Unit rate is one of my favorite topics to teach in Consumer Math. There are endless examples of unit prices gone wrong, and they all give me a giggle. But as funny as they can be, it's important for kids to know how to calculate unit rates so that they can determine the best deals. Sometimes, or maybe a lot of the time, the best deal isn't always obvious.
In this post are some of the unit price fails I have encountered over the years as well as some unit price activities your students will enjoy.
The grocery store has since discontinued the 2-packs of these mac and cheese containers.
My daughter used to love eating these pouches. It turns out that buying them individually was the way to go.
Different unit prices, same prices. I don't even think physics can explain this.
48 pencils for $7.00 vs. 12 pencils for $0.68. I challenge your hot deal and raise you 4 packs of pencils!
If these are just some of the unit price errors I've randomly happened upon, how many times is unit pricing wrong out there in the world? In your opinion, do these errors demonstrate a general lack of math understanding or do you think they are intentional? I am torn on this.
Over the years I've made some activities that cover unit rates.
This gif above shows part of a new self-checking unit rates digital math escape room that covers unit rates from graphs, tables, prices and word problems. The escape room is one Google Form with no outside links, so there is nothing to break and it is super easy to send to students. I've been getting some great feedback from teachers and students on these escape room activities.
Even if you are not in Google Classroom, you can still send the digital math escape room to students. The only requirement is that you yourself have a Google Drive to store the Form. Students themselves do not need to sign into Google. Directions for sending the Google Form are inside the file. Students enter five 4-letter codes to open all 5 locks.
Anything to cut down on grading and to give students the immediate feedback they love is a win. These unit rate solve 'n check task cards are self-checking, even in print form. They come print and digital (in Google Slides) in the same download. Students solve each unit rate question then add their two answers to see if their check number matches the number in the bottom corner of the card.
Math pennants are fun for kids because the end products hang as self-created classroom décor. Kids love seeing their work displayed. This is one of the things about math teaching that I am passionate about because I have seen how displaying student work boosts student confidence. I love being able to point to student work and say, "Yes, you CAN do this." This unit rates math pennant covers unit rates in tables, graphs and word problems.
More posts:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comment