Strand: Using Number Skills
Element: Fractions, Decimals, Percentages and Ratio
Recipe for Four
The Challenge
5
Acquisition of Skills
Anchor Phase: Explicit Teaching Phase
Recipe for Four
Cross-Curricular Links: English, also Healthy
Schools, Financial Literacy
Mathematical Vocabulary
Tel: 01554 749043
Email: [email protected]
www.tlpwales.co.uk
© The Learning Partnership Wales
YEAR 4 VOCABULARY +
proper/improper fraction
mixed number
numerator, denominator
equivalent, reduced to,
cancel
ninth, twelfth
hundredth
ratio
to every, as many as
percentage, per cent
Share your favourite meal recipes with the children.
Ask them to find a simple recipe for a healthy meal
that sounds appetising to them. They could ask
parents/grandparents for a favourite family recipe or
find a new recipe from a cookbook or the internet.
Discuss their chosen recipes paying attention to
how many people it serves.
Ask questions such as: ‘What do you notice?’
‘Is it true that lots of recipes are designed for four
people?’ ‘Why might this be?’
Resources
A range of recipes for healthy meals
Strand: Using Number Skills
NUMERACY
Application of Skills
Introduce the challenge ‘Number Lines’ to the children.
Fusion Phase: Steps to Success
These can be planned by the children, with them or provided for them.
Sort the selection recipes into those that
serve the same number of people. Find
a recipe that would suit the number of
people who live in your house*. If you
can’t find an exact match, choose one
that is for more people – leftovers can
be used the next day!
Use a supermarket website to work out
the cost of the ingredients for your
recipe. Remember you might need to
buy a whole bag of flour even if you only
need 100g. Compare the cost of your
recipe with your friends’ recipes.
Calculate how much the cost per person
would be. Compare the cost of your recipe
per person with your friends’ recipes.
Imagine that half of your family will not
be eating this meal. Re-write the recipe
for half the number of people. (If you
couldn’t find a recipe to match the
number of people in your family, this
might help you to calculate the correct
amount for your family.)
Calculate the cost of half of the
ingredients. Remember you might still
need to buy a whole bag of flour even
if you now only need 50g! Find out
whether it is cheaper or more expensive
per person to cook for less people.
Now imagine that each member of your
family will be bringing a friend to share
this meal. You need to double all of the
quantities of the recipe and calculate
the new cost per person.
Draw conclusions about the cost of
cooking for more or less people. Present
your findings in a way that will help
families of different sizes to get the best
value for money.
*If you think that this is too complicated,
choose a family of four and a recipe for
four to begin with. Then create situations
where there are only two eating or eight
sharing the meal. Finally adapt the recipe
to suit the number of people living in
their house.
Using Number Skills
Reflection Phase: Reflect and Re-visit
Talk to the children about their findings. It is
likely that they will have concluded that it is
cheaper to cook for more people. Consider
who might be disadvantaged by this, such as
elderly people living alone. Explain that often
supermarkets have a ‘Buy one, get one free’ offer
but that people living alone do not need two
of the same thing. Consider the reasons why
supermarkets don’t just offer things at half price!
Challenge them to work out the cost of cooking
the meal again. Remind them that they will not
need to buy some ingredients a second time
(e.g. flour) because they will have enough left
over from last time but that fresh ingredients
may have to be replaced. Discuss their findings.
Draw conclusions about cooking for families
of different sizes. Ask the children to identify
solutions to the cost of cooking for one person.
They could ask family members and friends to
suggest solutions too e.g. cooking double the
amount and freezing half, or cooking for four
and freezing in individual portions etc. Consider
the difficulties that their solutions might present,
for example, limited freezer space or initial costs
may be prohibitive etc.
Write a letter to supermarkets explaining that
some of their special offers penalise people who
live alone and include alternative suggestions to
help these people.
Element: Use Number Facts
and Relationships
NNN02, NNN06
Element: Fraction, Percentages,
Decimals and Ratio
NNF03, NNF08
Element: Calculate Using
Written and Mental Methods
NNC01, NNC02, NNC03
Element: Estimate and Check
NNE01
Element: Manage Money
NNM03, NNM05
Using Measuring Skills
Element: Length, Weight/Mass
Capacity
NML06, NML07
Using Data Skills
Element: Collect and Record
Data. Present and Analyse
Data. Interpret Result
NDC01
Developing Numerical
Reasoning
Element: Identifying Processes
and Connections
NDI01, NDI02, NDI03, NDI04,
NDI05, NDI06
Element: Represent and
Communicate
NDRC01, NDRC02, NDRC03
Element: Review
NDR01, NDR02