Our Story

Welcome to our site! We are Joanne & Steve. After 20+ years working for a city school department and police department, we sold almost everything, bought an RV, and started living on the road with our three children. Joanne homeschooled and worked online. Over the years we worked for Jellystone Parks as well as volunteered. We stopped traveling after 7 years and bought a house. Steve continued police work with the National Park Service and Joanne taught Kindergarten. Now that our three kids are adults, we have decided to travel more and explore.
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Sunday, January 15, 2012

Fifty-Six Ounces

So, yesterday, we had planned on taking the kids to see Beauty and the Beast 3D.  We stopped at BJ's, which is right next to the cinemas, to get some snacks.  Well, if you know BJ's, you buy in bulk and really, I didn't need 42 candy bars laying around, so I bought what was the smallest thing I could find; a 56 oz bag of m&ms.

Of course, while I am standing in the check-out line with my one 56 oz bag of m&ms, behind 3 other people with cart-loads full of merchandise, I drop the 56 oz bag of m&ms and they spill all over the floor.  I paid, replaced the bag, then left.

And of course, again, we had an hour until the show started at 1:30, so we decided to head south a bit to look at a car Steve saw on Craigslist.  That turned out to be a bust, and as we passed Pizza Works, we decided to stop for a bite. The kids watched the huge model train set, and Steve and I cracked open two large cans of Foster's Beah. We'd try for the cinema closer to Pizza Works at 2:30.

And of course, by the time we left, it was just after 2:30.  So, there goes the movie.  Which is OK.  We drove around a bit sightseeing along the coast, and into beautiful Essex...such a quaint, historic town...finding ourselves near Gillette Castle.  So, of course, we went for a quick visit walking around the stone structure and letting the kids run off the sillies.

It was a very nice day.

Today, I put that 56 oz bag of m&ms to work.

My fellow teachers will know this.  But, I share it so that the next time you find yourself at BJ's purchasing a 56 oz bag of m&ms, you can do this with your kids and justify the purchase.  Just be sure to hold onto that bag in the check-out line.


sorting 

counting

graphing

graphing

graphing

graphing

complete

totaling

recording most and least

m&m math


eating

eating
We also used the graph to find the most, the least, the total of all, the total of 2 or more colors, the difference when some are eaten, and the difference between two colors.

Of course, we still have about 40 oz left.

4 comments:

  1. What a cute story and creative use of m&ms.. now that's something you can't do with chick peas!!

    Thanks for sharing!!

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  2. It sounds like you had a great time (spilled M&Ms and all!)... I really like the way you made effective use of the candy to teach the kids. Very neat!

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  3. Let's just call this what it is: 3 and 1/2 POUNDS of M&Ms. Calling it ounces doesn't make it weigh less!! LOL next time share with me.

    ReplyDelete

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