Texas
Adult Education Standards and Benchmarks
for ABE ASE and ESL Learners
Lesson Plan Bank
ABE/ASE LESSON PLANS
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:
- Sorting and recording numbers of M&Ms by color
- Creating a pictograph of individual data
- Combining data as a group and creating a bar graph of new data
- 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
