February 2024

Fortune Cookie Mystery

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Academic Standards

Reading Objective:

Students will identify steps used in a factory to make fortune cookies that have a fortune inside. They will also read about fortunes and write their own.

Next Generation Science Standards:

K-2-ETS1: Engineering Design

Vocabulary:

batter, fortune, rod

Check comprehension and inspire discussion.

 

1. How does the fortune cookie look when it first cooks on the machine?
(round)

2. When the cookie is still hot, what is it like?
(soft)

3. What happens when the cookie cools?
(It gets hard.)

4. Think of a fortune for a friend! Write or draw it here.
(Answers will vary.)

 Go online to print or project the Reading Checkpoint.

  • Kevin, who runs the fortune cookie factory, writes the fortunes himself. He started helping his mom there when he was 9.
  • He gets ideas for fortunes by listening to people talk. When he hears something good, he tries to turn it into a fortune.
  • He has his fortunes printed out. He now has about 1,000 different fortunes.

Materials: Pencils, kid scissors, markers, paper, tape and/or glue, copies of the skill sheet

Overview: Students will identify steps used in a factory to make fortune cookies that have a fortune inside. They will also read about fortunes and write their own.

Directions:

  1. Remind kids that the fortune cookie factory makes cookies that are folded and bent into a shape that holds the fortune.
  2. Tell kids that they will first write a fortune for themselves or someone they care about.
  3. Then they’ll fold paper (instead of a cookie) into a package, envelope, or box to hold their fortune.
  4. Remind students that as they tackle this challenge, they’ll be acting like engineers. Engineers make things to solve problems. Their problem is that they need a container to keep their fortune secret until someone opens it.
  5. If it takes several tries to make a container that works, that’s OK! Engineers try different approaches until they find a solution.
  6. Make sure kids slip in the fortune before they seal the container. They can decorate too! Then they can give it to someone or keep it for themselves.