The OREO Challenge

Jennifer Wagner, the creator of the jenuinetech.com website, has brought a smile to our classroom once again. I can't think of a better way to learn about averages than to have a fun, hands-on activity to explore the concept. The OREO Challenge was truly OUR REALLY EXCITING ONLINE CHALLENGE. We predicted. estimated, stacked, counted, and tallied our cookies one fun afternoon in October. Make sure you go to JenuineTechn's site to see all of the other JenuineTech projects Ms. Wagner has planned.

The Project: What We Did

First we made predictions about how many cookies we can stack, one at a time, before they tumble. This led to a discussion about what exactly a tumble is and what it looks like. As stated in the TechnoSpud directions, a tumble is when three or more cookies fall from a tower. It was stressed that the cookie towers could not be supported by anything. The towers had to be free-standing. Once a cookie is placed on the tower and the student's hand releases the cookie, no adjustments can be made to the cookie. All students agreed to this.

Each student predicted the height of their tower and the number of cookies in the large box of Oreo Cookies we were using for the investigation. We talked about how the word "prediction" is a math term that means about the same as the science word "hypothesis". We concluded that both words mean "an educated guess". After all predictions were made and recorded, we divided into teams and began stacking.

The instructions can be found on the JenuineTech website.

paper plate	pencil
Oreo cookies	recording sheet

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Let The Fun Begin!

Working in teams of 4 or 5, students took turns stacking Oreo cookies, one at a time until the cookies tumbled. No adjustments were allowed and all towers were free-standing without any kind of support or assistance.

Everyone had two attempts to see how high their tower could be stacked. With careful observation of others' attempts, students made strategic adjustments prior to their second turn. Most students stacked slower and tried to center their cookies more carefully on their second attempt.

When The Dust Settled

Estimating and stacking were lots of fun! Eating the Oreo cookies was also great! After we cleaned up, it was time to use our data to check our predictions. One at a time, students announced how many Oreo cookies they actually stacked. Kobe predicted he would stack 10 and he did! Way to go Kobe!

By the Numbers

As a class, we compiled all of our data into one graph. There were two columns for each participant, guess and actual. We only recorded the best guess and stack for each person. The average estimation was 19 cookies. We actually stacked an average of 20 cookies! We were really close! Here's our data:

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We Were Inspired to Write!

Not only was this a great math and science lesson, but we also wrote some great stories about this experience.

The Great OREO Challenge of 2007

by Ethan I guessed 11 and really did 20.  I worked with Kobe, Josie, and Haylie.  You can twist the Oreo and lick it.  Then you can eat them. If you aren't careful, you can choke on an Oreo.		by Kobe I had a group of five.  I stacked ten cookies. I thought I would stack ten.
	by Haylie On Thursday, Chad stacked 25.  I stacked 24 Oreos.  Bryce stacked 25.  I worked with Josie.  I worked with Mark.  I worked with Ethan.  I worked with Kobe.	by Kenneth The OREO Challenge was fun.  Could we do it again?  May we?  I wish we could.
by Anthony On Thursday we had an Oreo contest with partners.  The partners were Anthony, Chad, Dave, and Kenneth.  Then we got to eat the Oreos.	by Dave I like the OREO Challenge because it was fun.  I stacked nine Oreos and it fell down.  I wanted to stack seven but I stacked more.  I was in Chad, Anthony, and Kenneth's group.
	by Bryce I was going to find my partner.  I worked with Logan, Matt, Erik, and Kalob.  I liked stacking Oreos.  It was fun because I stacked 25 Oreos.  Oh, and Logan stacked 12.  Dave stacked 14.  Erik stacked 11.	by Erik Me and Matt, Logan, and Bryce, and Kalob did the OREO Challenge.  We stacked Oreos on a piece of paper.  We counted them.  I did it two times and I did 11 and 19.  We got to eat some.
by Matt I liked the OREO Challenge.  That was fun.  I liked stacking the Oreos.  I stacked 17 Oreos on my first try.  I got to eat the Oreos.  I'm not the only one that got to eat the Oreos.  My whole class got to eat Oreos.  I worked with Mark and Erik and I worked with Bryce.  They got to stack and eat Oreos with me.		by Kalob I like the Oreo Challenge.  I like to stack the Oreos with Matt, Erik, Mark, and Bryce.  In the box there were over 100 Oreos.
	by Logan It was exciting.  It was so fun.  Can we do it again?  Thanks for letting us use the OREO!
	by Nadia We did an Oreo Challenge with partners.  We stacked Oreos.  My partners were Aalani, Gabby, and Cali. It was so much fun. We got to eat the cookies at the end.	by Gabby Aalani stacked twenty two.  Cali stacked eighteen, Nadia stacked sixteen and I stacked eleven.  We got to eat four Oreos.  There were crumbs everywhere!
by Aalani We stacked Oreos and we were seeing if we can get the most stacked.  I got 22 but Mark had the most.	by Cali Did you know I stacked 18 and Nadia stacked 16 and Gabby stacked 11?  Aalani stacked 22.  Those are who I worked with.

