Banana Bread Army
by Ms. Bilovsky’s class at Dayton Heights Elementary
may be sung to the tune of Seven Nation Army by Jack White; note we are unable to record our own
version for copyright reasons but are embedding a link to a karaoke version on YouTube.
I love banana bread, I was looking up a recipe
But in the book I read, the recipe was too complicated for me
I had to measure fractions of a cup for the ingredients
But the halves and the quarters and the eighths didn’t make much sense
Then I called my friend, she said said some fractions are equivalent
You measure with a cup, two eighths are the same as a quarter you see
Or you can add ‘em up, two eighths plus a half will get you quarters three
Eight eighths, four quarters, or two halves will make a whole
So measure those ingredients and put ‘em in a mixing bowl
Do the same with your spoons and it’s nearly time to rock and roll
Heat the oven up, get help if you need it from your mom or dad
Be sure to stir it up, gonna make the best banana bread you ever had
There are fractions of weight and volume when you learn to cook
Even fractions on a stick of butter if you take a look
But with equivalent fractions, you can do the whole cookbook!
Notes
Ms. B's students were working on fractions, especially equivalent fractions. A good way to write a math song is to make a story problem, so we imagined a scenario where one is baking banana bread from a recipe but some of the measuring tools are missing. If you have no full-size measuring cup, for example, can you make a cup using quarter cups? Of course you can, if you know a little about equivalent fractions.
Here are some academic standards from the Common Core addressed by this song:
Third Grade
CCM.3.NF.3. Explain equivalence of fractions in special cases, and compare fractions by reasoning about their size.
a. Understand two fractions as equivalent (equal) if they are the same size, or the same point on a number line.
b. Recognize and generate simple equivalent fractions, e.g., 1/2 = 2/4, 4/6 = 2/3. Explain why the fractions are equivalent, e.g., by using a visual fraction model.
c. Express whole numbers as fractions, and recognize fractions that are equivalent to whole numbers. Examples: Express 3 in the form 3 = 3/1; recognize that 6/1 = 6; locate 4/4 and 1 at the same point of a number line diagram.
Fourth Grade
CCM.3.NF.3. Understand a fraction a/b with a > 1 as a sum of fractions 1/b.
a. Understand addition and subtraction of fractions as joining and
separating parts referring to the same whole.
b. Decompose a fraction into a sum of fractions with the
same denominator in more than one way, recording each decomposition by an equation. Justify decompositions, e.g., by using a visual fraction model. Examples: 3/8 = 1/8 + 1/8 + 1/8 ; 3/8 = 1/8 + 2/8 ; 2 1/8 = 1 + 1 + 1/8 = 8/8 + 8/8 + 1/8.
Recipe: (www.simplyrecipes.com)
3 very ripemedium-size bananas (or 2 large), peeled
1/3 cup melted butter
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup sugar (1/2 cup if you would like it less sweet, 1 cup if more sweet)
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C), and butter a 4x8-inch loaf pan.
2. In a mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork until completely smooth. Stir the melted butter into the mashed bananas.
3. Mix in the baking soda and salt. Stir in the sugar, beaten egg, and vanilla extract. Mix in the flour.
4. Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan. Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour at 350°F (175°C), or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
5. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for a few minutes. Then remove the banana bread from the pan and let cool completely before serving. Slice and serve. (A bread knife helps to make slices that aren't crumbly.)
chords: Em, C, B, A (a kazoo or three can play the power chord line between verses nicely)