Curbside - Free Classroom Simulation

Math (Ratios & Proportions) Grades 6-7 6 roles 45 min 1 class period

A weekend street festival. Four to six food trucks compete for the same hungry crowd. Day 1 starts with one truck priced together on the projector, then every crew prices its own truck. Day 2 has no walkthrough and is split into a lunch rush and a dinner rush with a two-minute repricing window in between.

Run a food truck at a street festival where every day ends at the Payout Line - after the festival's cut you have to take home one and a half times what a serving costs you. Scale the recipe, buy at the best true price per pound, and do the percent move that puts your price exactly where it has to be.

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Class Time

46 minutes

Designed For

1 class period

Roles

6 roles

Class Sizes

Core (4 trucks), Standard (5 trucks), Full (6 trucks)

Learning Objectives

4 objectives

Standards

7 standards aligned

Where This Fits in Your Curriculum

Drop this into the middle of the 6th or 7th grade ratios and proportional relationships unit, once students can build a ratio table and find a unit rate but before they have had much practice with backward percents. They do not need algebra or cross-multiplication - every calculation is a scale factor, a unit price, or a percent, and a calculator is fine. The whole game turns on one move: your cost times one and a half, then divided by what you keep after the festival's cut. Miss it and you eat the booth fee in front of the class; hit it and you get it back. It serves regular grade 6-7 math, pre-algebra, and any teacher who wants a financial-literacy hook that is still standards-aligned.

What Students Will Learn

Solve a multi-step percent problem backward: set a target, then divide by what you keep to find the price that hits it (7.RP.A.3).
Compare unit prices per pound across pack sizes, delivery fees, and minimum orders to buy at the lowest true cost (6.RP.A.2-3, 7.RP.A.1).
Scale a recipe to a target batch using a ratio table and a non-integer scale factor (7.RP.A.1-2).
Read a published rate table (servings sold per 100 customers) and use it to turn a price into an expected batch (6.RP.A.3).

Cases Included

CCSS.MATH.6.RP.A.1 - Understand the concept of a ratio and use ratio language to describe a relationship between two quantities.
CCSS.MATH.6.RP.A.2 - Understand the concept of a unit rate a/b associated with a ratio a:b.
CCSS.MATH.6.RP.A.3 - Use ratio and rate reasoning to solve problems, including unit pricing and finding a percent of a quantity.
CCSS.MATH.7.RP.A.1 - Compute unit rates associated with ratios of fractions.
CCSS.MATH.7.RP.A.2 - Recognize and represent proportional relationships between quantities.
CCSS.MATH.7.RP.A.3 - Use proportional relationships to solve multistep ratio and percent problems (markup, markdown, commission, fees).
CCSS.MATH.7.EE.B.3 - Solve multi-step real-life problems posed with positive and negative rational numbers.

Social & Emotional Learning (CASEL)

Aligned to the CASEL framework's core competencies. These are the SEL skills students actively practice while playing.

Responsible Decision-Making The Payout Line is a public, same-day standard. Teams choose a price knowing exactly what it has to clear, and the booth fee comes back or does not in front of the whole class.
Relationship Skills The Cashier's planned cost depends on what the Buyer will actually buy, and the Chef's batch depends on the Cashier's price - one wrong handoff is visible to the whole crew in the lunch rush.

Flexible Class Sizes

Core (4 trucks)

The minimum for a real market. Four trucks means every sold-out truck's walked customers redistribute visibly.

Standard (5 trucks)

The tuned default. Attendance divides to about 136-192 per truck before the menu modifier - batch sizes that force non-integer scale factors.

Full (6 trucks)

For classes over 24. Six menus, six key-ingredient rates, six different correct prices from one published rule.

How the Game Plays Out

Turn 1: Day 1

Opening Day - Guided

"If the coupon takes 20% off at the register, what do you have to charge so you still take home one and a half times your cost?"

Turn 2: Day 2

The Festival's Cut - Lunch and Dinner

"The festival keeps 20% of everything you ring up. What do you have to charge so that what is LEFT is one and a half times your cost?"

