The below project serves as an assessment for my “Word Problems” unit.

This project
asks students to use their knowledge of writing and solving equations and inequalities
with a real-life application.

Planning a Vacation Project

Have you ever wondered what Paris would be like? Or maybe you’ve always wanted to go to
Disney World? You have been tasked with designing your dream vacation.You can travel
anywhere in the world. However, you must fly on a plane to get there. Your trip should be a
minimum of five nights. You must get your trip location approved by me. You should get real
prices from the internet for everything. To help with costs, you will be traveling with two friends. I
will be assigning each person their own budget.

Good luck and happy traveling!

I will choose your budget (Somewhere between $2,000 and $9,000)

Your Budget: _______________

Which of the following categories are important to you? Please place a check mark in each
category you plan to spend money on. I have checked off each category that is required. Please
note a passport is required if leaving the USA.

Category Description Money Alotted

Plane Ticket Must purchase a round-trip plane ticket

Baggage At least one checked bag

Stay (Airbnb or Hotel) Must purchase a stay for the entirety of

the trip. Can find a stay on Air BnB or at
a hotel

Car Rental Must rent a car

Public Transport

Gas

Groceries Groceries are not required but strongly

recommended. If you do not purchase
groceries you must eat at restaurants.

Restaurants You must eat at a restaurant a minimum

of 3 times during your trip
 Passport Required if traveling out of the country.
Feel free to look up the cost for this
portion. Do not need to complete a
budgeting section for this category

Sports Games

Museums

Tours

Performances
(Concerts, theatre,
comedy etc.)

Outdoor Activities
(Scuba diving,
ziplining, skydiving,
etc.)

Miscellaneous

Shopping Must spend at least $50.00 on souvenirs.

Do not need to complete a budgeting
section for this category.

This rubric assesses students' ability to plan a dream vacation and apply mathematical concepts
to real-life scenarios. Students will be evaluated on their organization, creativity, proficiency in
writing and solving equations, as well as budget management.
 Criteria Excellent (4) Good (3) Fair (2) Needs Improvement (1)

Organization Student presents a Student presents a Student's vacation Student's vacation plan is
well-organized and fairly organized plan lacks clear disorganized and lacks
structured vacation vacation plan. Most organization and structure. Information is
15%
plan. Information is information is clear and structure. Some unclear and difficult to
clear, logical, and easy logically presented. information may be follow.
to follow. difficult to follow.

Creativity Student demonstrates Student shows Student attempts to Student lacks creativity in
exceptional creativity creativity in designing incorporate some designing the dream
in designing the dream the dream vacation. creativity in the vacation. Ideas are
10%
vacation. Unique and Ideas are interesting vacation plan, but the generic and uninspired.
innovative ideas are and somewhat original. ideas are mostly
presented. conventional.

Writing and Student writes Student writes Student struggles to Student has difficulty
Solving accurate equations for equations for all budget write equations for writing equations for
Equations all budget categories categories and solves some budget budget categories and
and effectively solves them accurately with categories and may struggles to solve them
them with units. Clear units. Explanations are make minor errors in accurately. Explanations
50%
explanations are mostly clear. solving them. are unclear or
provided for each Explanations are non-existent.
equation. vague.

Budget Student effectively Student manages the Student struggles to Student does not
manages the budget, budget adequately, with manage the budget, effectively manage the
making strategic some minor oversights overspending in some budget, overspending
25%
decisions in spending. in spending. Generally areas. Difficulty significantly and failing to
Stay within the stays within the staying within the stay within the assigned
assigned budget and assigned budget. assigned budget. budget.
justifies expenses
appropriately
 Trip Checklist
Before turning in your project, you should complete the following checklist. To get full
credit you must check off each box.
Budget requirements:

