We all know that snack and lunch are two of our students' favorite "subjects". Bring math back into the foreground with food! Use bags of candy or dried fruit to sort by color and develop counting skills, demonstrate the equal parts in a fraction lesson with cookies or granola bars, or measure a snack mix with 1/4, 1/3, and 1/2 cup measures. Jellybeans or a small bag of fruit snacks can also provide an opportunity for students to complete a tasty circle graph.
Forget homework; try giving out "lunchwork" assignments. What percentage of those at your table brought their lunches today? If you shared your brownie with three other people (and you were fair), what fraction of the whole brownie did each person get? And slightly more depressing, students can estimate how many pounds of apples or carrots were thrown away during the lunch hour.
Another favorite is the time-honored survey. What is your favorite pizza topping, pepperoni or sausage? What's your favorite vegetable, carrots or spinach? Fractions, decimals, percentages, and graphing - food is a sure way to get your whole class engaged in their favorite subjects.