Grade-Schoolers Eat Up Math Lessons

All Trevor Strasser wanted was a shrimp salad, hamburger and French fries.

Then Trevor, 8, got the bill: $11.50.

After a brief discussion, Trevor convinced the cashier, classmate Becky Ehrlich, 8, that she had taken him for a ride on the price of the fries.

“You ripped me off,” Trevor said.

‘You didn’t show me the price on the menu,” replied Becky, before returning him the 50-cent overcharge.

In the real world the situation might have gotten ugly, but in Connie Hopkins’ classroom it’s all just part of the lesson.

Hopkins, who teaches a combination first- and second-grade class at Township Elementary School, created the lesson to teach math using real-life scenarios.

In the exercise called Hamburger Hut, the students learned to add up prices, return change and order food within their budget.

“I have always tried to connect the classroom with the outside world so the kids have a purpose in learning things,” Hopkins said.

In the next part of the lesson, called Pizza Palace, students learn about fractions by putting together different sizes of pizza slices.

Elementary school teachers typically rely on a $200 budget to buy classroom supplies. But Hopkins received a $250 supplement from the Simi Valley Education Foundation to buy supplies for this program.

The Education Foundation holds fund-raisers to help teachers purchase supplies for creative classroom activities.

“It really helps fill a gap,” said Tom Zanic, vice president of the foundation. “We would like to have tons more applications and tons more money to fund them.”