Bill and Ben, policemen

Notting Hill Carnival is Europe’s largest carnival.

It costs about £9 000 000 to

police this event. In this

time of recession

should we be spending all that money?

What do you think?

29 and 30 August 2010Costumes!

Food!

It earns us about

£95 000 000. I think it is worth the money. It brings the community together for some fun!

Music!

The parade begins on Great Western Road,

then winds its way along Chepstow Road,

on to Westbourne Grove and then Ladbroke Grove,

finishing at the junction with Kensal Road.

Rio de Janeiro!Rio de Janeiro!

This event dates back to 1723

Millions visit the greatest show on earth!

13-16 February 2010

Up2d8 mathsTeachers guideOn August the 29th and 30th the largest carnival in Europe was held at Notting Hill in London. Controversy frequently goes with it – should London tax payers fund this, particularly in these times of economic recession? That is always balanced with the amount of money spent by visitors which brings about £95 million in to the local economy. So it is a popular event these days, with few of the problems of the past.… continued on the next slide

… continued Before you work on these slides you may wish to familiarise yourself with the roots of the carnival and what happens at the event itself: The Notting Hill CarnivalMy Notting Hill CarnivalWikipediaThese slides give opportunities for work on mathematical concepts including measurement, data handling and money. They also provide cross curricular links to geography, DT and music. There are a wealth of mathematics opportunities here. If you made use of most of the ideas you could have a carnival fortnight and teach all of your maths, literacy and other areas of the curriculum through this theme.

1st slide: Carnival!● Ask the children if they have ever been to Notting Hill carnival or any carnival in the UK.

Collect their responses and represent them in a Carroll or Venn diagram. Discuss what happens at a carnival, what they might do and buy.

● Tell them that it is an annual event which, since 1966, has taken place on the streets of Notting Hill in London. Draw a timeline and plot this date onto it, add other significant dates from this time e.g. birthdays and use as an opportunity to rehearse finding the difference by counting on along the timeline.

● Look at the dates and discuss when it happens and for how long. Discuss what a bank holiday is. You could look at calendars and ask the children to mark these dates on and to work out how many days/weeks/months between the opening day and their birthday or other significant dates on the calendar. Ask them to identify the other bank holidays that we have in the UK.

● Use this as an opportunity to rehearse days of the week, months of the year and other areas of time including minutes in an hour etc.

● The carnival is led by members of the Trinidad and Tobago (Trini) Caribbean population, many of whom have lived in the area since the 1950s. Show a map of the world and ask them to find these countries. You could spend some time researching them and comparing such data as rainfall, temperature, population, currency and time zones.

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1st slide: Carnival! continued…● The carnival has attracted up to 2 million people in the past. Can the children visualise

this amount? Where else might they see 2 million people? 2 million other things? For example grains of sand on a beach, leaves on trees, blades of grass in a garden. You could do a digit card activity where they build numbers to make millions: make 23, now make that read 123, 4123, 54 123, 854 123, 9 854 123. All they are doing is adding a digit as you say the new number. Then ask questions such as, swap the 9 and the 3, is the number bigger or smaller? How much smaller? You can make the instructions more complicated for children in KS2 and explore other place values by swapping a variety of digit cards.

● Look at the map and ask the children to identify where Notting Hill is. Use this as an opportunity to rehearse compass direction by asking the children which direction they would travel if they wanted to get from different parts of London to Notting Hill and back again.

● The children could make up routes from outside of London using the roads, maybe coming in from the M25 from Birmingham, Nottingham, Liverpool etc., particularly from your school location. They could use the internet or a road map to plan their exact route to the carnival, the cost in petrol and the time it would take to get there if travelling at an average speed of 60mph. This could lead into some time work – what time would they need to leave to get there at 10:30, what time would they get home if they left at 7:15 in the evening etc.

● If possible find a map of London with a scale from the internet or an atlas, print out copies for the children and ask them to plan routes to Notting Hill from different places and work out the distance in km and miles. You could add a grid with coordinates and ask them to locate different places using these.

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1st slide: Carnival! continued…● Focus on the comments of the two policeman. Can the children imagine the amounts of

money? You could have a discussion on what could be bought for those amounts. Discuss which comment the children agree with and how they think £95 million might be spent at a carnival e.g. food, drink, souvenirs.

● Three things are a big part of the event . Can the children figure out what they are from the slide? Food, music and costumes.

● Focus on the picture of the jerk chicken. Do the children know anything about Caribbean food? Make a list of their suggestions and take a vote of their favourites. They could then make up bar charts, pictograms and pie charts to show the information.

● The carnival is famous for its street food, mainly jerk chicken, curried goat and rice and peas. Show the following recipes and ask the children to convert from imperial to metric and re-write them for a different number of people e.g. 6, 15, 25.

