Reading recipes
In this lesson, students practice reading and interpreting recipes. After reading through one recipe as a class, the students will work independently on other recipe passages for practice.
A lesson plan for grade 4 English Language Arts
Provided by UNC Libraries / Southern Historical Collection
Students will practice reading comprehension skills by reading recipes from the Rookie Cookie’s Goodies Mini Page and answering questions. This can be used to teach students how to read a recipe or may simply be used as a bell ringer activity. There are four recipe handouts included.
Learning outcomes
Students will:
- learn how to read a recipe.
- determine the main idea of a text.
- make inferences from a text.
Teacher planning
Time required
One hour for a full lesson
Materials/Resources
- Computer with internet connected to a multimedia projector
- Access to the Rookie cookie’s Goodies Mini Page
- Copies of the recipe reading passages of your choosing (listed below) — one per student
Handouts
Activities
- To prepare students, first explain that they will be reading recipes to answer reading questions.
- Explain to students that before they begin working on their own, they will practice reading a recipe as a class.
- Ask students if they have ever read a recipe. If they have not, go to step four. If yes, ask what a recipe includes, and write their answers on the board (e.g., ingredients, directions, oven temperature, etc.). Explain to students that you will now look at a recipe and see if they missed anything.
- Project page one of the Rookie cookie’s Goodies Mini Page, and direct students’ attention to the “Cheese Tea Biscuits” recipe.
- Have students read aloud the different sections of the recipe.
- Ask students to point out the different parts of the recipe and to describe what information these parts provide. If you have a whiteboard, you may ask students to write the names of the parts on the board that they came up with (e.g., ingredients, directions, number of servings, etc.). It is not necessary for the students to know exact vocabulary or terms for parts of the recipe, just that they know where to find the information.
- Project one of the recipe reading passages. Have student volunteers read the recipe. Go over the questions together and answer any questions.
- Pass out copies of the worksheet(s) you would like your students to work on. Instruct students to begin working. Circulate around the room to monitor and assist students as necessary.
Assessment
Check that students answer the questions on the handout correctly.
Critical vocabulary
- ingredients
- food items needed to make the recipe
- serving size
- how many people the recipe will feed
Supplemental information
- EOG Reading Sample Items
- This fourth grade reading sample provides extra practice with reading recipes.
Comments
These activities have been specifically designed to help prepare students for North Carolina’s fourth grade EOG test.
- Common Core State Standards
- English Language Arts (2010)
Reading: Informational Text
- Grade 4
- 4.RIT.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
- 4.RIT.3 Explain events, procedures, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text, including what happened and why, based on specific information in the text.
- Grade 4
- English Language Arts (2010)
