6th Grade Math Review Project – Middle School Math PBL – Fractions & Decimals

The Cupcake Shop Math Project is a 6th grade math review project in which students run a cupcake shop. They scale secret recipes, calculate profit margins and solve inequalities about the business.

It is a real-world simulation, and it is what I hand students who ask when they are ever going to use this. The math is demanding from start to finish, and students have to work beyond the textbook to do it.

How it works

Students work in teams of three and take on roles to manage a menu, scale recipes and handle inventory. The work moves from basic decimal operations to complex fraction scaling to writing and solving algebraic equations, in three phases:

• Phase 1: The Launch. Menu design and decimal operations.
• Phase 2: The Kitchen. Scaling recipes using fraction multiplication and division.
• Phase 3: The Business. Writing and solving equations and inequalities based on profit and expenses.

What’s included

• Group booklets
• Individual student booklets
• Recipe cards
• Group directions
• Warm-ups
• Step-by-step teacher guide

I’ve done the heavy lifting on the materials. You print and prep, and the teams do the work.

Good to know

The project is standards aligned for 5th, 6th and 7th grade students.

Quick facts

• Skill: decimal operations, multiplying and dividing fractions, equations and inequalities
• Grades: 6–8
• CCSS: 5.NBT.B.7, 5.NF.B.4, 6.NS.B.3, 6.EE.B.6, 6.EE.B.7, 7.EE.B.4
• Answer key: included

Bundles and related resources

The Cupcake Shop is included in the 7th Grade Math Curriculum Resources Mega Bundle. For a holiday version of the project, see The Christmas Cookie Shop.

Free resources

Get my free Warm Up Slides templates.

Terms of use

By purchasing this product, you own a license for one teacher only for personal use in their own classroom. Licenses are non-transferable and therefore can not be passed from one teacher to another. If the teacher who purchased this license leaves the classroom or changes schools, the license and materials leave with that teacher. No part of this resource is to be shared with colleagues or used by an entire team, grade level, school or district without purchasing the correct number of licenses. If you are a coach, principal or district interested in transferable licenses that would accommodate yearly staff changes, please contact me for a transferable license quote at lindsay@beyondtheworksheet.com.

© Beyond the Worksheet. Please note – all material included in this resource belongs to Beyond the Worksheet Inc. By purchasing, you have a license to use the material but you do not own the material. You may not upload any portion of this resource to the internet in any format, including school/personal websites or network drives unless the site is password protected and can only be accessed by students, not other teachers or anyone else on the internet.