We start the poll with a basic American history question asking which document was signed on the 4th of July, 1776. We expect nearly all your students will know the answer, regardless it is a great reminder of what we celebrate on this fine day.
Next, we move on to some math about a problem that that many of us encounter every year when planning a BBQ. The number of buns and the number of hot dogs just don’t match! We ask students to find the least common multiple of 6 and 8 to see just how big a party they would need to throw to have a perfect match.
Practicing problems with least common multiples…check. Thinking about food waste and business marketing… check. For added fun, ask your students to draw a picture to justify their reasoning or solve the problem in two or three different ways.
The scratchpad is also a great place to put reminders or fun facts relating to the problem.
The rest of this poll is aligned to Algebra I standards on modeling linear inequalities, graphing them and transforming them.
Tasks 3 and 4 have students imagine they are throwing a mini-firework show for their school and need to stay within the constraints of their budget and time expectations. If they get the math right, they will find that they do not have enough money to make the show long enough. If this were a real situation, these types of analysis would be helpful in arguing for a larger budget, lower permit costs or shorter time requirements.
Visit our page on Formative Assessment for more information on implementing these strategies in your classroom.