Jerk Chickenserves 4:6 lb Roasting Chicken 1 tbsp. Salt 2 tsp. Garlic powder 1 tsp. Paprika 1 tsp. Soya Sauce 1 small onion 3 tbsp. Jerk Seasoning Instructions:First, rub the whole chicken with salt. Grate the onion and rub it into the chicken.Add the Paprika and Garlic powder to the chicken. Rub the Jerk Seasoning all over the whole chicken and allow the chicken to marinate for at least 2 hours. Roast in oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.…continued on the next slide

1st slide: Carnival! continued… Curried Goatserves 4:2 lbs. Mutton or lamb trimmed and cut into cubes ¼ cup chopped onion 2 tbsp. Turmeric 2 cloves chopped garlic ½ tsp. Hot pepper sauce 2 tsp. Grated ginger ½ cup red wine ¼ tsp. cooking oil ¼ cup tomato ketchup 1 tsp. curry powder ½ tsp. Salt 1 tsp. vinegar 3 tbsp. Chutney Instructions:Season the meat with the garlic, salt, vinegar and hot pepper. Allow to marinate for about 1 hour. Heat oil, add curry powder, then meat and brown. Add remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer over low heat until meat is tender. Adjust seasoning. Serve on a bed of rice.

Rice and Peasserves 4:1 ½ c Dried red kidney beans, Soaked overnight 1 Clove garlic, crushed 1 tsp. Salt ½ c Unsweetened coconut milk 2 Scallions, chopped 2 Sprigs fresh thyme ½ Whole Scotch Bonnet Pepper ½ tsp. Black pepper 2 cups Long-grain white rice

Instructions:Boil the beans, garlic and salt until the beans are tender. Save three cups of the liquid,discarding the garlic. Return the beans and the three cups of liquid to the pot (if there's notenough of the cooking liquid use water), along with the coconut milk, scallions, thyme, scotchbonnet pepper, and black pepper and salt to taste. When it comes to a boil, add in the rice.Let it boil for 20 minutes, then remove it from the heat and let it sit for 15 minutes. Stir it witha fork and taste!…continued on the next slide

1st slide: Carnival! continued…You can find these recipes at this website should you wish to print them out: FoodUse the internet to find out what scallions are, and what a Scotch Bonnet Pepper looks

like.

● You could ask the children to estimate and then measure the teaspoons and tablespoons of the ingredients measured in this way e.g. salt, ginger, beans and garlic powder and then estimate and measure their weights in grams and convert to ounces if appropriate. You could do similar for the teaspoons and cups of the liquids e.g. soya sauce, wine and tomato ketchup – how many millilitres?

● It would be a great measurement exercise (including time) if you could actually make them! If you do, carry out a taste test. Give children 10 points to distribute how they choose amongst the three dishes. Which is the most/least popular? What is the difference in the total scores?

● The children could also make up menus, costing the items bought to make the dishes and mark them up so that they would make a 100% profit. What would the costings be for different profits – 25%, 33.3%, 50%, 62 ½ %, 75% etc This could involve drawing text boxes to certain sizes to put their information in – including the Caribbean name for their street food stall or a restaurant.

● Apparently some restaurants offer half price food during the carnival, you could use this as an opportunity to do some money problem work e.g. jerk chicken usually costs £7.50, how much at half price? The West family of three have £15 set aside for food and drink, how many portions of rice and peas can they buy at £3.75 each? Why do you think restaurants offer these special prices at this time?

…continued on the next slide

1st slide: Carnival! continued…● Focus on the picture of the people playing the drums. At the carnival they use over 40

Static Sound Systems which are positioned around the Carnival area. The music played is a mix of such styles as Latin jazz, reggae, garage, hip hop and drum “n” bass. There are also a Samba Calypso, Soca and steel bands. You could make a link with music here and explore rhythms and beats using drums as in the picture and ask the children to write some music for sounds they make up, with a Samba or Calypso beat of course!

● You can find details of the music played at this website: The Notting Hill Carnival

● You could survey the children’s taste in the styles of music mentioned which are commonly heard at the carnival, make a tally and then ask them to make their own bar chart, pictogram or pie chart to show their choices.

● You could also explore decibels. Can the children make noises to these decibel measurements?Near total silence - 0 dBA whisper - 15 dBNormal conversation - 60 dBA lawnmower - 90 dBA car horn - 110 dBA rock concert or a jet engine - 120 dBA gunshot or firecracker - 140 dB

● What is their estimate for the decibels of the drums the people are playing, what about a band at the carnival?

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1st slide: Carnival! continued…● They could make musical instruments as they might in DT, but ensure that they

measure what they use e.g. string, card to bring out the mathematics involved.

● Use the list above to help estimate the average decibel level in the classroom. Buy a simple decibel metre to check. Make a decibel map of your school.

● Focus on the costumes and discuss what is meant by the parade. What sorts of things might they see? Have they ever seen a parade, what did it look like? Have any of them seen one at a Disney theme park?

● You could have a fancy dress parade in the classroom or if you have a role play area you could turn it into a carnival and make costumes for the dolls!

● You could design head gear and masks for a carnival. This would be a great opportunity for some measurement and other things like symmetry, reflection, rotation and translation when designing the decorations or the actual head dress.

● Older children could design a costume, cost it and make it for a class carnival or assembly. Theme the costumes according to your current topic e.g. An Ugly Bug Ball for a mini-beast topic.

