#2558. Set Up Your Own Apartment

Mathematics, level: Elementary
Posted Thu Apr 18 22:01:16 PDT 2002 by Maxine A. Bonneau (bonneau001@msn).
Holy Name School, Fall River, MA
Materials Required: paper, pencils, calculator per group, catalogs and sunday ads
Activity Time: 50 minutes
Concepts Taught: small group concensus, addition, sub, mult

Objective: to allow fourth or fifth graders to use their imaginations and math together.
Procedure: Divide class into compatible groups who will be willing to set up an apartment together now that they have graduated from school. Give them a dollar amount for the initial set up purchases, listing the rooms, bedroom items, bath items, livingroom items, including furniture, lamps, etc., kitchen items and some groceries. They also get a dollar amount for personal use on health & beauty products, clothes for their new job, etc. [assume they have a job & a car until you explore the want ads in another lesson! After 50 minutes, they must have a legible list of purchases which cover the areas yet do not exceed their "allowance" amount.
Students can even go apartment hunting in the want ad section of the newspaper. It's a good dose of reality in a protected environment.