Santa's Cookie Crisis

In this festive lesson, you will receive an urgent mission from Santa to sequence the steps for making his famous Christmas cookies. Break down the process into simple instructions like MIX, ROLL, CUT, BAKE, and EAT. Practice by dragging and dropping steps in order, acting them out, and completing a cut-and-stick worksheet to master sequencing skills.

Learning Goals Learning Outcomes Teacher Notes

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1 Introduction
2 Santa's Coding Crisis!
3 Santa's Cookies
4 The Secret recipe (The Algorithm)
5 The Cookie Algorithm (Drag and Drop Correct Order)

1 - Introduction

Today the students will be working on their sequencing with a festive Christmas lesson.

The class will be given an urgent, secret mission from the North Pole this morning. Their sequencing skills are needed to help Santa make his famous, delicious Christmas Cookies!

2 - Santa's Coding Crisis!

Briefly remind the students of the scenario (Santa's messy kitchen or mixed-up instructions). Emphasize that without the right order, the result is chaos.

3 - Santa's Cookies

Recap that Santa is getting too confused because of all the steps involved in making Cookies and he keeps getting mixed up!

We need to act as good Coders and break down the big job (making cookies) into small, simple, and manageable instructions.

Ask the students if they have ever prepared any food themselves at home (things like sandwiches or simple snacks are perfect). Have the students explain as easily as they can how they are made.

Get the students to explain the process of making butter (& possibly jam) sandwiches to practice their sequencing skills.

4 - The Secret recipe (The Algorithm)

Explain that for Santa's Cookies, we need to use his secret recipe. Emphasise that it is really important that Santa does all the steps in the right order!

Introduce the five "Code Step" cards (MIX, ROLL, CUT, BAKE, EAT) as the tools for the algorithm.

5 - The Cookie Algorithm (Drag and Drop Correct Order)

Re-enforce the correct order with the students:

MIX! Picture of a bowl and whisk.
ROLL!Picture of dough and a rolling pin.
CUT!Picture of a cookie cutter.
BAKE!Picture of a cookie sheet going into the oven.
EAT!Picture of a decorated cookie.

Play the following drag and drop game with your students!

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Santa's Cookie Crisis