This unit seeks to connect learning outcomes across all five content strands: number, geometry, statistics, and measurement, with a particularly strong connection being made to the use of measurement and statistics.
The main focus of this unit is the measurement of breakfast biscuits by length and width, and by weight. Students find the weight needed to crush a breakfast biscuit, measure the amount of milk a breakfast biscuit absorbs, consider the 3-dimensional layout of the biscuits, and design a net for the packet. Each task involves basic metric units of measurement, cm, mL, g, and kg. Through these measurement tasks, students utilise their number knowledge and strategies.
Students also work with circles and ellipses (optional) which requires calculation of a suitable radius given dimensions of the breakfast biscuits. They gather data about a probability experiment and use methods for find all the possible outcomes for theoretical probability.
The learning opportunities in this unit can be differentiated by providing or removing support to students and by varying the task requirements. Ways to differentiate include:
The context for this unit is breakfast biscuits (i.e. Weetbix) which should be familiar to most students, as the biscuits are a popular cereal product in Aotearoa New Zealand. Ensure food is not wasted during investigations. ‘Used’ Weetbix should be eaten, not discarded. Some problems in the unit could be adapted for use with other packaged goods, such as boxes of non-edible items like tennis balls, toilet paper, firestarters, and stationery.
Te reo Māori kupu such as ine (measure), papatipu (mass), kītanga (capacity), roa (long, length), whānui (wide, width), paemahana (temperature), and ine-taumaha (scale) could be introduced in this unit and used throughout other mathematical learning.
Number of Biscuits | Crush Masses (kg) |
1 | 25, 30, 21, 28, 26 |
2 | 32, 37, 24, 33, 46 |
4 | 39, 43, 50, 47, 41 |
Dear families and whānau,
This week we have investigated the measurement of breakfast biscuits by length and width, and by weight. Ask your child to tell you about what they have found out and how they are going to present their information to the class.
Printed from https://meaningfulmaths.nt.edu.au/mmws/nz/resource/breakfast-biscuits at 8:49pm on the 26th February 2024