I live this life where one of my main goals is to convince my students that math is cool and awesome. One thing that gets (most) of my students engaged in the lesson is FOOD. You would think that these kids don’t eat ever, but I mean I see most of them eating breakfast as they walk in in the morning and every week when I do lunch duty I am SHOCKED by the amount of food and snacks they consume in one sitting. When I think of a math activity that combines food (especially when I can easily find a peanut-free snack to use) AND actual learning, I fall in love with the activity! I did this activity for the first time last year and my students loved it too! Bonus: they actual remembered the activity when they were taking their ratio test…they actual remembered ratios when we reviewed them this year!
Each student got a paper plate with a handful of Fruit Loops Cereal and a worksheet. They worked independently to model and write different ratios. They then had a student at their table check their work. Students had to complete their work before they could eat their cereal, which motivated them to finish an assignment in a timely manner!
Click on the image below to download the updated recording sheet for this activity!
The post was originally published on December 31, 2011 with minimal editing