Candy Averages

What a busy week it’s been already! We’ve jumped right in after break and I did a really fun math lesson, so I thought I’d share.

We’ve started our unit on averages, and to bribe ease the kids back into the swing of things, we did candy math! Ok, so this is SO not part of the New Year’s resolution, but hey, you gotta do what you gotta do, right? This is such a fun lesson, but it can be a costly one if you’ve got a big class. Keep in mind that you can adapt this one into group or partner work to cut back on the cost though. Here’s how it works:

1)     Pass out a data collection sheet to each student (or student group). Click here to snag a copy of the one that I made for this lesson.

2)     Get a small bag of M&M’s for each student (or student group) and tell them to estimate how many candies are in the bag before touching or opening them.

3)     Of their estimated total, have them then guess how many of each color will be found in their bag.

4)     Once all estimations are made, have the students open their bags and record the actual amounts.

5)     Then, have them review their percentage and graphing skills to put their data into a pie chart and/or bar graph.

6)     Lastly, enjoy a tasty treat… even if math is at 8am, you won’t hear any complaints.

I will snap a picture of the bar graphs that we created in our math journals with this data and post it later. Until then, happy humpday!