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Texas Adult Education Standards and Benchmarks
for ABE ASE and ESL Learners

Lesson Plan Bank

ABE/ASE LESSON PLANS

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Texas Adult Education Standards
Lesson Plan

Before you begin

Title: M&Ms Count!

Setting: ABE/ASE

NRS Level(s):

Level 1: Beginning ABE Literacy
Level 2: Beginning Basic Education
Level 3: Low Intermediate Basic Education

Open entry/exit: Yes

Context: Family

Standard(s): Use Math to Solve Problems and Communicate

Benchmark(s): 10.1, 10.2, 10.3

Objective: To learn how to generate data and translate data into a graph

Materials: Small packages of M&Ms, paper, pencil, rulers, markers

Estimated time needed to prepare for this lesson plan: 15 minutes

Estimated time needed to complete this lesson plan: 2 hours

The Lesson Plan

Introduce the lesson:
As a class, review the fundamentals of using charts and graphs. Emphasize and give examples of situations in day-to-day activities that reading charts and graphs is necessary.

Teach the lesson:
Carry out the activity according to instructions retrieved from the website provided. The lesson activity will include:

1. Sorting and recording numbers of M&Ms by color
2. Creating a pictograph of individual data
3. Combining data as a group and creating a bar graph of new data
4. Combining all data as a class and creating a pie chart

Practice the lesson:
Students individually write a one-page paper that researches the period of years that the makers of M&Ms did not make red M&M candies. Why did makers of M&Ms begin including the red candies in the packages again?

Assess the lesson:
Teacher observation and individual feedback of the learning activity and written paper.

Apply the lesson to the real world:
Using a hands-on approach will help students apply the concepts of collecting data, creating a chart, and understanding what it shows. This information could be helpful for students that are using charts and graphs in presentations.

Submitted by: Vicki Heard

Lesson adapted from Karen Stewart’s original lesson found at:Lesson adapted from Karen Stewart’s original lesson found at: Academy Curricular Exchange, Columbia Education Center, Mathematics, M&M Graphing and Probability

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