Tuesday, January 19, 2010

My student's are getting ready to tackle the fun unit on percents, fractions and decimals . In an effort to "keep it real", I download a popular restaurant menu, print enough for the entire class, have the students order an appetizer, entree, drink and dessert. They have to keep their meal close to $30 and compute tax and tip rate based on our locality. I have full participation on this activity as many of my students haven't been to a restaurant whre they can order off a menu.

4 comments:

  1. What a great way to show the real world connection! Thanks!

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  2. I have done this as well. It always amazes me how they don't know how to leave a tip. I like this activity because it makes our students better citizens and better math students.

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  3. When you asked your students to work on this activity, did you allow them to use a calculator? I found that most of my students understand the concept of percents, fractions, and decimals, but they always struggle with doing the calculations without a calculator. If anyone has any strategies to help students with non-calculator calculations other than drilling, please let me know!

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  4. I have done a similar activity with SOL 7.4. Students were grouped in 3's or 4's and had to make selections from the appetizer menu. I combined this with the think pad. They had boxes for items purchased, total, tax, tip, etc. Calculators are not allowed for this SOL.

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