TITLE:  VALENTINE CANDY COUNT

AUTHOR:  Judy Dale; Bosque Farms Elementary,
         Bosque Farms, N.M.

GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT:  Appropriate for grades l - 4.

OVERVIEW:  Developing, reading, and interpreting graphs is a
vital skill in today's society.  It is a skill required in a
variety of areas, specifically in science and math.

PURPOSE:  This activity provides a fun and exciting method
through which children can explore and internalize graphing
skills.  Specifically, the students will discover what color
Valentine Candy is found more often than any other in a
standard bag of "Valentine Conversation Hearts."  The lesson
takes approximately sixty minutes and is most effectively
used in connection with Valentine's Day.

OBJECTIVE(s):  Through this activity the students will:
1.  observe, predict, sort, and classify
2.  develop graphing skills such as counting and
    equations
3.  gather and record data
4.  interpret data
5.  apply and generalize data

RESOURCES/MATERIALS:
  -12 oz.  bag of small "Valentine Conversation Hearts"
  -clear glass or plastic decanter (large enough to hold
    all of the hearts)
  -styrofoam cups (1 cup for every 4-6 students)
  -pencils
  -crayons (l crayon for each color of Valentine Candy)
  -prediction graph
  -final result graph
  -Valentine name tags (with student's names written on
    them)
  -sorting/classifying sheets
  -student recording sheet (1 for each group of 4-6
    students)
  -glue stick for attaching the initial predictions to
    the prediction graph

ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:
1.  The teacher brings to class a glass or plastic decanter
full of a 12 oz. bag of small "Valentine Conversation
Hearts."

2.  Students predict which color candy they think will be
found most frequently by placing their name Valentines on
the appropriate color valentine on the prediction graph.
(total class)

3.   Students then sort and classify a cup-full of Valentine
Heart Candy according  to color on their sorting/classifying
sheets. (small groups)

4.   Next, the students record their color counts on the
student recording sheet.  (one member of the group records
the counts while the rest of the group counts)

5.   Students finally graph their results on the final
results graph.(graph one color at a time - one student from
each group graphs one color - all students will have a turn
to graph a color)

Discussion:
a.  How many (color) Valentine Hearts did we find?
    How many .....?
b.  What color did we find more of than any other?
c.  Did the prediction that you made turn out to be true?
d.  What if we bought a new bag of candy - would we find
    the same number of each color of candy?  Why?  Why
    not?

TYING IT ALL TOGETHER:
1.  Distribute the "candy hearts" for eating!

2.  Have the children figure out number sentences about the
graph. Post their ideas on a chart near the graph.

3.  Challenge the children to think of questions to ask
"you" about the graph they have just created.  Many will
find it is much more difficult to "ask" a question than it
is to answer one!

4.  Display the prediction graph and the final graph for the
school to see...it will draw a lot of interest from adults
as well as other students.

5.  Encourage all students to share the results of this
activity with their parents/guardians.

6.  An extension activity for another lesson might be to
have the students work in teams to recreate a graph
pertaining to weather, favorite colors, types of pets, etc.
the possibilities are endless!