This morning we went Christmas shopping using our local sales papers! Students were given $100 each (imaginary money) to purchase gifts for all their family and friends. They could pruchase anything from the sales papers as gifts, but they had to stay within their $100 budget. Once they had figured out the total amount of money spent, they had to subtract to find how much change they would get back from a one hundred dollar bill. Some students were challenged to find the tax cost of their purchase. During our discussion of our task and looking at some receipts of recent real-life shopping trips, students said they did not realize so much math was used just to go shopping! One student stated after he finished shopping and figuring up his total money spent that he had a headache and that shopping was stressful- my husband thinks the same thing! We had so much fun with this task and I think they will look at their next trip to IGA, the Dollar Store, or Walmart a little differently!
