Halloween Candy Math- "Sweet" fun for all Learners

With Halloween over there is tons of candy laying around.  Although this is bad for my diet, it is great for my Halloween Candy Math activity. 

This is a place value, addition, comparing numbers, and rounding activity that I did with my class this week.  It was perfect for the few days before and the few days after Halloween.  In my class it started with me giving the kids a large pillowcase of candy.  Later I though this could be done by giving the kids fictious amounts of candy on a class table used by the whole class.

A pile of delicious Math Manipulatives

Dumping the candy out of the pillowcase

My kids needed to find out the total number of pieces they had of each type of candy.  They immediately began sorting their candy into piles, estimating the number of pieces, and eventually tallying up the total.  

Let the sorting begin!!!

Over the next few days we spent time comparing our candy totals, rounding to the nearest tens and hundreds, solving addition problems using two methods, and-most importantly- thinking and writing about our thinking!

I always like to add a reflective piece to each activity we do.  So in this activity, besides asking about their enjoyment, I asked them what skills they felt they had a strong grasp on and what skills they feel they need to revisit and how they want to revisit them.  I am very interested to see what they say about what they need to revisit and how they want to revisit it.  

I'll keep ya posted!
Damien

If you are intierested in my activity it can be found here: Halloween Candy Math