Teaching small group algebra 2 was challenging and super rewarding. Now that I am out of the classroom, teaching algebra 2 is one of the things I miss most. So much growth happens in students between when they enter the course and leave it. There were always so many times when my students thought a topic would be way too hard and ended up mastering it not too much time later.
In this post I want to share some of the teaching ideas and materials that I used in my small group special education algebra 2 class. Every student had an IEP and most were in 11th grade. Some were seniors, but most seniors in small group math took consumer math. I'll also link towards the end some of the cheat sheets I made for our inclusion algebra 2 class that got a bit farther in the curriculum than we did in small group.
If you've taught 9th grade algebra, you will likely recognize some of the topics we cover in small group algebra 2. A lot of review was necessary to lay the groundwork for new topics:
How do I file a tax return? What is a credit score? How much of my paycheck will be withheld for taxes? How do I calculate a budget? What is an APR? I got a TON of questions just like these when teaching high school consumer math.
Finding consumer math teaching materials was difficult, and I spent hours prepping each week. After years tying to figure out the best way to build a printable consumer math curriculum to make teaching the course easy, I am excited to say that I now have one available on my website. The curriculum will answer all of your students' personal finance questions, and more!
This printable consumer math curriculum is an approachable guide to building financial literacy in teens. It includes warm-ups, a student book, accompanying student notebook sheets for building an interactive notebook, a teacher's book, projector notes to shine on the board, editable quizzes and all answer keys.
Here is a short video overview of what's included:
Topics covered:
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
*The income taxes unit will be updated every year. Re-downloads are free.
Projector notes (these match the student notebook sheets)
Editable quizzes for each unit (16 quizzes in PowerPoint)
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 not taking precalculus or calculus and 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.
Is it for a semester or for the year?
This curriculum does not contain activities outside of the student notebook sheets, so can possibly be completed in a single semester. For teachers who would like to supplement with additional activities, a big bundle of consumer math activities is available.
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, the curriculum will work in a homeschool setting. All of the information needed to complete the student notebook sheets is found in the student book. You may not need the projector notes because they are meant to project onto a screen in a classroom, but all other included materials will work.
Is it available on TPT?
No, the consumer math curriculum is only available on my website linked below.
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
Spending: budgeting, keeping a register, comparing unit prices, sales tax, discounts, coupons
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 updated?
Yes, this curriculum will be updated every year to reflect changes to the way we file income taxes. When the curriculum is ready to be re-downloaded, you will receive an email. Re-downloads are free.
Do you accept school purchase orders?
Yes, you can find information about purchase orders 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.
The consumer math curriculum is available for download here.
Last week, I wrote a post about using a hole punch to find function inverses in the coordinate plane. A few people asked on Facebook if the process would also work for geometric reflections, and it absolutely does!
In this post I share an easy, hands-on method for demonstrating reflections and rotations of geometric shapes and their coordinates in the coordinate plane. The video included in the post covers reflecting over the x-axis, over the y-axis and over the line y = x. This same method will work for reflecting over any line of symmetry in the coordinate plane, even linear equations. I then share an idea for showing geometric rotations with a hole punch.
Are your algebra or algebra 2 students learning how to find inverse functions? Here's how to make the process of finding function inverses easy, visual and hands-on-- with a hole punch! This same process can also be used for reflecting any graph or geometric shape over the x-axis, y-axis, y = x or any other line of symmetry on the coordinate plane.
Fractional exponents (a.k.a. rational exponents) are a little weird. They force us to think backwards, to ask, "What number multiplied by itself yields the base?" If this questions sounds familiar, it's because we ask the same question when figuring out square roots (and other roots). Rational exponents are just another, calculator-friendly way of expressing roots.
