The Case for a Lesson on Candy Corn

Every day, the Planning Period team spends a lot of time debating on the best design practices to make our tools easy to use, or novel ways to ensure that standards-alignment meets community responsive teaching; But if there's one thing that the our team unequivocally agrees on, it's that candy corn is the best candy on earth, and should have its place in society beyond the Halloween festivities.

"Candy corn is the best candy on earth" - Planning Period team (in unison)

So, in support of this treat of heavenly cornucopia, let's use our suite of tools to make a lesson that will indoctrinate...Ahem, I mean affirm and expand our student's collective love for the #1 candy in America.

For my "Can't read now, I'm away trick-o-treating" people, here's your TLDR:

• 🎫 Backwards plan by creating a "Candy Corny Exit-Ticket."
• 🌽 Create an A-maize-ing Anchor Chart to help students remember the Facts and "Opinions" about candy corn.
• 📰 Use our new Passage Leveler to read articles that PROVE candy corn's supremacy over all Halloween treats.
• 🗣️ Use our CFU Maker to encourage scholarly discussion about candy corn's benefits to society writ-large.
• 🍬 Use our Stations Planner to lobby your small groups in support of the "Candy Corn Diet."
• 🏡 Use our Homework Maker to expand the Candy Corn agenda to your student's families.

Will this lesson be too much? I SAY NOT ENOUGH! Our children should know the truth about how the government conspires to limit candy corn consumption to the month of October in order to stockpile it for themselves.

Let's Start at the End

For today's lesson, we're going to help 6th graders distinguish among fact and opinion (Candy Corn Standard RH.6-8). Let's start with the goal in mind, and create an Exit-Ticket that will assess whether or not our students mastered the ability to differentiate between these two important concepts.

The first thing I did was find a news article that highlights the existing debate over candy corn (debate articles are goldmines of facts and opinions). Then, I used our passage leveler to ensure this article can be read by my 6th graders.

Finally, I entered my leveled article into the assessment generator, and viola! my exit ticket is ready to go!

Make an Anchor[n] chart! (😉🌽😉🌽)

Now, that I have an exit-ticket, I am ready for my mini-lesson. For that I'm going to create a Candy-Corn-Themed Anchor Chart that will invite students to co-create examples of facts and opinions about Candy Corn.

Let's Get Them Talking!

Now that we've come to a collective understanding of facts and opinions, I'm going to encourage student practice by reading another leveled article together, while using the CFU maker to embed some discussion-driven checks for understanding to encourage healthy debate amongst my students.

Here's an awesome example of a great discussion CFU created by our CFU Maker

CFU Recommendation: Ask students to discuss with a partner why people might have such strong feelings about candy corn. What factors could contribute to the love or hate relationship with this candy?

Sample Student Response:

"People might have strong feelings about candy corn because its texture and flavor are unique. Some people might enjoy its sweetness and find its look festive, while others may find it too sweet or dislike its texture."

"Since candy corn is associated with Halloween, people's feelings about the holiday might influence their feelings about the candy. For example, someone who loves
Halloween might also love candy corn because it reminds them of the holiday."

Common Misconceptions: Students may think that personal preferences are universal. Encourage them to consider a variety of perspectives.

Intervene in Small Groups

Thanks to my CFUs, I can now tell which students are grasping the distinction between fact and opinion, and which students are not. So for the next 30 minutes, I'm going to have my students work independently in stations, while I confer with my target students individually or within their respective small group.

Here are the three candy-corn stations I would use to keep students practicing while I work with those that need me the most.

Expand the Candy Corn Kingdom

Now, my candy corn fueled conquest does not end after I've delivered my exit ticket, I can either use the homework maker to help students further our pertinent cause at home, or create a candy-corn themed math worksheet to expand our pursuit to the next class period and beyond!

Here's an example of a Candy Corn themed Homework created with our Homework Maker:

Here's an example of the Math worksheet I'll force my colleague to use to ensure candy corn domination:

All jokes aside, Planning Period was designed to drive joy and rigor into your lessons, so whether it is to further your own high-fructose-corn-syrup flavored agenda, or get students to deeply think and learn about the topics that are impacting our lives today, our hope is that Planning Period can aid you and empower you in your lesson planning journey.

We wish all candy-corn loving educators (and the rest of ya'll... I guess) a happy halloween!