Fifth-grade mathematicians take charge of their own food truck businesses, managing wholesale inventory expenses, order receipts, and cash flow. Through place-value modeling and real-world budgeting, students master estimating, adding, and subtracting decimals to hundredths.
Name your eatery and select your signature menu: Taco Rig, Burger Bus, or Crepe Cart.
2
Wholesale Ledger
Estimate first! Then calculate the exact sum of wholesale ingredient supplies to the hundredths.
3
Calculate Profit
Total your lunch receipts. Subtract total expenses from total revenue to find your Net Profit!
Entrepreneur Pro-Tip: Double-check decimal alignment with your partner before submitting your books!
Food Truck Rally Slide 6 of 7
Financial Audit & Reflection
Debrief
Closing Debrief: The Accountant's Mindset
Reflection Prompt 1
Why is an estimation like "about $40" helpful before you begin adding complex prices like $14.85 + $23.65?
Reflection Prompt 2
When you subtract $15.75 from $50.00, what physical money trades are happening during regrouping?
Ready for the Cool Down Exit Ticket!
Show your independent mastery of decimal addition and subtraction.
Food Truck Rally Slide 7 of 7
Your truck started the morning with a bank envelope containing $100.00 in cash. You paid your supplier in full for your Total Wholesale Expense from Page 1. How much cash remains in your register?
The lunch crowd arrives! Your order POS machine logged the following three meal service ticket totals:
Ticket 1 (Early Rush)
$38.45
Ticket 2 (Peak Noon)
$64.80
Ticket 3 (Afternoon Walk-Ups)
$42.75
Calculate Total Revenue (Ticket 1 + 2 + 3):
Total Food Truck Revenue
$
Total money brought in from customers
Step C: Final Business Audit — Net Profit
Net Profit = Total Revenue − Wholesale Expenses
Total Revenue
$ _________
− Wholesale Expenses
$ _________
Today's Net Profit
$
Show your subtraction algorithm below to prove your Net Profit:
Entrepreneur Reflection: If you accidentally aligned Ticket 2 ($64.80) as $64.8 and shifted it one place value to the right during addition, would your profits look higher or lower than they really are? Why?
Question:"If you misaligned Ticket 2 ($64.80) as $64.8 and shifted it right, what happens?" Exemplar Answer: If shifted right, $64.80 would be treated as $6.48 (dividing by 10), which would drastically undercount revenue by $58.32, making the food truck's profits look much lower than they actually were. Alternatively, if 8 tenths is misaligned into the hundredths column, the business loses $0.72 of recorded income.
Problem 4: Error Analysis (2 Points) 1 pt identifies error, 1 pt correct value
Mistake: The intern right-justified the digits and added 5 tenths ($0.5) to 5 hundredths ($0.05). They treated $12.5 as $12.05. Correction: Annex a zero to write $12.50. Then $12.50 + $4.35 = $16.85 (not $16.40).
Diagnostic Scoring & Next Instructional Steps
Score 9–10: Mastery
Ready for decimal multiplication (5.NBT.B.7) and multi-step profit margins.
Score 7–8: Developing
Minor regrouping slip in Question 2 or 3. Provide 5-minute warm-up on subtracting across zeros.
Score ≤ 6: Needs Support
Misaligned decimal places or subtracted smaller from larger. Target with physical currency tiles.
Food Truck Rally Answer Key • Cool Down Solutions Page 2 of 2