2nd slide: The Carnival Route● Can the children follow the carnival route using the information given? If possible let them

use a London street map and find and draw on the route. Measure the length of the route with string and use the scale on the map to work out how long it is in both miles and kilometres (roughly 3 miles).

● You could do some estimating of the number of people in the pictures, discussing how to get the most accurate estimates possibly by counting a section and multiplying up.

● How many people need to be along any one metre of the route to allow 1 million people to be present along the route?

● Give them these facts on the numbers estimated to have attended the two days of the carnival:2009 - 720,0002008 - 850,0002007 - 850,0002006 - 1,000,0002005 - 750,000 2004 - 750,000 2003 - 600,0002002 - 1,400,0002001 - 1,250,0002000 - 1,500,0001999 - 1,400,0001998 - 1,150,0001997 - 1,300,000 1996 - 1,000,000

● Ask question from these figures e.g. in which year was the greatest attendance, what is the difference in numbers between those attending in 2009 form those attending in 2001? What is the trend in numbers? Why might this be?

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2nd slide: The Carnival Route continued…● If you can find the information about the number of people attending this year, compare

it with last and see if the trend is continuing.

● You could ask the children to plot these figures on a bar line graph, deciding for themselves the best scale to use.

● You could then explore the mode, range, median and mean of these figures.

● Ask the children to look closely at the homes pictured, what shapes can they see, what about symmetry?

● You might like to show this YouTube clip of children’s day at last year’s Notting Hill carnival: You Tube Ask the children what maths they can see in the clip, you may be surprised at their suggestions.

3rd slide: The World’s Largest Carnival● Look at a world map and identify Brazil. Ask questions such as: in which continent is it,

what are its neighbouring countries, which ocean is it beside? If you want to explore Brazil further ask them to make a fact file showing population, currency, rainfall, temperature, time zone etc. you could then compare those facts with the UK and Trinidad and Tobago.

● Focus on the map of Brazil and ask the children to locate Rio de Janeiro. If possible show some photographs of the city so that they can get a feel for the place.

● Give them a copy of the map and ask them to plan routes from Rio to other places and to work out the distances using the scale provided.

● You could ask them to plan a journey by road from Manaus to Rio and to list the towns and cities they would have to travel through and then work out the distance and how long it would take if travelling at an average of 60mph. How many routes can they find, which is the shortest, which is the longest?

● Tell them that this carnival takes place in lots of towns and cities in Brazil but that the one in Rio de Janeiro is by far the largest and most well known around the world.

● Look at the dates of when it is and compare with Notting Hill Carnival e.g. is it longer or shorter, which days does it cover?

● You could use the calendars again and the children could mark these days onto it . They could then use it to help them work out how many months, weeks and days it was before ours.

● Tell them that it begins 40 days before Easter. Then give them the Easter date for next year and ask them to work out when the 2011 carnival will be.

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3rd slide: The World’s Largest Carnival continued…● Ask the children when the first one was and plot on a time line, marking the first Notting

Hill carnival as well as other significant dates. Again, ask questions which require using this to practice finding the difference by counting on.

● Give the children some information about its origins, particularly that it began as a Christian festival at the time of Lent, when people traditionally gave up eating meat and poultry. That’s why it is called carnival, derived from the word carnelevare which means ‘to remove meat’. The celebrations are believed to have roots in the pagan festival of Saturnalia. This has become the most famous holiday time in Brazil. The country stops completely for almost a week and festivities carry on day and night, mainly in coastal cities. Beer drinking accounts for 80% of annual consumption and 70% of tourism is accounted for of annual visitors. It now tends to be thought of as a time to go overboard eating, drinking and doing all the things you can’t do over Lent – to excess!

● You could use the beer and tourism facts to rehearse percentages for example if some drank 350 cans of beer during one year, how much of that would have been drunk at the carnival? If 400 000 people visited Rio in 2009, how many of them would have been there during the carnival?

● As in the Notting Hill Carnival, music, food and costume are of paramount importance . Their main music is Samba. During carnival week they have many samba classes. You could teach this dance to your class! This YouTube clip show you how

● Alternatively you could show this clip from Strictly Come Dancing and see if the children can work out the beat and clap to the rhythm!

● You can get the details of the 2011 carnival which shows what is planned at this website: Rio Carnival

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3rd slide: The World’s Largest Carnival continued…● You could ask the children to research the food that they would commonly buy at the

carnival in Rio and repeat the food ideas given for the first slide.

● You could ask them to find the recipes for the traditional dish and some of popular ones: Feijoada: considered by many as the national dish. It is a stew made of pork, sausage and smoked meat and cooked with black beans and garlic, garnished with slices of orange.Other popular dishes include:Barreado: a meat stew, cooked for 24 hours and served with banana and farofa (a bit like a pancake).Carangueijada: a whole cooked crab.Caruru: an African dish that is made from ladies fingers (okra), onions, shrimp, peppers and oil.Cozido: a stew made from potatoes, carrots and vegetables.

● Does your town or city have a carnival? If the children are really enthusiastic about the topic, you could even design and enter a float. Other possibilities could be a recorder band or some other grouping.