Lesson Plan - Our Favourite Halloween Treat

 Overview

Students conduct a survey to determine the class' favourite type of Halloween candy. Candy wrappers are used to create a bar graph by type of candy. Data are described in mathematical terms and questions are posed about the data collected. The activity is presented as a Halloween theme but may be used at any time of the year if students bring in pictures of their favourite treats instead of candy wrappers.

Objectives

The goal of this activity is to encourage students to see the need for organizing information and to start developing the skills needed in data management.

Outcomes

    conduct a survey about their favourite Halloween candy/treat

    sort candy wrappers according to specific attributes (i.e., chocolate, gum)

    organize the candy wrappers or treat pictures on a wall chart of a bar graph by type of candy

Materials

    A newsletter to be sent home a week prior to Halloween.

    Assorted candy wrappers or treat pictures to be provided by the students.

    Glue sticks or scotch tape.

    Large piece of grid paper.

    Coloring utensils.

Classroom instructions

This activity will last a whole week but you will only need two half-hour lessons to teach the content involved. Start preparing for this activity at least one week prior to Halloween by sending a newsletter to parents informing them of this lesson on Data Management and encouraging them to communicate with you any concerns they may have (see Teacher notes below). You should also mention that as part of next week’s activities their child will be required to bring to school 1 or 2 candy wrappers a day.

Lesson One

The day before students go out for Halloween introduce the activity by perhaps sharing some information about your favourite Halloween treats or by telling them why we give treats out on Halloween and where the phrase "trick or treat" comes from. Then engage the students in a conversation by asking such questions as:

    "What is your favourite Halloween treat Johnny?"

    "How many people like ________?"

    "Is there another Halloween treat you enjoy eating?"

    "How many people like this treat?"

    "Which would you say is our class’s favourite Halloween treat?"

Write the answers given on the board under the title "Our Favourite Halloween Candy".

After receiving a number of responses explain to them that asking questions about your class's favourite Halloween candy is called a survey and that their answers are called data. Write the words "survey" and "data" on the board.

Continue by asking: "How can we find out which Halloween candy is really our favourite?" Wait for responses. After a while the students should be encouraged to realize that in order for this data to make sense you need to organize it in some way. Suggest that you make a chart where your data is recorded.

On a large piece of grid paper write the title "Our Favourite Halloween Candy", or the title that best suits your classroom's needs. Close to the bottom of the paper draw a straight horizontal line and explain that each day during the week following Halloween each one of them will be required to bring one to two wrappers of their favourite candy. Using a glue stick or scotch tape they will tape it on the chart.

Ask: "How will you know where exactly you should stick your wrappers?" Establish through discussion that each type of candy should have an appropriate place on your chart. Point to the first column on the grid and explain that will be the "Hershey Kisses" column. Therefore, anyone bringing "Hershey kisses" wrappers will have to stick them on a square in that column (grid paper is divided into squares). Label the bottom of the first column "Hershey kisses". Repeat this procedure 5 or 6 times using different candy label for each column. Label the last column as "Other" for those items that have not been labeled on your chart. Explain that placing each candy wrapper in its appropriate place is called sorting.

End the lesson by asking: "So if you were to bring in a "Mars" bar wrapper where would you stick it on the chart?" "What if you brought in a "Skittles" wrapper?" Give students an opportunity to have their questions answered. The week following Halloween briefly review what was discussed during Lesson One. Assist those who need clarification.

Lesson Two

At the end of the week following Halloween discuss the data collected and presented on the chart. Explain that the chart is now called the graph of "Our Favourite Halloween Candy". Point out that "Our Favourite Halloween Candy" is the title of your graph and that each stack of wrappers on your graph is called a bar. So your chart is a bar graph of "Our Favourite Halloween Candy".

To examine students' understanding ask the following questions:

    Which candy is our most favourite Halloween candy?

    Which is our second favourite Halloween candy?

    Which column has the least number of wrappers?

    What does that mean?

    Does this mean that __________ are the favourite Halloween treat in Ms. Smith's class also?

    Last week we thought that __________ would be our favourite Halloween treat. Were we right?

    Was the bar graph a good way of organizing our data?

Evaluation

The students' responses to your questions and the quality of the discussions will indicate whether they were able to comprehend the words data, sort and bar graph and also what is represented by the chart. A checklist may be useful in evaluating students' understanding of the content taught and classroom participation.

Notes to teachers

Before beginning this lesson you should consider how appropriate this activity will be for your class. Some of your students, for example, may have food allergies or other health problems that prevent them from eating candies. Other families may believe that candy is not appropriate for their child's diet. Others may not be able to participate in this lesson because of religious restrictions/beliefs.

By Irini Clelland, Statistics Canada Support Teacher.