Sunshine State Standard

MA.E.1.1.1

Materials

Individual snack bags of skittles- 4 per group
Graph Paper- 1/2 in. squares
Markers- Orange, Green, Red, Brown, Black, & Yellow

What to do

Work in small groups and estimate how many skittles are in each snack size bag. After estimating how many are in one, open it & count them, then estimate for next. Repeat this for each bag. Encourage the children to refer back to the previous snack bag(s) when making their new estimations.

Once the students have opened all four of the snack bags, have them sort the skittles by color and estimate which color they think has the greater amount, least amount, are there any groups of similar size, etc, in each group.

Third, graph each color on the graph paper. Have the students place the skittles onto the graph paper and use the black marker to mark the end of each colors bar. Students should then color in the squares using the appropriate colors to form a hard copy of the graph.

Lastly, regroup as a class and discuss each graph. Allow the groups to share with each other using the same language as the small group discussion. The small groups should now question the class on their own graph. Display the graphs on the wall to allow further discussion and mathematical language use.

Additional Information

Contact me at PattyP@lee.k12.fl.us if you have any questions.

Submitted by

Patricia Price

Lee County
Cape Coral, Fl
PattyP@lee.k12.fl.us