The Scaffolded Consumer Math Curriculum has a new unit-- health insurance. Students will learn the ins and outs of copays, coinsurance, deductibles, out of pocket maximums, and of course the math behind it all.
Just like every other unit in the curriculum, the new health insurance unit includes a printable PDF student book unit, a teacher's unit with answers to questions asked in the student book, student notebook pages, PowerPoint notes, an editable quiz, warm-ups and all answer keys.
Vocabulary includes: premium, deductible, plan, deductible balance, HMP, PPO, copay, coinsurance, PCP, referral, specialist, out of pocket maximum, open enrollment period.
There's a lot of math involved in health insurance, especially between meeting a deductible and meeting OOPM, and with coinsurance payments. My hope is that this new unit clarifies health insurance for your students and gives them confidence calculating costs.
Over the past few weeks, I have been working on a budget project where students mix and match a career, apartment, car and habit to see if their spending falls within given budget guidelines. Will students stay within budget with their choices?
Do your middle or high school math students struggle with their multiplication facts? Do you wish there was an age-appropriate way for them to practice their multiplication facts without it feeling like they're practicing?
Are you looking for a way to support your 6th grade math students? In this post are just some of the visual 6th grade math vocabulary references included in a 6th grade math word wall. The math word wall has grown a lot over the years as I have added teacher requests, and now includes a printable color version, a printable black & white version, an interactive digital version in Google Slides, and printable Spanish vocabulary.
How do I file a tax return? What is a credit score? How much of my paycheck will be withheld for taxes? How much rent can I afford?
I got A TON of questions just like these while teaching high school consumer math. Many of the questions were about things I had assumed my students would already know. But how would they know? My students were seniors and worried about life after high school. Understandable!
When I taught consumer math there was no curriculum, and I spent a lot of time piecing the course together from materials found online. My students were all seniors with IEPs for mild to moderate disabilities in math/reading, so I needed to find accessible materials that were also age-appropriate and interesting. I wanted my students to enjoy building their personal financial literacy. In spring 2022, I decided to start building the consumer math curriculum I wished I had back then, and I'm happy to say that it is now available on my website.
This new, printable consumer math curriculum is an approachable guide to building financial literacy for teens. It includes warm-ups, a student book, accompanying student notebook sheets, a teacher's book, PowerPoint projector notes, editable quizzes and all answer keys. The curriculum will answer all of your students' personal finance questions and more.
"Hands-down, this is the best consumer math curriculum. Easy to use even if you don’t have the greatest understanding of certain concepts. Warms-ups for access to extra practice problems as well as walkthrough power-points and much more. So thankful I got it! My students enjoyed learning each concept and were able to work through excellent real-world math problems making it relatable!” -Teacher Jodi Staggers
Here's a short video overview of the student book and student notebook sheets. Please note that a car insurance unit has since been added:
Units:
Wants vs. needs
Checks and registers
Wages and salary
Bank accounts
Budgets
Electronic banking and credit cards
Credit score
Discounts and coupons
Sales tax and tip
Percent change
Unit price
Income taxes*
Car loans
Mortgages
Student loans
Investing
Car insurance
Health insurance
*The income taxes unit will be updated every year. Redownloads to get updates and additions are always free.
"This Consumer Math curriculum is amazing. It is so well organized! I also used the activity bundle and this made a super year long course! I would highly recommend it!" - Teacher Amy Field
Files included:
Student book (199 pages)
Teacher’s book (203 pages)
Student notebook sheets (122 half sheets)
PowerPoint projector notes
Editable quizzes for each unit (18 quizzes)
Warm-ups for each unit
All answer keys
Details:
The student book is a reference that includes vocabulary, examples and questions for students to answer. You can choose to print the entire student book at once, or each unit at a time for student packets or their binders. Both formats are included.
The student notebook sheets are half-sheets designed for an interactive notebook. The sheets provide space for students to answer the questions posed in the book, and also include additional analysis questions. Students paste these notebook sheets into a composition notebook, which then becomes their own personal finance reference.
The teacher’s book and student notebook sheets answer key include all answers to all questions presented in the student book and the extra analysis questions on the student notebook sheets.
The projector notes match the student notebook sheets so that you can complete notes along with your students on the board.
The quizzes are completely editable. Quiz answer keys are included for all quizzes and are also editable.
The warm-ups for every unit are formatted for student notebooks.
FAQs:
Who is this curriculum for?
I wrote this consumer math curriculum for high school students who may have mild to moderate disabilities in math and/or reading. These are the students I taught when teaching consumer math and who I feel will benefit most from this curriculum.
Can it work for younger students?
If your students have already been introduced to percents, this consumer math curriculum may work for them. However, I feel that high school students will be more invested in learning the material as it answers the questions they currently have about their personal finances.
Do you have a printout that I can give to my admin for approval?
Yes, you can find a printout here for your administrator.
Will the curriculum be sent in the mail?
No, this curriculum is a set of PDF and PowerPoint files. Nothing will be sent in the mail.
How many licenses do I need?
The curriculum is licensed for 1 single teacher to use with his or her students year after year.
I homeschool. Will this work for me?
Yes, homeschooling families are using this curriculum. The curriculum works well in both a classroom setting and in a homeschool setting.
Is it available on TPT?
No, this curriculum is not available on TPT.
Do you have a list of standards?
This curriculum covers the following National Standards for Personal Financial Education:
Earning Income: wages and salary, gross pay, exact net pay, approximating net pay, pay schedules, tips, earning interest, retirement savings, 401(K) employer matching, filing income taxes, tax deductions, wage theft, insurance
Spending: budgeting, keeping a register, comparing unit prices, sales tax, discounts, coupons
Yes, the income taxes unit will be kept current each year. Additional units and supplemental projects or other materials may also be added. Redownloads to get updates and additions are free.
Do you accept school purchase orders?
Yes, purchase order information can be found here.
With everything you need in one place, this consumer math curriculum will make teaching the course easy for you and enjoyable for your students. Consumer math is such an important and fun course to teach, and I hope that your students thoroughly enjoy building their financial literacy with you!
Please send me an email to shana@scaffoldedmath.com if you have any questions. There is also a Consumer Math Facebook group for teachers here.
The Scaffolded Consumer Math Curriculum is available for download here.
Algebra is so fun to teach, and learning algebra helps students build their problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Witnessing students' "aha" moments and their new understanding of abstract concepts throughout the school year is incredibly rewarding as an algebra teacher.
With all this being said, learning algebra can be hard for some kids. One of the big hurdles I saw students face in algebra was the transition from being able to solve math problems in their heads to needing to write everything down because of the multiple steps in algebra. Students who equated being “smart in math” with being able to solve problems mentally can struggle with feelings of inadequacy. Part of my job as an algebra teacher was to break this connection between mental math and being a math person. After all, we wouldn’t know about Albert Einstein’s work if he never wrote anything down.
Integers seem to follow students as they move through middle school to high school. Especially with adding and subtracting integers, the "rules" are vague, and students really need to develop a conceptual understanding of what's going on when working with these tricky numbers. In this post are a bunch of integer activities that will help foster deeper understanding or integers while also being fun.
Whether you're introducing the concept of integers or looking to reinforce student understanding, the activities in this post have you covered.
