This Fortune Cookie Lesson & Lab pack a big punch when it comes to addressing a variety of standards! For one, it teaches about the history and culture of the food. Second, it focuses on writing and math as students have to write fortunes following certain criteria and they must measure with a ruler and protractor to create the correct sizes for fortune strips and fortune cookies. Finally, it addresses food preparation standards with a very fun, engaging and hands-on lab!
Set
- Write several “fortunes” on the board but don’t tell students they are sayings in fortune cookies. Ask students what they think are, what they have in common and what they might have to do with food. (You might get some interesting answers!)
- Introduce students to fortune cookies and assign them the Newsela article titled, “The Origins of the Fortune Cookie in the U.S.” and have them answer the corresponding questions. Discuss.
Materials
- Paper for Fortune Strips
- Play-doh (optional)
- Parchment Paper
- Rulers & Protractors
- Lab Supplies
Activities
- After students have read the article have them review the criteria used to write fortunes for the cookies and write 5 of their own based on it. Students will have plenty of fortunes to choose from when they prepare the actual strips for the lab.
- Place students in their cooking groups and have them preview and peer edit the sayings to be sure they follow the criteria before submitting for a grade. When sayings have been approved by you, the teacher, ask them to select their best 12 to use in the lab.
- If you’re students are like mine, they have trouble reading a ruler! This activity gives them practice doing just that as they must create their fortune cookie strips out of paper using a ruler and the following dimensions: 3 1/2 ” long by 1/4 in wide. After the strips are cut, students write their 12 selected messages or fortunes on each one and place them in a labeled envelope. I hold them until the lab.
- Next students must measure and draw 3 circles that are 3 inches in diameter and 4 inches apart onto parchment paper that fits on their cookie sheets. This is where a ruler and protractor come in handy!
- Students review their recipe by completing the pre-lab questions. After we go over the answers and discuss questions students may have, they fill out their jobs.
- Finally, pass out play-doh and ask students to make a very thin, flat circle (3 inches in diameter) that represents a “baked fortune cookie”. With their pencils, they practice rolling the “fortune” into the cookie and then pressing it together as they “hang” it over a glass. This will help prepare them for what they will be doing in the lab.
- Once the fortune cookies are prepared, I have groups swap fortune cookies so they don’t get their own fortune messages! Students enjoy not only eating the cookies, but reading the fortunes inside!
Attachments
- The Origins of Fortune Cookies in the US_Article (PDF)
- The Origins of Fortune Cookies in the US_Questions & Fortune Writing (PDF)
- Fortune Cookie Recipe
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Photo by Meritt Thomas on Unsplash