Must spend at least $50.00 on souvenirs/shopping

Must get a round-trip plane ticket
Must get a checked bag
Must eat at a local restaurant a minimum of 3 times during the trip
Must eat 2 meals per day (Either at a restaurant or buying groceries)
Cannot originally allot more than a quarter of overall budget on plane ticket
Cannot originally allot more than half of overall budget on stay
Must stay under your assigned budget
If traveling out of the country, you must purchase a passport
Must purchase a stay for the entirety of the trip. This cost will be split among all travelers.
Must rent a car. Your portion of the cost should be no more than ⅓ of your remaining
budget after Stay + Flight. This cost will be split among all travelers.
Must spend money on at least two outings (Tour, Museum, Performance, etc. )

Project Requirements:

For each budget category, you must write an equation or inequality to represent your
options.
Must complete an allotment and budget section for each category you selected. You
don’t need to complete a budgeting section for shopping or passport, but must do
allotment.
You also will need to solve each equation or inequality. With units!
You will need to write a minimum of two sentences of an explanation with each
equation you solved. These sentences should describe what the answer to your
equation means and how it affects your budget. Can you buy what you were hoping for?
Did you allot enough money? Did you allot too much money? Will you be spending the
full amount of money you allotted for?
Must create a full itinerary of your trip. This should include your SPECIFIC plans for the
day. This includes the meals you will be eating, the activities you will be doing, etc. It
also must include the overall cost of the day.
Must create a way to present your trip to me. Examples: A slideshow, brochure, poster
board, scrapbook, video, etc. Please discuss your choice with me before beginning. (If
your method of presentation doesn’t include space for an itinerary you can submit this
separately). Have fun, get creative.
You must have pictures. Photos of meals, experiences, hotel, etc. will help me
understand exactly what you want out of your trip and how you pictured it.
 Equations Work Page (Allocations)

Category: Plane Tickets Category: Stay (In total per person)

Airline: ___________

How much will you allot? How much will you allot?

Explanation: Explanation:
How much of your budget is remaining after setting aside money for your stay and your plane
tickets? Write an equation to represent this.

Equations Work Page (Allocations)

Category: Car Rental Category: Gas

How much will you allot? How much will you allot?

Explanation: Explanation:

Budget Remaining: Budget Remaining:

Category: Restaurant Category: _____________

How much will you allot? How much will you allot?

Explanation: Explanation:

Budget Remaining: Budget Remaining:

Equations Work Page (Allocations)

Category: _______ Category: _______

How much will you allot? How much will you allot?

Explanation: Explanation:

Budget Remaining: Budget Remaining:

Category: _______ Category: _______

How much will you allot? How much will you allot?

Explanation: Explanation:

Budget Remaining: Budget Remaining:

Equations Work Page (Allocations)

Category: _______ Category: _______

How much will you allot? How much will you allot?

Explanation: Explanation:

Budget Remaining: Budget Remaining:

Category: _______ Category: _______

How much will you allot? How much will you allot?

Explanation: Explanation:

Budget Remaining: Budget Remaining:

Equations Work Page (Allocations)

Category: _______ Category: _______

How much will you allot? How much will you allot?

Explanation: Explanation:

Budget Remaining: Budget Remaining:

Category: _______ Category: _______

How much will you allot? How much will you allot?

Explanation: Explanation:

Budget Remaining: Budget Remaining:

Equations Work Page (Budgeting)

Category: Plane Tickets Category: Stay

Allotted: _____________ Allotted: _____________

Price out plane tickets and select a package. What can you and your friends afford per
Write an equation to show how much you night if you go for seven nights?
have remaining if you use this package.

