M & M’s Counting Activity Learning Charts and Graphs using Microsoft Excel

Create a Spreadsheet Follow these instructions carefully. In A1, type the word COLOR. In B1, type the word NUMBER. In C1, type the word PERCENT. In cells A2 – A7 type the colors of M&M’s that you can think of….. In cell A8, type the word TOTAL. Once you have your spreadsheet set up, sit, without typing and wait for the class to finish to move to the next slide.

When you get your bag……… Open it and… When you get your bag……… Open it and….. Type the correct numbers in column B of your spreadsheet. When you finish, sit, without typing and wait for the next slide. (You may eat your m & m’s, once you have them all counted and recorded.

Let’s set up the spreadsheet to see if your bag matches the percents on the M & M’s website? In C2, type this formula =b2/b8*100 This will calculate the percents of your first color. In C3, type this formula = b3/b8*100 This will calculate the percents for your second color. In C4 – C7 type the same formula, changing the first cell to reflect where the number for this color is located. This will calculate the percents for each of your other colors. How did your bag compare????

Applying the Chart Wizard We will now make a bar graph to represent the data we have collected from our bag. On the toolbar, click on the chart wizard button. The bar graph is normally highlighted, so leave it there and click on next. If there is a graph showing, it is probably correct, click next. If there is no graph, we need to start again. In the title bar type a titles such as Colorful M & M’s. Type the word Color in the x-axis and the word Number in the y – axis. Click Next. In the next step, click on As a New Sheet. Click on Finish.

Your Bar Graph should look like this.

We can make it look a little better…. Double click on the bar that represent blue to highlight the bar. Click two or more times to select that bar only. Handle bars will appear only on that bar. With the bar selected, right click and select Format Data Point. Click the color blue and then click ok. Click and highlight each individual bar. Then right click and select Format Data Point to choose colors. To format the legend or titles, click and highlight and then right click to get the options. Borders can be formatted as well as text.

Now your graph should look much better!!!

Now you try a circle graph! Don’t Forget!!!!!! We always want %’s shown on our circle graph. To do this – In Step 3, click on Data Labels And check Percentages! Click on Sheet 1 tab at the bottom Your highlighted area should still be there. Go back through the Chart Wizard and this time select Pie Graph. In step 4, make sure to check the box beside as a new sheet. Make sure it says Chart 2 so that it will not replace your bar graph. Don’t forget to format it to make it look better!

Save it to your folder Make sure to save your document to your folder as M & M’s. (It will save all 3 items together.) I will grade them by looking in your folder. Have fun and make it look good!