Journal Entry #14

Itoman Gakken

Saturday Dec 9, 2006



M&M game (again)


There is power in candy! This activity was a big hit with these students as well. I cannot thank Sarah enough. These students too were reluctant to place their M&Ms in the colors (they thought it would make the candy taste bad). This group had an easier time graphing their M&Ms because I didn’t give out as many.

I had more fun with the numbers with this group. I would ask them for example “What is one M&M plus 1 M&M?” They would quickly respond and then I let them eat that many M&Ms. I started making the terms higher and then switch the operator. “What is 10….minus 9.” This tended to relax the excitement.

Then I started to ask individuals in turn and even started using multiplication. Of course the students were then allowed to “eat the answer.” Everyone laughed (then sighed) when I asked, “What is 2 times…………..0?”


After all the “What is…?” and “How many….?” questions I asked, the most interesting response came when I asked, “How many M&Ms do you want?” They all looked at me as if they had no idea what I was asking. “Do you want is Hoshii desuka?” I told them. I then repeated, “How many M&Ms do you want?” They kept looking in their little cups as if I were asking them to count something again.

One student finally shouted out, “2!” so I gave her two M&Ms. Even when the rest of the students caught on to my question and though we had practiced numbers up to a thousand, the most that anyone ever requested from me was 10!