Roles Your Students Will Play

Click any role to see their background and what they are trying to accomplish.

Loaded Fries

Your truck sells loaded fries. Your signature recipe serves 8 and calls for 1 1/2 lb of cheese blend, 6 lb of potatoes, 1 lb of bacon, and 2 cups of scallions. Cheap ingredients, thin margins, and a stall on every corner - you win on volume or not at all.

Recipe serves 8. Key ingredient: cheese blend, 0.1875 lb per serving - the lowest rate at the festival, so your cost per serving is the lowest and your Payout Line is the lowest.

Goals

Compute your own planned cost per serving
Do the percent move that clears today's Payout Line
Buy at the best true price per pound

Chicken Shawarma

Your truck sells chicken shawarma. Your signature recipe serves 8 and calls for 2 lb of marinated chicken, 8 flatbreads, 1 1/2 cups of garlic sauce, and 1 lb of pickled turnips. Name your brand and work the crowd.

Recipe serves 8. Key ingredient: marinated chicken, 0.25 lb per serving.

Goals

Compute your own planned cost per serving
Do the percent move that clears today's Payout Line
Buy at the best true price per pound

Birria Tacos

Your truck sells birria tacos with consomme for dipping. Your signature recipe serves 8 and calls for 2 1/2 lb of braised beef, 24 tortillas, 1 1/2 lb of cheese, and 4 cups of consomme. Name your brand and work the crowd.

Recipe serves 8. Key ingredient: braised beef, 0.3125 lb per serving. Cheese is a fractional rate: 1 1/2 lb per 8 servings.

Goals

Compute your own planned cost per serving
Do the percent move that clears today's Payout Line
Buy at the best true price per pound

Pulled Pork

Your truck sells pulled pork sandwiches. Your signature recipe serves 8 and calls for 3 lb of pulled pork, 8 rolls, 2 cups of slaw, and 1 1/2 cups of sauce. Name your brand and work the crowd.

Recipe serves 8. Key ingredient: pulled pork, 0.375 lb per serving.

Goals

Compute your own planned cost per serving
Do the percent move that clears today's Payout Line
Buy at the best true price per pound

Brisket Plates

Your truck sells smoked brisket plates. Your signature recipe serves 8 and calls for 3 1/2 lb of smoked brisket, 2 lb of beans, 3 cups of pickles, and 8 slices of white bread. Name your brand and work the crowd.

Recipe serves 8. Key ingredient: smoked brisket, 0.4375 lb per serving - a high rate, so your cost per serving is high and your Payout Line is high.

Goals

Compute your own planned cost per serving
Do the percent move that clears today's Payout Line
Buy at the best true price per pound

Shrimp Boil Cups

Your truck sells shrimp boil cups. Your signature recipe serves 8 and calls for 4 lb of gulf shrimp, 4 lb of red potatoes, 8 ears of corn, and 1 lb of andouille. The richest plate on the midway: half a pound of shrimp in every cup.

Recipe serves 8. Key ingredient: gulf shrimp, 0.5 lb per serving - the highest rate at the festival. Your Payout Line is the highest number on the midway, so nobody else's price will clear it.

Goals

Compute your own planned cost per serving
Do the percent move that clears today's Payout Line
Buy at the best true price per pound

Hand Each Student Their Own Sheet

One click on the teacher dashboard prints a dossier for every role - background, goals, key facts, and their confidential briefing - plus the primary-source packet and a vocabulary sheet. Print them, or save as PDF, so each student reads their role on paper instead of huddling around one screen. The app still runs the votes and the action; the paper just carries the reading.

Primary Sources

Every role includes real historical documents. Students read them because they need the information to make their case.

Key Terms Students Will Learn

unit rateunit priceratioratio tablescale factorproportionmarkupPayout Linemarginbreak-evencommissiondiscountbackward percentfeeminimum orderrevenueprofitspoilagedemandestimate

After the Game: Debrief Questions

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