Chocolate Milk on a Friday

Last Friday, I spoiled my kids. I'm not sure they realized that I almost abandoned the plan because they were struggling to stay focused during the last period of a Friday during a week in which they had spent at least 9 hours taking standardized tests, but I thought "eh… why not?"

Setting the Scene

Its Algebra I, I had just commuted from a very loooong day (and week) teaching at my 6-7^th grade school, and I walked into the high school carrying 2 grocery bags full of milk, Hershey's syrup*, and a 1.5 gallon Rubbermaid container. On the way in, I passed the principal (who I haven't met yet because my Algebra class was added 2 weeks into the school year) and she seemed confused. I'm not sure if it was the milk or the fact that my jacket was covering my ID badge and I look like a 16 year old up to no good. But I smiled and pretended like I was supposed to be there, and we still haven't met.

Friday's lesson was on ratios, but because I have 8^th grade advanced kids, I thought I could probably kill ratios and proportions in one day. Silly me, Trix are for kids! The ratio portion went OK, but not to where I felt like we could a.) do the unit conversions necessary for my plan, and b.) knock out proportions in the same day. So instead, while I mentally debated the benefit of ending class 20 minutes early to make chocolate milk, I realized that the 2 gallons of milk I had just bought would only go to waste, so I decided that I would not disappoint.

I busted out the milk, chocolate, and cups and laid out the ground rules. They must listen carefully to the questions I asked, and answer even more carefully if they wanted a treat. I wanted to use this experiment as a springboard for the discussion on Monday. And this was 100% an experiment. Last time I made chocolate milk, my students wouldn't drink any because I bought skim milk. Also, the ratio of chocolate to milk for glass using Nesquik is not equivalent to the ratio for a gallon.

Making Some Milk… And breaching the health code in a million ways I'm sure…

Hershey's calls for 2tbsp of syrup for 8oz of cold milk. Ok, but I want a gallon. Convert the units, and… Boom! 16oz of syrup for 1 gallon of milk. And I will say, Hershey's has got it spot on. In the words of one of my kids (on Monday) "That was the best chocolate milk I've ever had!"

 

Bonus: They knew exactly what we did on Friday afternoon and we continued right where we left off on Monday, using Dan Meyer's "How many fish are in the lake?". Everybody wins.