     Showed creativity 4.     Showed enjoyment 5.     Learned something new from this activity

 

 

 

 

 

M & M Math Graph

Color Name

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

color