Grade
4

Math in Our World: Breakfast Plans

Sofia is making breakfast for her family. She wants to make lots of pancakes!

A chart shows how much mix and water Sofia needs to make different quantities of pancakes. 5 to 7 pancakes: 7-eighths cup of mix, 5-eighths cup of water. 10 to 14 pancakes: 1 and 3-fourths cups of mix, 1 and 1-fourth cups of water. 15 to 21 pancakes: 2 and 5-eighth cups of mix and 1, 7-eighth cups of water. 20 to 28 pancakes: 3 and 1-half cups of mix, 2 and 1-half cups of water.

Sofia read the directions on the box. She scooped out 5¼ cups of mix, added the water, and made the pancakes. They were delicious!

  1. Use pictures, models, or numbers to show what is happening
  2. What do you notice? What do you wonder?
  3. What mathematical questions can you ask about this situation? Answer all the questions you can!
  • With the amount of mix that she used, how many pancakes could she make?
  • How much does the pancake mix increase in each column?
  • How much does the water increase in each column?
  • Show your work to someone else, and explain your thinking. Did they understand?
  • Ask whether they have any other questions you can answer!

Try to find a recipe on a box, in a cookbook, in a magazine, or online. Think of questions that you could ask and answer about this recipe. How do the measurements change if you make 2 or 3 times the recipe?

Printable Version

Google doc for printing and copying

Reference for Educators

Sample problems and solutions