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Week Seventeen
Week Seventeen
Goal
- Build on current understandings of percents (almost everyone knows 50%) to use
benchmarks to figure out percetages
Materials
- We will use Greyson Wheatley’s Coming to know number grades 5-8 for most of this
cycle
Day one
Goal
- Introduce percentages by talking about sales in stores
Subordinated tasks
- Operations practice
Delivery
- Table groups, everyone with a whiteboard
- Teacher:
o I want to buy a bicycle (or something else, whatever your kids will believe). It
costs $100 at the store, but there is a sale on right now. They say it is 30% off.
The problem is, I have no clue what that means. Can you help me out?
Someone will explain it – if not, you know where to start
Build a definition as a class ** make sure everyone is on the same page
here with a definition
o Let’s get into percentages some more
What is 50%?
o Draw a square on the board and cut it in half. Ask if this is 50% of the square.
o Quarter the square and ask student if they remember what you are doing with this
(half of half is a quarter – do it with fractions and decimals)
o Show them that the same principle applies to percentages
Ask what is 50% of 10?
So then what is 25% of 10?
What is 75% of 10?
Be explicit about 75 being 50 and 25.
o Try different numbers, following the same pattern, 50%, then 25, then 75
What is 50% of 20? 25%, 75%
What is 50% of 80
What is 50% of 90?
What is 50% of 24?
What is 50% of 38?
o If kids are done, leave it here. If they want more, begin with day 2’s work.
- Invite someone to be your partner, and ask them if they can solve 50% (hopefully they
can, choose well)
- “Okay, I can take your 50% and figure out that 25% is half of that, so it’s 250 (write it
in). Your turn”
- Partner: I’m going to look at 1%. There are 100 10s in a thousand, so 1% is 10.
- “I’ll use your 1% to figure out 10%. I just multiply it by 10, so 10% is 100.
- Partner: so 5% is half of that, it’s 50.
- “2.5% is half of that, so it’s 25.
Then reveal the rest of the page
- Me: okay, I’m going to choose (h), 26%. 26 is 25 and 1, I know 25% is 250 and 1% is 10,
so when I put them together, I have 26%.
Challenge students to complete these questions with their partners. Encourage talking and
circulate a lot because this can be tricky at first.