Cake Stall - Mathematics

After our professional development staff trip to Rotorua, my main aim was to take something from this and to try within my own classroom.  I was enthused to add rich learning and problem solving into my classroom by using a familiar context 'cake stalls.'   

Our class have been raising funds for our end of the year camp and one of the fundraiser's has been a cake stall.  Already we've had two very successful stalls, however I noticed only just under half of my students were actually taking part.

The students who never took part definitely realised how much money they could potentially raise as several of our students raised between $120-$150 in one cake stall.

Here's the challenge I set for the  students and they had to work on their own (to increase independence, risk taking and ownership of their learning).

Instantly the students showed engagement as the tool they used to support their learning was a laptop or ipad to research and compare different prices of different brand products.

Several challenges they faced (from our first day of learning reflections) were unsure of how to convert ounces to grams and milliliters to liters.  Also being able to record their items, quantities and totals on a table proved difficult for some students.  So these became the focus for day two so the students understood more clearly to enable them to continue on with the 'Cake Stall' challenge I posed to them.

This project also tied into our 'Addition and Subtraction' unit for this term and involving money was a great way to entice the students.

I observed so many successes within the classroom from being able to conference with them individually - (How are you going? What can I help you with?),  students taking autonomy of their own learning and students helping and supporting each other.

Once the students completed the challenge, we discussed ideas about what was more worthwhile to bake - either cakes or muffins.  And from their research it clearly showed muffins made more of a profit, especially being sold individually.  

They then had to research a recipe they potentially would like to bake for the next cake stall and again research a recipe, product items and the prices.

Hopefully this will encourage the students to take part in the next cake stall.  Also the importance of informing my parents of the efforts their children have gone to in completing this challenge.

Next Steps:  

To continue to combine ICT and rich context learning to engage all my students.

To give the students the necessary tools needed to be able to confidently achieve in solving a problem.  For example converting ounces to grams/grams to kilograms.  Being able to record their information on a table and use it with confidence.  For example; Costs, quantities, totals.

To have a bake day at school before the cake stall and involve all students in the process from baking, wrapping up the products and pricing these.