Market Math
Spotlighting math and technology in a Middle School farmers market
BUDGETING and FINANCIAL LITERACY
Series Duration: 4 Sessions || Grade Level: 6-8
See bottom of page for downloadable material
Objectives
One of the key attributes of a Farmers’ Market is its food and beverage offerings. This lesson looks at the financial and literacy budgeting process for students to convert a standard recipe to meet the large consumer mass. Students can explore local stores to source raw ingredients and determine the appropriate cost for their delicious goods. Lastly, students are able to reflect on the impact of their ingredient selections by assessing the fairness of their selling price.
BIG IDEA: Understand how planning and estimating raw ingredients of a product can minimize waste and unnecessary costs, therefore maximizing profit and revenue.
Links to the Experiential Learning Cycle
Technology FOR Education
Using local online shopping flyers allows for price and quantity comparison. This is useful to determine an appropriate budget and estimated costs.
Examples of local online shopping retailers include:
Outline
TEACHER NOTES - INTRODUCTION:
Many recipes are now obtainable and easily followable. The GOAL for creating a recipe is one that contains simplistic ingredients and that can be duplicated. For this activity, the objective is to MULTIPLY a standard recipe to estimate the amount required to serve the Farmer Market community. To start, determine the PREDICTED servings that will likely be generated. A recommended value could be 20 servings. However, this can be adjusted! Modifications to this lesson are encouraged. BIG IDEA: Plan for large product production.
MATHEMATICAL LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Operations with decimals
Converting fractions to mixed numbers and/or decimals
Ratios
Estimation
SKILL-BASED OUTCOMES (Core Competencies/Approaches to Learning Skills)
Thinking (Critical and Creative)
Designing and developing
Reflecting and assessing
ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS
Select ONE recipe that is easy to follow and requires minimal ingredients. The goal is to estimate the quantities of raw ingredients required for the large crowds.
Write down the ORIGINAL recipe below. Indicate the number of servings for the original recipe.
Write down the MULTIPLIED recipe. Record how many servings could be made.
Show work and calculations on the following page.
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
Student Handout: Multiplying for the Masses
Outline
TEACHER NOTES - INTRODUCTION:
Now with a converted recipe, students are able to explore and gauge the actual estimated cost to create a large group-sized quantity. The final costs can vary depending on various factors, such as raw ingredients, source of raw ingredients, quality of raw ingredients, etc. In this session, the students will explore online shopping platforms to estimate how much their final cost would be. BIG IDEA: Predicting the overall costs.
MATHEMATICAL LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Operations with decimals
Calculating percentages (sales tax, discounts, etc)
Estimation
Budgeting and financial literacy
ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS
Watching and Recording, Connecting Ideas, Planning and Recording: Using local online shopping flyers allows for price and quantity comparison. This is useful to determine an appropriate budget and estimated costs.
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
Student Handout: What's the Bottom Line?
Outline
TEACHER NOTES - INTRODUCTION:
The biggest factor for Parts 2 and 3 are the number of servings the students intend on making. For simplicity sake, a standard amount can be recommended (ie: 20 servings). This can be modified according to predicted sales, type of product, etc. In this session, students will estimate the approximate cost per serving and determine an adequate price to market their items. Factors such as complexity, prep work (ie: chopping), packaging costs, etc. are worth discussing and noting. How would these affect the final selling (market) price? BIG IDEA: Market and execute the final product for sale!
MATHEMATICAL LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Division with decimals
Estimation
Budgeting and financial literacy
ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS
Determine the number of servings able to make using the quantities and ingredients from Part 2.
Determine the cost for additional items (such as materials, supplies, etc) not listed on the shopping list. NOTE: This would be a good discussion prompt before the class.
Take the TOTAL COST ($) and divided it by the total servings.
Record the base cost ($) of each serving
Brainstorm ideas to reflect “Response Questions”
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
Student Handout: Price it Out!
Part 4: Reflection- Why choices?
Assessing ethical and economical factors that impact the final decisions
Outline
TEACHER NOTES - INTRODUCTION:
Throughout this series, students are able to explore and create a food product of their own. They have choices to choose and source their raw ingredients and understand the implications of how it would affect the final cost of their product. This part can be the final reflective piece once their product has been created and sold.
MATHEMATICAL LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Budgeting and financial literacy
ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS
Go through the planning document and note key points about the four parts of this series (Planning, Predicting, Execution, and Reflection)
Reflect individually on the choices that were made to create a product.
SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL
Student Handout: Why Choices?
Sample Student Handouts and Downloadable Packages
Samples of Student Handouts available for this series
Preserves original formatting
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