It's a Math Party!

Who knew math was so much fun! 

As part of a math enrichment project, our Rocketeers planned their own math party! Students were able to select a theme (that was not related to a holiday) and create an itemized list to cover food/snacks, plates, cups, other utensils as well as items for goody bags. Students were given a budget of $100 and carefully selected items that would be appropriate for their themed party. Some examples of themes that groups selected included: A Disco Party, a picnic, and a Paris Sweet Shoppe. Students found items for their goody bags from Oriental Trading Company, while food items were purchased at a local grocery store.  Since we did not have exact prices from our local grocery store, students had to provide their best estimation for the items that they needed. Overall, the group that collaborated as a team (i.e. distributed tasks evenly and were actively engaged throughout the planning) and that created the most detailed itemized list (with the closest estimations) was selected. Our winner for the party was the Paris Sweet Shoppe.

Our goody bags are ready to go. 

Thanks to the PTA, our project was funded, which put our plans into action! Our project was successful in that it challenged students to apply estimation and addition skills in a real world setting. It was even more authentic when they discovered that their efforts transformed into an actual party that they have planned for! One suggestion to improve this project was to assign homework that involved researching prices for items purchased from the grocery store. This would have given our students a more accurate look at the actual amounts that they had to spend versus an estimation. 

Look at all these goodies we bought with our PTA Grant!