Students conduct experiments to determine how many M&M’s are usually in each small packaged bag and find the mean for the class.
Grades(s) 4, 5, 6
Subjects(s) Math
Objective
Students will make predictions, practice writing ratios and fractions, find the mean and mode, make graphs, compare percentages.
Materials
Fun size bags of M&M’s, chart paper, markers
Lesson
Students are divided into pairs or small groups and given a bag of M&M’s. Before opening the bag, they make predictions about the contents: total number and number of each color. Students record their predictions. Once the bag is opened, the students record the actual contents of the bag.
One person per group records the information on a class chart using tally marks.
Collected information is used to write ratios, find percentages, find the average number per bag, find the color used most, etc. This lesson can also be used to introduce vocabulary such as mean, median, mode, and range.
Assessment
1) Recorded information from each group
2) Each group writes three relevant word problems to share with the class based on the M&M’s.
3) The teachers displays objects on the overhead and has the students individually write meaningful ratios, find the mode, etc. for each set of objects. This is a quick way to quiz the students over the information learned.
References
math, fractions, ratios, percentages, graphs, mean, modeBetty/blogs/bettyb/default.aspx