Grade
1

Math in Our World: The Spice Rack

Tyler and his dad make salad together.
The spice rack has 3 rows for jars of spices. Each row can fit 8 jars. The top row has 8 jars. The middle row has 2 jars. The bottom row has 5 jars.

Tyler and his dad love to cook together.
They always use a lot of spices in their meals. Yum!
They keep their favorite jars of spice on this spice rack.

  1. What do you notice? What do you wonder?
  2. Show or tell what you know about the jars of spices. Use pictures, numbers, or math words.
  3. What math questions can you ask about the jars of spice? Answer all the questions you can!
  • Think about how many jars of spices are on each shelf.
  • Then think about how many jars there are in all.
    Combining 2 shelves to make a group of 10 jars might help.
  • How can you write an equation that matches the jars on the spice rack?
  • Show your work to someone else, and explain your thinking. Did they understand?
  • Ask whether they have any other questions you can answer!

Find some shelves in your home with spices, cans of food, or other similar objects.
Make up your own story problem with the results and share it with us!

Printable Version

Google doc for printing and copying

Seesaw Version

Activity for the Seesaw platform

Reference for Educators

Sample problems and solutions