Life skillz: Shopping

(the z makes it cool)

For about 3 years between high school and college I worked as a cashier at a grocery store. If I had a dollar for every time someone came through my line and spent way more than they thought they were going to...(Wait, scratch that, I technically did make a dollar every time this happened)  Anyway, from that experience I realized that many adults have trouble estimating the amount of money they spend when going shopping.

I decided my students could use some help with the matter.  So, I went to the grocery store to buy some things for a cookout and video taped parts of the experience.  It was really busy there, so the video didn't come out that great as I was trying to avoid getting anyone on camera. (Converting for youtube didn't do the video any favors either)  This is the finished product:

Granted adding and estimating isn't complex math, but students have no trouble in seeing the activity's use in everyday life.

I had some extra time at the end of class on Friday in two of my classes, so I told them we would have a competition.  Of course, the winner would receive candy.  I didn't tell them what the contest was (though it became pretty obvious), I just told them to pay close attention and to follow these rules:

1. No talking
   
2. No writing anything down during the video
   

I stopped the video before it gave the answer, and told them to write their guess for the total on a small scrap of paper.  Many of the answers were pretty off (up to about a $20 difference), and surprisingly my 9th graders guessed considerably closer than my 12th graders. (Which made me feel better about taking their class time for it)  Then we did some discussion where we talked about estimating and general paying attention.  Despite the lack of complexity, it was definitely a worthwhile activity. It certainly was an eyeopener for those whose guesses were way off, and all of the kids really got into it.

Anyone have any ideas on how to extend this to add some higher level math and make a full lesson out of it?

First day of school

School starts for me on Tuesday.  There's always a lot going on during our first day of school, so the schedule for classes is shortened to about a half hour.  Now, there's nothing particularly different or spectacular about the way I run my first day, but there are a few things I think are pretty important about what I do.

I start by handing out a kind of "Getting to know you" sheet that doubles as a record for book numbers.  There's space for student name, what they did over the summer, and three things they like. (Vague, I know)  After books and everything are handed out I go through and have all the kids share what they wrote, but first share about myself. I always try to pick things about me they'd never guess. (Like that I enjoy dancing, and I'm pretty awesome at it)  If you have any trouble learning kids' names, as you're going through on the first day make sure you say the name a couple times out loud back to them ("And, Jamie, what three things do you like?") and listen carefully as they answer.  This first day activity is probably pretty standard, but here's what I think is really important...  As they give their answers, I do everything I can to make some connection with one of the things they've said.  If they say they like video games, I tell them about the time I won a Halo tournament without owning an xbox.  If they went to the shore, I tell them about when I went to the shore over the summer too and what happened while I was there.  If I can't think of ANYTHING, I'll ask them some more questions until I can.  It's pretty helpful to get you to remember each kid, but more importantly it helps make connections with them, making it easier for them to buy into what you're teaching and to respect you as their teacher.  You can figure out some interesting things too.  A few years ago, we figured out that when I was in high school I worked with the older sister of one of my students!

Anyway, I'm really excited about starting school this year.  I hope your first day goes/has gone well!