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How to Eat an Oreo Cookie

	by Mark Open the bag. Put the Oreos on a plate. Open the Oreo in half. Dip the Oreo.	by Aalani You take the Oreo cookie off of the plate. You put it in front of your mouth. You munch it.
by Dave I take a plate. Then I get a glass. I get milk from the refrigerator. Then I get the cookies. Then I eat the cookies.		by Kalob Take the Oreo out of the dish. Put it in the milk. Put it in your mouth. Chew your Oreo.
by Logan Pick the cookie up. Put it in your mouth. Take a bite of the Oreo. Get another Oreo.	by Haylie Take it out of the cupboard. Put it on the table. Take it off the plate. Put it in your mouth.
	by Cali Take the Oreo off the plate. Dip it in the milk. Take it out of the milk. Open your mouth. Eat it.	by Kenneth Get a plate. Get the Oreo. Put the Oreo on the plate. Take the Oreo off the plate. Munch the Oreo.
by Kobe I take the top off. Then I eat it.		by Nadia You take it off the plate. Dip it in milk. Eat it. Swallow it.
by Ethan Pick it off the plate. Twist and lick. I am all done.	by Josie All you have to do is put it in your mouth. Chew it. That's all.
	by Bryce I get a plate out. I put the Oreo on the plate. I dip it in milk. I open my mouth. I put it in my mouth and chew it!	by Anthony You take the plate out of the cabinet. Then you take the milk out of the fridge. You take the Oreo out of the package. Then you bite it. Then you swallow.
by Erik Twist the Oreo. Open the Oreo. Lick it. Bite it.		by Nathalie Get a cookie from the pack. Dip the cookie in milk. Eat the cookie.
by Gabby You get the plate out. Then you get cookies and milk. Get the cookies out of the wrapper. Then you take off the bottom. Take the icing part off the cookie. Then you dip it in milk. Then you can eat it.	by Matt Get the glass. Get the milk. Pour the milk. Get the plate. Get the cookies. Get the cookie and dip it in the milk. Eat the cookie.
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Our Class Book

After reading the story, "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" by Laura Numeroff, we were inspired to write our own book. It's called "If You Give a Dragon an Oreo." Click here to see a slide show of our book.

Oreo Stories

If You Give a Fish an Oreo
by Gabby and Cali

If you give a fish an Oreo it will remind him of the color black. He will want to paint. He will want to paint himself. He will need to take a bath. Then he will want to buy new clothes. When he's shopping, the fish will see an ice cream shop and he'll want vanilla ice cream. It will remind him of a glass of milk. And if you give a fish some milk, he will want an Oreo cookie to go with it!

If You Give an Octopus an Oreo
by Dave and Kenneth

If you give an octopus an Oreo he will ask for a glass of milk. Then he will ask you to watch TV and eat some popcorn. The popcorn will make him remember he likes to play on the computer. When he's on the computer he'll see an Oreo game and he'll want an Oreo and if you give an octopus an Oreo he'll want some milk to go with it!

If You Give a Bunny an Oreo
by Nathalie and Haylie

If you give a bunny an Oreo he will ask for some milk. Then he will ask for a straw. The bunny will still be hungry so he will ask for a cake. The cake will make the bunny remember his birthday. He'll ask for a balloon. The balloon will fly away to the park where an ice cream man is selling snacks. He'll ask the man to sell him an Oreo and if you give a bunny an Oreo, he'll probably ask for some milk to go with it.

If you Give a Lion an Oreo
by Bryce and Kobe

If you give a lion an Oreo he'll want milk to go with it. Then he'll dip it in the milk and eat it. That will remind him of eating chips and salsa. He'll ask to wear a sombrero and a poncho. Then he'll want to dance to some Mexican music. When he stops dancing the lion will want a hot taco. He'll ask for some milk to cool his mouth. And if you give a lion some milk, he'll want an Oreo to go with it!

If You Give a Dolphin an Oreo
by Nadia and Kalob

If you give a dolphin an Oreo he will want some milk. He will also ask for a straw. The milk will make him want some chocolate chips. Then he will need a napkin because he is so messy. After he is cleaned up, the dolphin will still be hungry so he'll ask you for some popcorn. He'll ask for some butter to put on top. When he opens the refrigerator to get the butter he'll see the milk. And if he drinks the milk. He'll ask for an Oreo cookie to go with it!

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Wrapping it All Up

After all was said and done, everyone had a good time. This project was an individual challenge that involved teamwork to record and collect the data. Here are some of the vocabulary words and concepts we used or learned about thanks to the OREO Challenge:

• math- predicting, averaging, tallying, adding, comparing, and estimating
• science - hypothesis, experiment, data collection, verifying results, balance, and stability
• language arts - cause and effect, sequencing, the writing traits of ideas and organization

The final results of all the classes that participated have been posted. There were 642 classes that submitted results, representing 47 states across America, 3 Canadian provinces, and the countries of Scotland & Japan. With all of those classes, there were 13,138 stackers! The average tower was 18 cookies tall. All of the results are available on JenuineTech's web site.

We are honored to have been part of this! Did you know that Mrs. Kosmach's first grade class also participated? They had as much fun as we did! They even made a class book based on the story "It Looks Like Spilt Milk".

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