Sara Stadem | Editor
The Tri-Valley third grade class has been learning graphs with the help of M&M’s, according to third grade teacher Marcia Berkness.
Berkness explained her students have been learning about different types of graphs, such as picture graphs and bar graphs. “Previously we gathered data on 4 of our class’s favorite foods, drew pictures to represent the data, made a key for the graph and added a title to their graph,” Berkness said.
Prior to this lesson, Berkness explained her students learned how to read bar graphs and the parts of a bar graph such as title and key, like in the previous lesson. “Students were able to apply their knowledge about bar graphs to make a bar graph of their own using a pack of M&M’s,” Berkness said. She continued, “Each student was given a pack of M&M’s to count, sort and create their bar graph using crayons or colored pencils.”
According to Berkness, the student’s graphs had to have a title, a key and neatly colored bar graphs to represent the number of M&M’s.
“I have done this activity for several years and I think I just tried to think of something fun to graph. So, I chose candy!” Berkness said. “After the completion of the graph, they enjoyed eating their M&M’s.”