Monday, April 20, 2015

Where Sixth Graders See PERCENTS

At the beginning of our percent mini-unit earlier this month, I asked my Math 6 classes to tell me about where they had encountered percents (or percentages) outside of math class. Here's what they told me about! (Period 4's answers are shown first, then Period 5's, then Period 6's.)

Grades, Business, Groceries, Weather, Surveys, etc.

Batteries, Geico, Race, Sports, Grades, Clothing Material, Science/Medicine, etc.

Tests, Price Discounts, Tips, Populations, Shark Tank, Weather, Taxes, Nutrition, etc.

Friday, April 3, 2015

Decimal Multiplication and Division Practice

Here's an idea for creating your own practice problems for multiplication and division of decimal numbers.

1) Invent a decimal number with at least 4 non-zero digits. Use your favorite digits, or all of the same digits, or consecutive digits, or...  Examples: 12.34, .007777, 6544.56, etc.

2) Take a 1-digit or 2-digit number and make it into a decimal number. Examples: 0.000021, 0.6, 1.4, etc.

3) For division practice, make your number from step 1 the DIVIDEND and your number from step 2 the DIVISOR, then divide (remember the "ugly fraction" step). For multiplication practice, multiply your numbers from step 1 and step 2 together.

4) Check your answer(s) with a calculator. Did it work?? If you get REALLY stuck, take a picture or scan of your work and email it to me.