Explanation: Explanation:
 Ticket Costs: _______
Taxes and Fees:________
Based on this, will you continue to fly with the
package you priced out? Or will you need to
downgrade? Upgrade?
Total:______
Equations Work Page (Budgeting)
Category: Car Rental
Allotted:________
How much do you have to spend as a group?
(Write an equation or inequality)
Explanation:
Look at rental prices. Can you find a car in
this range? Select a basic car. What is its
cost?
Do some research. Can you find an
AirBnB/hotel that works for you and your
budget (remember to check for taxes and
fees)? Could you afford to stay an extra night
or two? Or would you like to stay for one less
night so you can get a nicer place?
Total:______
Category: Gas
Allotted:________
Look up how much gas is per gallon in your
destination. _______ per gallon
Is this more or less than Maine?
Based on this, and your selected car's
mileage, how many miles can you travel
(assume city mileage)? Write an inequality
and solve. Make sure you account for your
entire group's contributions.
Explain:
Write an equation or inequality to represent
how much of your rental car budget you will
have remaining if you select this car. Solve.
Based on your remaining budget, will you
choose this car? Rent it for a smaller portion
of your stay? Upgrade? Downgrade?
Equations Work Page (Budgeting)
Category: Restaurants
Allotted: _______
How many times are you hoping to dine out?
(Remember, it must be at least 3 times). ____
How much can you afford to spend per meal
if you dine out that number of times? Write an
equation or inequality and solve.
Explanation:
Does this seem like it will be enough? Feel
free to come back after planning activities.
How many miles will you travel in your rental
car? (Use car log.)
Category: Groceries
Allotted:_____
How much can you spend on groceries per
day? Feel free to exclude days that are travel
only and you will not be in your hotel/air bnb.
Write an equation/inequality and solve.
Explanation:
 Look up average meal costs for your After you’ve planned your restaurants,
destination (in USD). Is it a reality to dine that calculate how many meals you will need to
many times? Why or why not. make and how much you can afford per meal
by writing an equation

Total spent (fill in at end): Total Spent (fill in at end):

Equations Work Page (Budgeting)

Category: Tours Category: Outdoor Activities

Allotted: _________ Allotted:______

How many tours are you hoping to go on? List out the activities you’d like to do and their
costs. Highlight the ones you decide to go on.

What would this give you for a cost per tour

(write an equation.)

Equation Explanation:
 Price out actual tours and list them below.
Highlight the ones you decide to go on.

Do you have enough money? Did you need Do you have enough money? Did you need
to limit yourself? Why or why not? to limit yourself? Why or why not?

Equations Work Page (Budgeting)

Category: Museums Category: Sports Games

Allotted:______ Allotted:______

List out the activities you’d like to do and their List out the activities you’d like to do and their
costs. Highlight the ones you decide to go on. costs. Highlight the ones you decide to go on.
 Do you have enough money? Did you need Do you have enough money? Did you need
to limit yourself? Why or why not? to limit yourself? Why or why not?

Equations Work Page (Budgeting)

Category: Performances Category: __________

Allotted:______ Allotted:______

List out the activities you’d like to do and their List out the activities you’d like to do and their
costs. Highlight the ones you decide to go on. costs. Highlight the ones you decide to go on.
 Do you have enough money? Did you need Do you have enough money? Did you need
to limit yourself? Why or why not? to limit yourself? Why or why not?

Equations Work Page (Budgeting)

Category: __________ Category: _________

Allotted:______ Allotted:______

List out the activities you’d like to do and their List out the activities you’d like to do and their
costs. Highlight the ones you decide to go on. costs. Highlight the ones you decide to go on.
 Do you have enough money? Did you need Do you have enough money? Did you need
to limit yourself? Why or why not? to limit yourself? Why or why not?

Meal Tracker

Fill out the below meal tracker for each meal. Remember, you must eat 2 meals per day.
You do not need to include meals before arriving at airport on day 1, and you don’t need
to include meals after return. Price out actual prices from restaurant menus (and don’t
forget to tip!).

Under or over your

Day Location Food Cost cost per meal?
 Under or over your
Day Location Food Cost cost per meal?
Total Average cost per meal
equation: Total Cost
Meals

Rental Car Log

Fill out the below tracker for all driving in your rental car.

Day Start End Miles Group Your

Cost Cost
 Money Reallocation Form

Did you have extra money in a category? Trade it here and put it into a
different category. This may mean you can finally drive your dream car, or
can splurge for that hotel with a pool. Make sure to make a note on the
allocation page and budgeting page if you choose to reallocate.

Original $ Remaining New Amount New Category Amount

Category Category (If splitting
among
multiple)